Spurs defender Micky van de Ven reveals heartbreaking reason behind….
Spurs defender Micky van de Ven reveals heartbreaking reason behind wearing the number 37 shirt

The Dutchman has been a key player for Ange Postecoglou’s side this season, shown by how much Spurs missed him when he was absent for two months with a hamstring injury.
Now back fully fit, Van de Ven has already slotted easily into the Spurs side that started the weekend in fourth place in the Premier League table.
When he arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Netherlands international opted not to take a more ‘traditional’ defensive shirt number, and instead decided to go with the number 37 instead.
But he has now revealed that, rather than the number being his own personal favourite, it is instead the favourite of one of his friends, who passed away when the pair were younger.
He explained: “With a friend of mine, he passed away when we were younger, and it was always his favourite number.
“So when I had the opportunity to choose No.37 when I signed for Tottenham… to be honest, it’s for him.”
At previous club Wolfsburg, Van de Ven wore the number five shirt, having been assigned it when he joined from Dutch second tier side Volendam in 2021, where he wore number four.
There were a few raised eyebrows in pre-season when Spurs opted to hand some of their new signings ‘temporary squad numbers’ during the side’s early games.
James Maddison, Manor Solomon and Destiny Udogie wore shirt numbers 71, 72 and 73 – although Spurs announced that an announcement would later follow regarding their official shirt numbers for the 2023/24 Premier League season.
Postecoglou’s side take on Everton in the early kick-off on Saturday afternoon, having secured a thrilling 3-2 victory over Brentford during the midweek fixture schedule.

The 23-year-old full-back, who signed for Spurs from Middlesbrough in July 2022 for an initial £12.5 million, joined Championship side Leeds on a season-long loan in August.
But after being restricted to just seven league appearances after being sidelined for over two months with a knee injury, Spence’s loan was cut short in January.
Spence, who has played just six times for Tottenham since his move, is now training with the club’s Under-21s until he can secure a move away, according to football.london.
In fact, Fabrizio Romano says the North London club are already planning to loan the player out again for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign.
If Spence did play for Spurs again this season, then a loan move would be ruled out as you cannot play for three different clubs in the same campaign.
So why was Spence’s loan terminated earlier this month? Leeds boss Daniel Farke recently suggested concerns over his attitude was one of the reasons.
“I don’t want to talk too much about Djed right now, because he’s back at Tottenham and I totally respect that he’s their player,” he began.
“Listen, in the summer we came here in order to create and to bring new values and to create a new culture within the club and when we speak about a player if he’s on here on a permanent or a loan deal, we have expectations and these expectations are in several topics important.”
Farke added: “Obviously it’s important, the potential and the quality of the player but also it’s professionalism, it’s discipline, it’s workload on and off the pitch and also the soft skills, so also if he’s positive and committed, good for the group and engaged with these topics, paint then more or less a picture.
“And we decided okay, this is the player we want in our group and want to represent Leeds United, our demands are very, very high and we don’t differ between loan players, permanent players so we are pretty picky in this topic.”

Spence is expected to complete a loan move away from Spurs in the coming days.

Despite losing talisman Harry Kane in the summer, the former Celtic manager has made a huge impact at Spurs and transformed them into one of the most exciting sides in the league.
Spurs were topping the table in the early stages and with a string of injuries to contend with, find themselves in fifth place – just six points off leaders Liverpool after 20 games.
The North London side were eliminated from the Carabao Cup on penalties in the second round against Fulham and will try and fare better in the FA Cup, where they host Burnley on Friday night.
Spurs’ last trophy win came in 2008 and in his recent presser, Postecoglou was asked if he pictures himself with silverware.
The 58-year-old continued his fine form in press conferences, replying: “I’ve got real pictures, mate. There’s quite a few of them mate. No I just look at the ones I’ve got mate.”

When the journalist said Postecoglou was “lucky” to be able to do that, he added: “No I’ve earned them, I’m not lucky!”.
Postecoglou’s trophy haul includes league titles in Scotland, Australia and Japan, as well as an Asian Cup win on the international stage in 2015.
He has three Premier League Manager of the Month awards in his collection so far but silverware will be how he is measures.

Spurs haven’t won a major trophy in nearly 16 years, with the last triumph the League Cup under Juande Ramos.
Postecoglou was asked about the drought in his very first press conference and made an immediate impression.
“You’ve painted a pretty bleak picture. I was excited about this role!” he joked.
“But to be fair, that’s why I’m here. That’s what I love about it, all those things that are not here. And that’s what I want to bring. I want to bring success, bring European football. I want this club to be where it deserves to be.”

The experienced Australian has had a fantastic start to life at the North London club, with Spurs unbeaten and taking three points from their first three Premier League games.
They drew against Brentford in the opener before recording 2-0 wins over Manchester United and Bournemouth.
Spurs have not only showcased an exciting brand of football that the fans can enjoy, but Postecoglou has also been a breath of fresh air.
Supporters have came up with a catchy song for their new boss, to the tune of one of the greatest karaoke classics.
And former Take That member Williams, a staunch Port Vale, has given it his complete seal of approval.
He posted a video of him singing it on his social media channels, with Spurs fans absolutely lapping it up.
The lyrics are: “And through it all.. we’re playing the way we want to… big Ange Postecoglou… whether I’m right or wrong.
“You can keep your Pochettino, Conte and Mourinho, and even Christian Gross. Cos everywhere we go … I’m loving Big Ange instead.”
The video has gone viral and one can’t wait to hear what Postecoglou has to say about it when he’s asked in his next press conference.

The 58-year-old’s name was chanted prior to the Brentford game but Postecoglou doesn’t feel he’s fully deserving of being serenaded just yet.
“It means a lot but I’m not comfortable with it,” he said.
“You love what it means. For the most part it’s blind faith. I haven’t earned it yet. Hopefully when the day comes that we deliver something it will mean even more.
“I’m not dismissive of it and I’m very appreciative of it but it reminds me of the responsibility that I have to repay that faith.”
Spurs are in action again on Tuesday in a Carabao Cup tie against Fulham, before they play Burnley on Saturday September 2.
Featured Image Credit: Robbie Williams
Ange Postecoglou gave a brilliant response when asked if Tottenham Hotspur fans should temper their expectations.
After losing talisman Harry Kane to Bayern Munich in the summer transfer window, many Spurs fans were fearing the worst heading into the 23/24 season.
However, under Postecoglou, Spurs currently sit second in the Premier League table after collecting 13 points from their opening five matches.
On the back of their dramatic 2-1 win over Sheffield United on Saturday, many Spurs fans are starting to get excited about the Postecoglou era.
During his post-match press conference, Postecoglou was asked whether Spurs fans should temper their expectations.
The Australian’s response will for sure go down well with the Spurs fans.
He said: “No, no, no, let them go, let them go and enjoy it. My role is not to burst people’s bubbles.
“Let them get excited, let them get ahead of themselves. That’s the beauty of being a supporter. They go through enough pain mate, you want to let them enjoy it.”
Postecoglou added: “If they think we’re going to be world beaters then great, that’s up to us to match that expectation.
“Our supporters deserve to have some happiness and enjoy it any way they want to.”

Speaking about the match against Sheffield, Postecoglou said: “There was a fair bit going on today! It’s great. You want to see all aspects of our team developing and today was as much about the character as the football. It was great to see the players react. It was a difficult game.
“There just seemed to be a lot of dead time, a lot of stoppages, no great flow. For the most part we handled it okay.”
He continued: “I really liked the way the boys went about it. We stayed calm, clear-headed and worked our way into the game in a really good way considering all the chaos that was happening.”