Manager Thomas Frank

[Matt1882]

It wasn't Daniel Levy he had a problem with (I know people won't want to accept that). He's done interviews confirming as much and his main issue was with the players.

It's even more of a problem now.

For any manager, including the current one, it's the problem. It won't fix itself by simply bringing in a new coach/manager, because all the real problems are above that (who is the 'sporting director'? Is Paratici staying or going? Should he go anyway? Who decides if managers stay or go? Who picks the next one? Who decided to sell Johnson and what's their next plan, etc)

Conte identified a cultural issue which has outlived everything else so far

Click to shrink...

Antonio Conte criticises Tottenham Hotspur ownership and 'selfish' players

A furious Antonio Conte says his Tottenham players are "selfish" and the club "can change the manager but the situation cannot change".

www.bbc.co.uk

Yes, he had a dig at the players. But....

"Tottenham's story is this - 20 years there is this owner and they never won something. Why?" Conte said.

Click to shrink...

And

"The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here?" said Conte. "I have seen the managers that Tottenham had on the bench. You risk to disrupt the figure of the manager and to protect the other situation in every moment.

Click to shrink...

And

"Maybe previously in the other games something can change. But here we're used to it for a long time.

Click to shrink...

There were indeed a lot of finger points at players. But what was obvious was that he wasn't getting the players he wanted, like Bastoni, and was getting saddled with loans for Lenglet and Danjouma.
Most of the rant was, IMO, pointing at how this is a long term problem, so long terms that some of the current squad weren't even born when it started.

 

[Hulk]

Does it?
Or does it force our hand to maybe act swiftly to beat them to the punch?

For all we know, United could get Carrick for the remainder of the season. He'd do fcuk all for us.
Chelsea are literally about to hire a man that not one single Spurs fan would vote for. Not even Richardarlison and he argues with fucking EVERYTHING.

Click to shrink...

Rosenior would be a huge shock, hadn't even seen that he was being interviewed tbh!

If us and Utd are in for the same candidate they would always pick United imo - unless its Poch perhaps? Seems Fletcher is going to be caretaker there for now at least.
I dunno mate - whatever happens we are going to be shit for another big period of time and I have lost all faith in everything we are trying or not trying to do.

 

[ElTel]

All that "Thomas the Frank engine" cringe seems a long time ago now, doesn't it

Click to shrink...

I guess he is more of a Tommy Tanker now

 

[Matt1882]

Rosenior would be a huge shock, hadn't even seen that he was being interviewed tbh!

If us and Utd are in for the same candidate they would always pick United imo - unless its Poch perhaps? Seems Fletcher is going to be caretaker there for now at least.
I dunno mate - whatever happens we are going to be shit for another big period of time and I have lost all faith in everything we are trying or not trying to do.

Click to shrink...

I'm not even convinced we'd be looking at the same candidates.
United could well be looking at Maresca. Would we be happy with him?
I'm sure a large portion of Spurs fans would be frothing at the mouth at yet another ex-Chelsea manager. Especially straight from a Chesea sacking.

 

[$hoguN]

Utd sack Amorim, Forest got rid of Ange sharpish when it wasn’t working, Maresca goes from Chelsea. Yet here we are, booing our manager off every game with no change.

 

[ElTel]

If I’m honest, I think we are fucked

Click to shrink...

 

[Matt1882]

Utd sack Amorim, Forest got rid of Ange sharpish when it wasn’t working, Maresca goes from Chelsea. Yet here we are, booing our manager off every game with no change.

Click to shrink...

We were boo'd off and failed to win yesterday because the players were inept.
So many wasted chances to finish that game off. Not talking about missed shots, rather pathetic attempts to pass to team mates at critical moments. NOT backwards when it could have gone forwards, but ballsing up the forward pass when it was seemingly easier to get right.

 

[ElTel]

Rosenior would be a huge shock, hadn't even seen that he was being interviewed tbh!

If us and Utd are in for the same candidate they would always pick United imo - unless its Poch perhaps? Seems Fletcher is going to be caretaker there for now at least.
I dunno mate - whatever happens we are going to be shit for another big period of time and I have lost all faith in everything we are trying or not trying to do.

Click to shrink...

Poch would choose Utd over us 100%

He was flirting with them when he was managing us, going for lunch with Fergie

Poch chose to manage Chelsea FFS......he isnt loyal to Spurs above anything or anyone else.

 

[Matt1882]

Utd sack Amorim, Forest got rid of Ange sharpish when it wasn’t working, Maresca goes from Chelsea. Yet here we are, booing our manager off every game with no change.

Click to shrink...

We were boo'd off and failed to win yesterday because the players were inept.
So many wasted chances to finish that game off. Not talking about missed shots, rather pathetic attempts to pass to team mates at critical moments. NOT backwards when it could have gone forwards, but ballsing up the forward pass when it was seemingly easier to get right.

Click to shrink...

Also note that 2 of those coaches were in their jobs almost 3 times longer than Frank has been.
Ange is just a total imposter of a coach. Take his first 10 games in the EPL out of the equation and he'd take anyone down.

 

[Herclueless]

I was all in on Glasner tbh but Palace are struggling.

I think Iraola would struggle here with the expectation and the multiple games a week. Silva or De Zerbi would be too argumentative.

If I’m honest, I think we are fucked. A massively poisoned chalice. With a poor squad, a board that are seemingly incompetent with too many chefs now and no accountability or responsibility.

Click to shrink...

I think in terms of achieving anything meaningful then you might be right.

There's just too much competition, too much money in the game. Our stadium that was supposed to be a gamechanger simply doesn't give us the edge that it was intended to. Any marginal benefits are easily frittered away in just one poor signing.

Even if we have an absolute blinder of a year, getting it right on the coaching front, the transfer front, the medical front, then you still have 3 outright cheat clubs to contend with, after that there are the historical powerhouse clubs to contend with.

Any year where everything isn't absolutely perfect then there's no chance of beating out all of those.

Any year where multiple things are sub-par and we struggle to even compete with the likes of Brighton, Bournemouth, and Palace.

Best we can really hope for right now is to be entertaining, and the odd Cup win, then hope to build from there. Neither of which look even close to happening this season.

 

[CaptainCabinets]

The more I think about it, Conte was a terrible appointment for the club chiefs, but a necessary one in general for us fans.

His ultra winning mentality made a lot of our loser players uncomfortable, and rattled the board. But worse for them was it became public.

Conte effectively exposed the rancid 'it's ok to lose' culture at the club from top to bottom and it's no surprise that the board have been under immense pressure since and that there is hardly a player now fans give a damn about.

The fans now see the whole charade of just doing nothing more than accept PL status. Thomas Frank is the final piece of this type of thinking that hopefully dies with the levy era.

No one should be safe at this club beyond the summer. A serious revamp is needed.

 

[Hulk]

Poch would choose Utd over us 100%

He was flirting with them when he was managing us, going for lunch with Fergie

Poch chose to manage Chelsea FFS......he isnt loyal to Spurs above anything or anyone else.

Click to shrink...

We didn't approach him before he went to Chelsea and has before that and since then commented publicly about coming back to Spurs - I wouldn't be so sure he would choose Utd at all.

 

[CJJ]

Antonio Conte criticises Tottenham Hotspur ownership and 'selfish' players

A furious Antonio Conte says his Tottenham players are "selfish" and the club "can change the manager but the situation cannot change".

www.bbc.co.uk

Yes, he had a dig at the players. But....

And

And


There were indeed a lot of finger points at players. But what was obvious was that he wasn't getting the players he wanted, like Bastoni, and was getting saddled with loans for Lenglet and Danjouma.
Most of the rant was, IMO, pointing at how this is a long term problem, so long terms that some of the current squad weren't even born when it started.

Click to shrink...

Full rant is transcribed here: Conte press conference: My players were selfish

What he was saying was a bit broken english, so people will probably hyper-focus on one sentence, but his point was about player power. He was basically saying the players are lazy nobheads but the managers take the responsibility and everyone protects the players.

It was clarified a bit more in a later interview:

Antonio Conte exclusive: "It’s not enough to just entertain – my teams have to win”

From his home in Turin, the Italian discusses Subbuteo, style, his toughest moment and managing Chelsea and Tottenham in his first interview since leaving Spurs

web.archive.org

It was after the Southampton game that Conte gave what proved to be his exit speech, when he said Tottenham’s players didn’t “want to play under pressure and under stress”, and suggested the club’s long wait for a trophy could not only be Levy’s fault. He also predicted Tottenham would finish “seventh, eighth or 10th” with the attitude and commitment the players were showing.

Tottenham were fourth when Conte returned to Italy for the final time and finished the season in eighth place following his departure.

“At that moment, my feeling was that,” said Conte. “If I tell something, it means there is always something true. No, honestly, I don’t regret anything about this. But I have good feelings about Tottenham. I keep this experience in my heart.

Click to shrink...

Not really a matter of player quality in his complaints, but all about attitude. I think he felt that the players knew they could just ignore him like they did Mourinho, and that they would ultimately last longer.

There was also this:

Conte could not bring himself to wildly celebrate finishing fourth at the end of his first six months at Tottenham, despite describing Champions League qualification as “a miracle” after taking over as head coach with the team ninth in the Premier League table.

“For me, to celebrate fourth place and a place in the Champions League was really strange,” said Conte. “At the end of the final game against Norwich, I called my staff and said ‘pay attention, don’t be used to celebrating a Champions League place’. I was very clear. I said we did the maximum. From ninth to fourth place, with all the problems we faced, was a miracle. But we didn’t celebrate like it was a miracle because I am used to winning.”

Click to shrink...

Listening to how little the players like VDV seemed to care about finished 17th or losing all those games really highlights that it is still a thing. Conte would have gone apeshit about the attitude


For me, it would be dangerous to just assume we can replace a manager and then that's it. It has been 4 years, maybe longer, that were kicking the can down the road with the squad issue. In some ways, the "good news" is that there's basically no one of sentimental value left, so there shouldn't be an excuse to just do major surgery

 

[Matt1882]

The more I think about it, Conte was a terrible appointment for the club chiefs, but a necessary one in general for us fans.

His ultra winning mentality made a lot of our loser players uncomfortable, and rattled the board. But worse for them was it became public.

Conte effectively exposed the rancid 'it's ok to lose' culture at the club from top to bottom and it's no surprise that the board have been under immense pressure since and that there is hardly a player now fans give a damn about.

The fans now see the whole charade of just doing nothing more than accept PL status. Thomas Frank is the final piece of this type of thinking that hopefully dies with the levy era.

No one should be safe at this club beyond the summer. A serious revamp is needed.

Click to shrink...

I said on day one of Conte, he either comes in and changes the mentality and wins silverwear, or he goes out guns blazing and exposes what's going on.
I'd have rather it was the former, but the latter was also long overdue.

 

[Matt1882]

Full rant is transcribed here: Conte press conference: My players were selfish

What he was saying was a bit broken english, so people will probably hyper-focus on one sentence, but his point was about player power. He was basically saying the players are lazy nobheads but the managers take the responsibility and everyone protects the players.

It was clarified a bit more in a later interview:

Antonio Conte exclusive: "It’s not enough to just entertain – my teams have to win”

From his home in Turin, the Italian discusses Subbuteo, style, his toughest moment and managing Chelsea and Tottenham in his first interview since leaving Spurs

web.archive.org

Not really a matter of player quality in his complaints, but all about attitude. I think he felt that the players knew they could just ignore him like they did Mourinho, and that they would ultimately last longer.

There was also this:


Listening to how little the players like VDV seemed to care about finished 17th or losing all those games really highlights that it is still a thing. Conte would have gone apeshit about the attitude


For me, it would be dangerous to just assume we can replace a manager and then that's it. It has been 4 years, maybe longer, that were kicking the can down the road with the squad issue. In some ways, the "good news" is that there's basically no one of sentimental value left, so there shouldn't be an excuse to just do major surgery

Click to shrink...

But why were the players at Spurs protected for 20 years and the managers took the fall?
Is it because it's cheaper to change manager than buy a new squad?
Who makes that call each time?

 

[Honest John]

More surprising is the fact that Frank has outlasted Amorim and Maresca. Our club is ok with mediocrity I guess

Click to shrink...

Yep.

 

[Timberwolf]

Poch would choose Utd over us 100%

He was flirting with them when he was managing us, going for lunch with Fergie

Poch chose to manage Chelsea FFS......he isnt loyal to Spurs above anything or anyone else.

Click to shrink...

Call me naive but I firmly disagree with that.

Poch literally said in a recent interview that his dream in football would be to return to Spurs and win something. He coulda said win the World Cup as Argentina manager, win the Premier League without naming a club - he coulda said anything and he chose us. I know he went to Chelsea but it's clear we're his club.

He's always showing us a bit of leg and hinting that he'd love to come back. He strikes me as an old romantic with his batshit lemon obsession. Genuinely reckon he'd choose us over United if we both offered him the job.

 

[ElTel]

We didn't approach him before he went to Chelsea and has before that and since then commented publicly about coming back to Spurs - I wouldn't be so sure he would choose Utd at all.

Click to shrink...

He shouldn't even consider Chelsea or Woolwich if Tottenham means anything to him

 

[ElTel]

Call me naive but I firmly disagree with that.

Poch literally said in a recent interview that his dream in football would be to return to Spurs and win something. He coulda said win the World Cup for as Argentina manager, win the Premier League without naming a club - he coulda said anything and he chose us.

He's always showing us a bit of leg and hinting that he'd love to come back. He strikes me as an old romantic with his batshit lemon obsession. Genuinely reckon he'd choose us over United if we both offered him the job.

Click to shrink...

I'm sure he would love to come back at some point, but if it's a choice between Utd and Spurs at the same time he is picking Utd

 

[Timberwolf]

I'm sure he would love to come back at some point, but if it's a choice between Utd and Spurs at the same time he is picking Utd

Click to shrink...

He knows what it feels like to be unloved at other big clubs and he's made enough money to live comfortably for 10 lifetimes. At Spurs he'd be properly adored by the fans if he came back in a way he'd never get anywhere else. I don't think the United job would hold the same allure to him that it did 6-7 years ago.

I reckon if he comes back to the PL the sentimental aspect of Spurs would be a massive draw for him. He's that kind of guy.

Personally, I think it would likely end in tears, but given the other options on the market Poch is becoming more and more appealing, provided he's contractually obliged to never play a diamond.