Herald Inquiry Into Man In Squad Photograph Establishes He Is Employed By The Club
Philippa Crane · Media Editor · Reading time: one pint
The man, who wears the initials FC on his training top, left AC Milan on the day Roberto De Zerbi was announced as Tottenham head coach, a detail the Herald considered at length and could not escalate.
The Herald can confirm that the man at the top right of Tottenham's 2026/27 squad photograph, until now unidentified by supporters, is a member of the club's staff.
Our correspondent began the inquiry on Monday morning armed with a printout of the photograph, a magnifying glass and the working assumption that there was a story. The only distinguishing feature available was the pair of initials, "FC", on his training top.
The name was obtained from football.london within one paragraph. He is Francesco Calone, the club's technical development coordinator, who spent eight years at AC Milan and worked there as a first team match analyst from 2024.
The Herald then spent the better part of the afternoon looking for the angle. It was established that he left Milan on the day De Zerbi was announced at Tottenham, which our correspondent described as a development, before conceding that it was a date.
A season ticket holder who had been studying the photograph on his television since Friday said the answer had left him somewhat deflated.
I thought he was a trialist. I had a whole theory. It had a second part.
The nine other members of staff around the manager were accounted for in the same article, and the Herald checked each of them and found them to be in order. The presence of Richarlison in the photograph, a separate matter, had already been widely discussed and was judged to need no further reporting by this newspaper.
The Herald will not be pursuing the story.
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