The problem we have is that they have no respect for the club, either.
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Manager Thomas Frank
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The problem we have is that they have no respect for the club, either.
What's the problem? He's just spending half the time glazing Woolwich, seems to be what half the people on here do every day too...
Matt Law:
Thomas Frank’s bizarre obsession with Arsenal helped seal his fate
archived 11 Feb 2026 11:37:08 UTCarchive.ph
Thomas Frank’s bizarre obsession with Woolwich helped seal his fate
Poor results and a series of rookie errors also eventually led to the Dane’s sacking as Tottenham manager
By his own admission, Thomas Frank made his first rookie error as Tottenham Hotspur head coach before a ball had been kicked this season and the “A-word” proved to be a problematic theme of his eight months in charge.
It was in his first press conference following his appointment that Frank said: “I haven’t seen a team that is not losing any football matches. There is Woolwich, that we can’t mention, in the Premier League. So I made my first rookie mistake there.”
It was not a rookie mistake confined to his media duties, however, as Frank is said to have regularly referenced the strengths of Tottenham’s North London rivals in team meetings – much to the frustration of some players.
The irony of Frank finally being sacked ahead of next Sunday’s game against Woolwich will not have been lost on those who were surprised by his reverence to the Premier League leaders.
One source told Telegraph Sport: “He was constantly going on to the players about Woolwich and they quickly got sick of it. Even before and after the game at the Emirates, he was telling them how good Woolwich were. The feeling among some was very much ‘just shut up about Woolwich’.”
It is hardly surprising, then, that players were just as dismayed as supporters to see pictures of Frank holding an Woolwich coffee cup as he strolled around the Vitality Stadium ahead of Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth.
The resulting social media pictures poking fun at Frank and portraying him as an obsessive Woolwich fan were not just shared among Spurs fans, but also members of staff and players.
No sooner had Frank been seen with and Woolwich cup than the internet went Frank-Woolwich meme crazy...
...memes that were shared among Tottenham players and staff, so annoyed with the manager constantly talking about the club’s arch-rivals
It undoubtedly made life more difficult for Frank that his and Tottenham’s struggles came at a time when Woolwich were top of the Premier League and Champions League tables. Chief executive Vinai Venkatesham’s previous association with the club has been seized upon by critics, even though Spurs elected not to mention it when his appointment was announced last April.
Venkatesham can also be accused of making rookie errors that did not help Frank or Spurs. The club were gazumped by Woolwich for Eberechi Eze in the summer and the decision to officially reappoint Fabio Paratici as co-sporting director in October blew up in Venkatesham’s face, as it was announced three months later that the Italian would leave at the start of February.
Former Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou once joked the Australian national team federation would replace him with “John the Pragmatist” and those words resonated with Spurs players who worked with Postecoglou’s successor and fans who watched Frank’s team.
Just last week, Frank conceded: “I am pretty sure there are also some players who don’t think I am the best bloke or whatever it is.”
Almost from day one, there was a feeling within the squad that Frank placed too much emphasis on the opposition in training and preparation. A source said: “Most of the work was on what to do out of possession and how to nullify the opposition, rather than working on how they could hurt opponents.”
That was reflected in performances and results with some success in the early weeks of the season, as Tottenham won three of their first four Premier League games, conceding just one goal and beating Manchester City.
Alarm bells first started to ring with the home draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers and the league defeat to Aston Villa, which highlighted that starting with on-loan Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur was unnecessarily pragmatic when Spurs needed to take games to their opponents at the club’s £1bn stadium.
Frustration on and off the pitch boiled over in the home defeat to Chelsea at the beginning of November, when supporters booed and defenders Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence dismissed Frank’s suggestion for them to applaud the home crowd.
As exclusively reported by Telegraph Sport, players discussed their relationship with the fans in a team meeting after the defeat. It can now be revealed that players who had arrived in the summer were shocked to hear longer serving players articulate their strong feelings on what they believed was a long-standing disconnect.
That disconnect quickly widened with fans turning on goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario; arguing with Van de Van and Pedro Porro; and loudly singing “you’re getting sacked in the morning” at Frank.
The vehemence of the chanting against Frank in the defeat to West Ham United forced Tottenham’s Lewis family owners and Venkatesham to consider their options. The Dane was given a stay of execution for the Champions League visit of Borussia Dortmund and lunched with Venkatesham, Nick Beucher, who is a member of the Lewis family, and sporting director Johan Lange in the build-up to the game.
It was the Champions League that ultimately stopped Frank being sacked sooner, with Tottenham finishing fourth in the league phase. But his injury-hit team could not transfer their European form to the Premier League and Frank will not get the chance to take charge of Spurs in the last-16.
Frank had tried to remain calm amid the chaos. He likes to read for half-an-hour before going to bed to clear his mind of football and problems, and went for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea on the morning of Tottenham’s Champions League game in Monaco.
But there was no shaking the troubling feeling he had inherited an unbalanced squad that was incapable of competing domestically and in Europe, and that he was badly short of leaders.
Cristian Romero was made club captain under Frank after Heung-Min Son left the club, but there were doubts over his suitability for the role even before the Argentine’s post-transfer window head loss.
A strong character, sure. Somebody who can galvanise the team when he is in the right frame of mind. But a leader to rely upon when the going gets tough? His social media post less than an hour after the transfer window shut, describing Tottenham’s lack of available players as a “disgrace”, and subsequent red card at Manchester United provided a definitive answer.
Some believe Romero is granted privileges not afforded to others at Tottenham’s training ground and is not somebody who sets standards with the way he behaves. That feeling was underlined when the defender, who is the highest-paid player at Spurs, was not punished after publicly calling out the club’s hierarchy following the Bournemouth defeat.
On the same day the club confirmed Romero would not be fined, the defender was handed an extra game ban for refusing to leave the side of the pitch after being sent-off against Liverpool. He scored on his return to the team against West Ham, but also registered his eighth yellow card of the season.
The defender has three games of a four-game suspension left to serve and is only two bookings from another two-game ban. If availability is the best ability, then the 27-year-old has a lot of making up to do.
It is not just Romero’s discipline that has been questionable, as time-keeping was an issue for players, young and old, under Frank. The Dane tried to draw a line in the sand by leaving Yves Bissouma out of his first squad for the Uefa Super Cup following repeated incidents.
Bissouma apologised after being pictured using nitrous oxide, but was then called upon to make his first Spurs appearance of the season as a substitute in the defeat to West Ham. It was just the latest in a list of examples of Frank undermining his own authority.
Frank had arrived at Tottenham with a “no d---heads” policy that he cultivated at Brentford, but implementing that in north London was not as easy as he might have anticipated or liked. The cultural problems he encountered were not confined to his players, with issues existing and presenting themselves in other areas of the club.
They will not be magically cured by another change of head coach and, at Christmas, Frank had candidly warned club chiefs that the second half of the season would remain bumpy with tough moments. But, even after the embarrassing West Ham defeat, the former Brentford manager believed he could start to turn around the Spurs “supertanker”.
There were some encouraging signs in the Champions League victories and comeback draw against Manchester City. But an 11th League defeat of the season against Newcastle United, during which supporters again chanted “you’re getting sacked in the morning” and sang for Mauricio Pochettino, proved to be fatal.
Frank claimed he was “convinced” he retained the backing of the Tottenham board after the Newcastle loss, but that belief proved to be another rookie error to add to the list for the 52 year-old. The message for his successor is clear: Don’t mention the ‘A-word’.
Feels to me like most journalists have been keeping their powder dry, waiting for him to go
Matt Laws a twat, hates us Im sure, yet none of this came out before today did it?
Its not just the club mouthpieces keeping quiet
Exactly. Makes me laugh how people cannot understand that these leaks can only usually come after a manager has gone otheriwse they risk their sources and relationships
Had to happen - feel a bit sorry for him as he was clearly out of his depth and didn't seem a complete bellend like Ange. Then I remember he's getting a few million quid and I feel less sorry for him.
Just need someone to get us to the promised land of 17th place at the end of the season and we can start this vomit covered roller coaster all over again with the next guy in summer.
Just need someone to get us to the promised land of 17th place at the end of the season and we can start this vomit covered roller coaster all over again with the next guy in summer.
Not much good if you finish 17th and clearly arent suited to the prem.
Problem is our front 6 are pony
Fucking hell I thought this was a parody account.
The problem with rockets is that the players are the boss, they get their wages regardless if they play well or not, most of them sign long multi million pound contracts and literally no longer gjve a shit and do the bare minimum for their club team
The players have no respect for the manager, no respect for the club, and absolutely have no respect for the fans, that pathetic little huddle they do to walk off the pitch together. Get fucked the lot of them, you don't create a siege mentality against your own damn fans! But of course, that's easier than rectifying the abysmal performances that led to the consternation in the first place isn't it, heaven forbid they take some accountability themselves.
At this stage it seems debateable whether this lot even have any self-respect left, shit loads of ego to go around but seemingly very little in the way of pride.
Still need a massive clearout of the mediocre players in our squad though. Would happily see the back of any/all of Romero, Spence, Vicario, Porro, Biss, Sarr, RKM, Dragusin, Odobert and Bentancur,
What's your take on why Conte failed?
How about Mourinho?
What about Nuno?
Stellini?
Poch seems to be the only respected ex manager on this forum, and unsurprisingly he had the best on paper squad. Amazing that isn't it
Thing is Frank might have been an OK Woolwich manager. He is all about off the ball like Arteta. It’s clear Woolwich is the peak of his vision. You have to remember that Wenger was a very very un-Woolwich manager, their tradition is defence above all else.
We never do well with defensive managers, not the fans nor players. It doesn’t work and we hired a gooner loving defensive manager.
What an absolute fuck up. And people saying well we should have known. Well the fans aren’t paid to do due diligence on managers, we pay Lange and his people money to do that.
I wont hold it against them not wanting to hear about Woolwich, not wanting to focus on how teams will beat us, and actually wanting to play a bit of football...
I bet it was Richie!
