Yeah I got the sense Frank lacked a bit of emotional intelligence and awareness. Or better put, street smarts. You might be able to get away with that at a club like Brentford where you're merely the figurehead of a wider coaching team, but when you're the guy at a big club you've gotta be shit hot at reading people, judging the mood in a room, rousing a group.
Frank always felt a bit too rational and one-note to me. And ironically I think this is why a lot of journalists and media folk like him - cos he's a bit of an unassuming nice guy. He's relatable and nerdy like them. A manager you can imagine sitting down and doing a podcast rather than a leader of men.
The 'we walk over and clap the fans after every game' thing is a manifestation of that. At Brentford that's a nice gesture cos there's no pressure or scrutiny, but having a blanket rule like that at Spurs where the fans are raging and the media are watching every moment is just setting yourself up for failure. Especially if you're not a Klopp-like figure who can back it up with sheer charisma and/or results on the pitch.
I don't like what they did but VdV and Spence ignoring Frank was clearly borne of some deep disconnect with the manager - you don't do that, or believe you can get away with it, if the manager is someone you respect. I think they felt he was embarrassing them both on and off the pitch and it was a canary in the coal-mine. Our results fell off pretty much from that moment onwards.
Yeah, I'd love their to be a study to work out why Frank failed so badly at Spurs, but there won't be, so we are just left with using our own intuition and some common sense.
He simply doesn't have the personality, and lacked charisma to manage a big club. It's as simple as that. He's nerdy like you say, a lovely guy, but that's just the issue, when you think of Frank you think, yeah lovely guy. But you don't think, born winner, charismatic, a leader of men.
I just don't think he really knew how to do anything than keep being a nice guy and hoping it would all work out.
The lack of discipline in the squad, and time keeping etc showed that they didn't respect Frank. Then on top of that, you have his style of play, too much time focused on stopping the opposition, and you can see why the players didn't take to him.
If you are someone like Romero, it's easy to see why you would find someone like Tudor, who has played for Juventus at the highest level, a club you also have an affinity to, much more relateable and a man to respect, than Frank.
It's just the way it is. Yeah we can think the players are idiots, but ultimately a managers job is to get the best out of the players, and get them onside and performing.