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Manager Thomas Frank

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Are you Frank Out or In?


  • Total voters
    623
As I said - hiring him isnt one Ill go at the club for. KEEPING him, however...

Vinai has to have his head on the block on that one, no avoiding it

Personally I expect he'll escape the guillotine - probably/possibly at Langes expense

I expect a new DoF to come in soon, I think we'll see things re-ordered then.

This isn't the first mistake Vinai has done, loads of red flags with him already and he hasn't even been in the job for a year.
 
It was very widely reported, for a good while, how Frank was primed for the next big job

That he came in talking the right talk tells me thats the basis on which he was hired

As you pointed out yourself - its all very reminiscent of Brighton/Potter/Chelsea - same mistake being made

I will happily kick the club for a lot of things, but for me hiring Frank was an honest mistake, so I wont kick them for that

Sooooo many people were convinced he would scale up, or like me convinced themselves...
I think you can hold the club to account for the Frank hire.
A couple of things always stood out for me other than my own personal view that he was a terrible manager and a terrible fit.
1. He interviewed for the Chav job after Poch but they decided to appoint a manager from the Championship
2. He interviewed for the United job and they went for Amorin
That right there is a red flag for me. Two big clubs with big expectations, interviewed him and decided they would go with Maresca and Amorin both of which have been sacked. These two clubs did the due diligence for you. Not good enough for them and he should not be good enough for us. If I am CEO at Spurs I am definitely wondering why those interviews didn't lead to him being appointed by one of those clubs.
 
This isn't the first mistake Vinai has done, loads of red flags with him already and he hasn't even been in the job for a year.

To be honest I think he is a lot like Frank - hired into a job he wasnt equipped for

At Woolwich he was running the business, not the football. He had Edu for that* and, judging by how we've seen him here, I fully believe he would have just been doing what Edu advised.

Here he doesnt have a DoF (yet) and so has had to look after the football side directly, and has been shite at it.

Which is why I think he'll be getting a DoF in to put as much distance between he and football as possible.

Has he failed? Fucked up? Yes, absolutely. Do I hold it against him right now? 50/50, as I say I think he got put in a position he wasnt equipped for.




*Thought has occurred to me already, what chances Edu will be our new DoF? Is he still at Forest? :frankfacepalm:
 
I think you can hold the club to account for the Frank hire.
A couple of things always stood out for me other than my own personal view that he was a terrible manager and a terrible fit.
1. He interviewed for the Chav job after Poch but they decided to appoint a manager from the Championship
2. He interviewed for the United job and they went for Amorin
That right there is a red flag for me. Two big clubs with big expectations, interviewed him and decided they would go with Maresca and Amorin both of which have been sacked. These two clubs did the due diligence for you. Not good enough for them and he should not be good enough for us. If I am CEO at Spurs I am definitely wondering why those interviews didn't lead to him being appointed by one of those clubs.

Its horses for courses, what works for one doesnt work for another...

Whatever we saw in Frank, we thought it was right for us

Obviously we were wrong! :franklol:

But as I say Im prepared to call it an honest mistake
 
To be honest I think he is a lot like Frank - hired into a job he wasnt equipped for

At Woolwich he was running the business, not the football. He had Edu for that* and, given by how we've sene him here, I fully believe he would have just been doing what Edu advised.

Here he doesnt have a DoF (yet) and so has had to look after the football side directly, and has been shite at it.

Which is why I think he'll be getting a DoF in to put as much distance between he and football as possible.

Has he failed? Fucked up? Yes, absolutely. Do I hold it against him right now? 50/50, as I say I think he got put in a position he wasnt equipped for.




*Thought has occurred to me already, what chances Edu will be our new DoF? Is he still at Forest? :frankfacepalm:
We have a new DoF or Director of Football Operations. It's the guy from City who is still on gardening leave.

 
We have a new DoF or Director of Football Operations. It's the guy from City who is still on gardening leave.


From what I read on him he's basically an admin, a secretary

Could be wrong

But it was all looking after player contracts and making sure the training ground ran efficiently and that

Doesnt sound "DoF" in the way I would expect
 
_mehstg _mehstg

From your link

Rafi will lead our football administration, player care, and training ground operations, and join the Club’s Executive Leadership Team. A key part of his role will be overseeing women’s football, where we will continue to drive a renewed focus and ambition for Tottenham Hotspur Women.

Sounds to me like a minor role, really, not a DoF
 
_mehstg _mehstg

From your link

Rafi will lead our football administration, player care, and training ground operations, and join the Club’s Executive Leadership Team. A key part of his role will be overseeing women’s football, where we will continue to drive a renewed focus and ambition for Tottenham Hotspur Women.

Sounds to me like a minor role, really, not a DoF
So what is the DoF Job Description? Minor roles don't join the ELT...
 
_mehstg _mehstg

From your link

Rafi will lead our football administration, player care, and training ground operations, and join the Club’s Executive Leadership Team. A key part of his role will be overseeing women’s football, where we will continue to drive a renewed focus and ambition for Tottenham Hotspur Women.

Sounds to me like a minor role, really, not a DoF
Rafi is going to handle the day to day aspects of running the club. He's not going to be involved in building the squad other than in helping to structure contracts at most. His role is to make it so the DOF can focus solely on building the team.
 
Thats my kind of thinking

Rafi is not a DoF

He's more like an Admin for a DoF
Precisely. He handles the administrative aspects of running the football side as per the briefings on him.

Hiring and firing staff, maintenance stuff, making sure that the various departments run smoothly. He'll probably work hand in hand with whoever becomes our next DOF but football decisions will not be taken by him.
 
Having complete oversight of football operations

Hiring firing managers

Selling/buying players

Being responsible for the football, be that style/success etc

This guy sounds like none of that to me, he sounds like an admin that would work with/for a DoF
What you describe is Lange's role... his official title is Sporting Director... decides the manager, decides the style, decides who to buy/sell... this new guy is apparently going to work in stride Johan although I don't see why the remit requires 2 people... what expect one person to do all this.
 
What you describe is Lange's role... his official title is Sporting Director... decides the manager, decides the style, decides who to buy/sell... this new guy is apparently going to work in stride Johan although I don't see why the remit requires 2 people... what expect one person to do all this.

Pretty sure Langes role was more youth oriented


To complete the structure, the Club will also shortly start recruitment for a Director of Football Operations, who will support Johan and Fabio and manage a number of key functions and departments across the Training Centre.

This bit obviously refers to that other guy Rafi


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzXO9AoVKKU

From the transcript of their interview:

So perhaps Johan, you could explain a little bit about your role, the specifics of of your role as a Sporting Director.

It's very important that we, of course, are come together when it comes to,to player recommendations, when it comes to how we want to develop the squad, having good conversation, of course, with Thomas, with Vinai.

But I say we also have special areas of attention.
I'll have more attention on the scouting department, on football insights, what we call the performance department.
So that is everything from medical, sports science, nutrition, football insights and of course also our Academy.


And Fabio, what are the areas that you're excited to be to be back working on?

Oh, I'm excited to use some of my skills
I think we have different skills, but we know each other's football areas in the right way.
So my skill is more on players, managing players, transfer window, loans and pathways.
So I'm more in this way and and but together we will discuss with the coach about recommended players.

And this is my job.


Very sure that basically Lange is a scout and academy guy, Paratici was more deal maker and first team focused

Its since been reported we'll be looking to replace Paratici

Lange is not as senior as you think, IMO - shameful he was thrust into fucking up the Jan window (although I suspect a lot of inactivity was down to Franks underperformance and their lack of faith in him)
 
Pretty sure Langes role was more youth oriented


To complete the structure, the Club will also shortly start recruitment for a Director of Football Operations, who will support Johan and Fabio and manage a number of key functions and departments across the Training Centre.

This bit obviously refers to that other guy Rafi


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzXO9AoVKKU

From the transcript of their interview:

So perhaps Johan, you could explain a little bit about your role, the specifics of of your role as a Sporting Director.

It's very important that we, of course, are come together when it comes to,to player recommendations, when it comes to how we want to develop the squad, having good conversation, of course, with Thomas, with Vinai.

But I say we also have special areas of attention.
I'll have more attention on the scouting department, on football insights, what we call the performance department.
So that is everything from medical, sports science, nutrition, football insights and of course also our Academy.


And Fabio, what are the areas that you're excited to be to be back working on?

Oh, I'm excited to use some of my skills
I think we have different skills, but we know each other's football areas in the right way.
So my skill is more on players, managing players, transfer window, loans and pathways.
So I'm more in this way and and but together we will discuss with the coach about recommended players.

And this is my job.


Very sure that basically Lange is a scout and academy guy, Paratici was more deal maker and first team focused

Its since been reported we'll be looking to replace Paratici

Lange is not as senior as you think, IMO - shameful he was thrust into fucking up the Jan window (although I suspect a lot of inactivity was down to Franks underperformance and their lack of faith in him)

So ultimately I don't think any of us are 100% confident what these charlatans do... their job title say one thing but their remit another... bring back the good old days where the manager use to barge into the chairman's office demanding 100 grand in used twenties to give to a guy who will guarantee us first refusal of Carlos Kickaball.
 
So ultimately I don't think any of us are 100% confident what these charlatans do... their job title say one thing but their remit another... bring back the good old days where the manager use to barge into the chairman's office demanding 100 grand in used twenties to give to give to a guy who will guarantee us first refusal of Carlos Kickaball.

Titles mean very little

Usually theyre rather vague terms, not something I pin too much weight on

In these cases though we do have some actual quotes as to what peoples jobs are, which is worth something more for me

We need a DoF, a proper one, who is responsible for the football over all, so sit under Vinai. This is the guy with whom the buck stops when it comes to style/players/managers

My (quite possibly wasted) hope is that whoever comes in to replace Paratici will be doing that job.

And if Lange has to stay around, this guy just locks him in a cupboard with the latest copy of football manager and tells him to find players with good stats.
 
Well the first thing is the fact Andrews is doing a better job than Frank ever did, without Mbuemo, Wissa (35 goals?) and Norgard - arguably Brentfords 3 best players. I think, at this point, it looks a lot like evidence to all Ive waffled above...
Half a season isn’t enough to judge Andrews. Frank had six years with Brentford on the lowest budget, earning promotion and stabilising Brentford in the Premier League side while regularly losing his best players - just look at the Toney example, a far more prolific player than the ones mentioned.

We go through the same blame cycle with every sacking. He wasn’t right for us, but I don’t believe he’s a bad manager.
 
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