Tottenham have sacked one other supervisor. What went flawed for Thomas Frank and the place do they go from right here?
Thomas Frank’s Tottenham reign is over.
After lower than eight months in cost, the Danish head coach has been relieved of his duties in North London.
The choice comes after Spurs suffered one other Premier League defeat in 2026, this time at home to Newcastle, extending their winless run within the high flight to eight video games and dropping them all the way down to sixteenth within the desk.
With simply two Premier League wins of their final 17 outings, and after averaging 1.16 factors per sport throughout his tenure, Frank’s place was untenable.
Like earlier managers of the membership, he went out in a fiery blaze, delivering a shocking post-match interview by which he blamed accidents for Tottenham’s struggles in 2025-26.
In Frank’s phrases, he stated: “It’s straightforward to level on me however I additionally suppose it’s by no means solely the top coach or the possession or the administrators or the gamers or the employees.”
Seemingly, the board, notably Vinai Venketasham and Johan Lange, didn’t take that assertion on board and can now spend the subsequent few days looking for a successor to the previous Brentford boss.
However what was the most important consider Frank’s departure, and what ought to Tottenham do now to get themselves again on observe?
We take a deep dive into the most important points contained in the fractured dressing room.
Play the Tottenham manner – or not
Tottenham followers are very insistent on enjoying a sure model of soccer. Ange Postecoglou’s total appointment was centred on his front-foot strategy, however Frank’s arrival marked a step again from that philosophy.
In consequence, it made it instantly troublesome to purchase into the tradition, with a lot of Frank’s give attention to the opposition and the way Spurs may nullify them, fairly than work on their very own intent to trigger harm.
On the pitch, the strategy was rather more defensive than followers anticipated, significantly after the top coach promised an aggressive, attacking workforce in his very first press convention final summer season.
After just a few weeks of timidly approaching matches in opposition to decrease opposition, frustrations had been fast to emerge on social media, and ultimately contained in the stadium.
With the facet averaging lower than 50% possession per sport and struggling to create any significant probabilities, followers’ frustrations in a short time changed into anger, culminating within the largest refrain of jeers and chants in the direction of the supervisor within the 2-1 loss to Newcastle on Tuesday evening.
Spurs are one of many largest overperformers relating to anticipated objectives (xG) within the Premier League this season, maybe the most important signal of all of them that what Frank had promised on his first day was by no means going to turn into a actuality.
Stubbornness within the media
One of many largest elements enjoying into Tottenham followers wanting Mauricio Pochettino again on the membership is his relationship with the followers.
Whereas some might argue that he possessed the best Spurs facet of the Premier League period, he was all the time on the facet of the supporters when dealing with the general public.
The stretches so far as final week, when he was quoted on the Excessive Efficiency podcast as eager to return to the membership and get them again on the stage he feels Tottenham needs to be competing at – domestically and in Europe.
For Frank, that relationship was by no means fashioned. His fixed snipes on the fanbase in his press conferences solely dragged down his popularity, and feedback suggesting the followers had been partly accountable for his gamers’ poor performances weren’t effectively obtained.
In truth, his phrases had the other impact. As he continued to drum on about needing help contained in the stadium, the boos grew louder, and echoes of ‘He’s magic, you understand’ (referencing Pochettino) grew to become extra frequent.
Unquestionably, Spurs followers have excessive requirements and expectations, therefore why the fixed pining for Poch nonetheless lingers seven years after his departure.
However if you wish to actually reach N17, you must give the gang one thing to get behind. Sadly for Frank, neither his character or soccer was as much as scratch.
The unending harm disaster
It could be unfair to not identify Tottenham’s more and more worrying harm disaster as a consider Frank’s failure.
The Lilywhites had been with out 11 senior gamers for the loss to Newcastle, together with some huge names similar to James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohammed Kudus, and several other others.
Spurs additionally misplaced Wilson Odobert on the evening, and are with out captain Cristian Romero for an additional three matches, after he was despatched off for a second time this season in opposition to Manchester United.
Any supervisor standing within the dugout would wrestle with the state of affairs the membership at present discover themselves in. To have so many influential figures lacking is unprecedented, and arguably worse than the harm card Ange Postecoglou was dealt final time period.
The upper-ups in North London have already overhauled the medical division in the previous couple of years, however issues with accidents gave the impression to be tied to the membership itself.
Frank steered in his last interview that the variety of unavailable gamers made it unattainable to compete in all competitions, with the membership nonetheless lively in Europe however as soon as agian forfeiting their home targets.
Again in the summertime, Venkatesham claimed that Frank was appointed with a view to competing on all fronts, one thing that has failed spectacularly.
Even with 12 now lacking from their ranks, Tottenham’s obtainable facet shouldn’t be a workforce that needs to be flirting with relegation.
Failure within the switch markets
Tottenham backed Thomas Frank in the summertime switch window. The membership spent £180million on incomings, together with a inventive outlet in Xavi Simons, a robust winger in Kudus, in addition to an skilled head in Joao Palhinha.
However in January, arguably a extra essential window contemplating the membership’s short-staffed issues, Spurs settled for the arrivals of Souza – a 19-year-old defender who barely speaks a phrase of England – and Conor Gallagher.
Whereas Gallagher could also be signing in isolation, bringing in one other midfielder who suits an analogous profile to what they membership have already got of their ranks was merely dangerous decision-making.
Sporting director Johan Lange sat down and mirrored on the January window in an eight-minute video by which he claimed to have opted for a longer-term technique, with the membership extra prepared to maneuver for gamers in the summertime fairly than goal a short-term repair.
It could have made sense to the planning workforce at Hotspur Means, however lower than two weeks after the window had closed, the shortage of depth maybe proved to be the ultimate nail in Frank’s coffin.
The place do Tottenham go now?
So, the cycle at Spurs continues and they’re as soon as once more on the hunt for a brand new supervisor, the massive query, although, is who can repair this big mess?
Quite a lot of the blame will rightfully be positioned on the supervisor, however the points run a lot deeper than that. Gamers are in the end underperforming, and whereas Frank could also be gone, there may be now an enormous run between now and the top of the season that whoever is available in might want to navigate with the final word intention of avoiding relegation.
The apparent selection is Pochettino, with studies going as far as to counsel that Spurs view him as the right appointment, however together with his USMNT commitments and a house World Cup on the horizon, that dream might have to attend, even when just for a short lived interval.
Spurs may appoint an interim supervisor between now and Could, however run the chance of falling additional into the clutches of the underside three if they don’t hit the bottom working.
Alternatively, they may search a everlasting supervisor instantly, with Roberto De Zerbi now obtainable, alongside another huge names similar to Xavi and Xabi Alonso.
It’s a huge determination to make, however these on the high should get it proper; in any other case, Spurs may pay the final word value and face the drop in what could be one of many largest moments in Premier League historical past.
