THST Sceptical Over Real Madrid 'Partnership' After Public Gareth Bale Courting

Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust (THST) has questioned the legitimacy of the club's "strategic relationship" with Real Madrid and demanded chairman Daniel Levy clarify the current partnership between the two clubs.

Upon the sale of Luka Modric to Madrid last summer, both clubs announced an agreement to work together "in respect of players, coaching, best practices and commercial relationships."

However, in the 12 months following the agreement, there is scant evidence of the relationship while Madrid have publically pursued Gareth Bale, who officially joined Los Blancos on the penultimate day of the summer transfer window, leading to criticism from Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas.

An online petition launched by blog site e-Spurs - which is requesting the partnership be "terminated" - has attained over 3,000 signatures and will be submitted to THST with the intention of being handed to White Hart Lane officials.

THST Joint Chairman, Darren Alexander, has expressed concerns over the validity of the partnership and says Tottenham must provide evidence of the partnerships' benefits.

"If they can't give us anything physical that has happened in the relationship then it will look like what people say at the end of a transfer to make it appear they've got a better deal than they have," Alexander told IBTimes UK.

"We understand the club has to do the commercial deals that they feel are best for the short term future of the club that may upset the fans. But that is substantial and offers something in return and is not just words at the end of a statement. I do think Spurs fans deserve to know that.

"When the guys who have started the petition what to hand it to us, we will pass it onto the club. I'm sure they will accept it. We had already decided as the Trust board that we were actively going to contact the THFC board regarding this special relationship.

"I'd love Daniel Levy to respond in person but he doesn't tend to do that. I hope the Spurs board understand where we're coming from. The best scenarios would be 'this is what we've achieved in the last year' or they turn around and say 'as far we are concerned, the partnership is over'.

"Why would they say anything other than those two? The only reason that I can think of is that it was all spin anyway."

In a joint statement released in August 2012, which also confirmed Modric's move to the Bernabeu, Real president Florentino Perez said: "The strong relationship and affinity between our two clubs has resulted in the cementing of a longer-term partnership. [We] look forward to working closely with Tottenham in the coming years."

Levy added that Real were "a club with which we now look forward to sharing a long and productive partnership."

When asked by IBTimes UK for comment regarding the petition, the THST's intentions and clarification regarding the relationship with Real and the remunerations, a club spokesman said: "We are not making any public comment about this at this time."

Real Madrid were unavailable for comment.