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The former Premier League star only recently retired from football
TOTTENHAM fans are used to seeing Toby Alderweireld keeping things quiet at the back – not belting out Mr Brightside dressed as an OWL.
But that’s exactly what the Belgian defender was revealed to be on Friday night’s episode of The Masked Singer Belgium.
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The 36-year-old had viewers in stitches when he was unmasked as Oehoe, the show’s eagle-owl character, after weeks of mystery performances.
And fans could hardly believe it when the former Spurs hardman took off his feathery mask, with his famously slick hair still perfectly in place.
Alderweireld spent six years at Tottenham, making 236 appearances and forming one of the club’s best-ever centre-back pairings with compatriot Jan Vertonghen.
He was a rock in Mauricio Pochettino’s side that reached the Champions League Final in 2019, before leaving Spurs in 2021.
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The Belgian then enjoyed a short spell in Qatar before returning home for a fairytale final chapter with Royal Antwerp.
Alderweireld wrote himself into club folklore last year by scoring a dramatic last-minute goal to clinch Antwerp’s first league title in 66 years.
He even captained them into the Champions League group stages for the first time ever before announcing his retirement at the end of last season.
But few could have predicted his next move would involve singing and dancing in a massive owl costume on national TV.
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During his time on The Masked Singer, Alderweireld wowed audiences with renditions of songs such as Mr Brightside by The Killers and Narcotic by Liquido.
When his time on the show came to an end, the ex-Spurs man admitted: “This hurts a little bit.
“As a competitive person, I would have liked to stay in it a bit longer.”
He added: “I considered giving up a few times, but in the end I decided to keep going. I look back on it with a big smile.”
After the reveal, he took to Instagram to say: “And that’s a wrap for me on The Masked Singer! I had the best time performing and keeping the secret alive.
“Massive thanks to my partner in feathers, Oehoe. What a ride!”
Some fans in Belgium had already suspected it was him with Alderweireld coyly dodging the question in a recent podcast appearance.
Others were surprised and took to X to express their views. One said: “He wasn’t on my bingo card.”
Another said: “You really never know what someone’s true passions are sometimes.”
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And it turns out those eagle-eyed – or should that be owl-eyed – supporters were absolutely right.
Fittingly, Royal Antwerp’s mascot is an owl, and their stadium is nicknamed The Owl’s Nest, so maybe this latest twist wasn’t such a flight of fancy after all.
By Tom Barclay
THE timing was curious but it was the right call.
He may have seen it differently, but Daniel Levy’s fractious relationship with many Tottenham fans had broken down to the point of no return.
No matter what he did – and he did do a considerable amount for the North Londoners – their view of him had become entrenched and unchangeable.
It meant that every time Spurs had a bad result, or a transfer go awry, as seen by the Eberechi Eze hijack earlier this summer, the finger was instantly pointed to Levy.
The noise would grow to toxic levels – and not just on social media – and risk enveloping the club completely.
Levy’s stewardship, along with that of majority owners ENIC, had thousands of supporters taking to the streets in protest ahead of February’s 1-0 win over Manchester United.
Even when he finally oversaw a second trophy of his 25-year tenure in May with the clinching of the Europa League – 17 years after the first piece of silverware – it was not enough to change hearts and minds.
Levy turned Spurs into genuine powerhouses of English football in his quarter of a century and built one of the greatest football stadiums on the planet.
But his lack of trophies, approach to transfers, poor communication, ticket-pricing stance and flirtation with the failed Super League, meant the alleged negatives outweighed the positives in the minds of many fans.
His trigger-happy nature of hiring and firing 15 permanent bosses irked supporters, too.
Jose Mourinho was axed just days before the 2021 Carabao Cup final, while Ange Postecoglou was dismissed two weeks on from his Europa League triumph.
Neither are expected to rush to wish their condolences to Levy now he too has departed.
My only meeting with Levy came in 2022 during the club’s Far-Eastern tour to Seoul in South Korea, where he joined a group of journalists for a cup of tea for 15 minutes at the club’s plush hotel.
He was perfectly pleasant, if cagey, and you left being none the wiser on his views.
But the view from a vast swathe of supporters on him has been clear for some time.
Levy, the highest-paid director in the Premier League on £3.7million a year, became the lightning rod for all their frustrations, rightly or wrongly.
They had called for his exit long ago and were only going to do it again and again in the coming years.
If the new generation of the Lewis family who are in control of Spurs now are genuine about their vision of the future, it is understandable why they wanted to put that toxicity in the past.
He told Gary Neville just last month that when he’s no longer at Tottenham, “I’m sure I’ll get the credit” for all he has done for the club.
Now that theory will be put to the test after his shock exit three games into the new season.
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