If Tottenham Hotspur decide to make another managerial change, it won’t be ENIC or the Lewis Kids who decide. That’s the latest report from the BBC’s Sami Mockbel, who writes in the BBC that Spurs are hinting that Igor Tudor’s days could be numbered, but that the final decision will be made by CEO Vinai Venkatesham and Sporting Director Johan Lange, not the Executive Board.
On the one hand, this is evidence of a good decision-making process and a modern football club structure. You usually don’t want the board or the owners stepping in to make decisions like this, as football club owners (non-Marinakis Division) generally are loathe to micromanage the clubs they own — that’s why they appoint Sporting Directors and CEOS!
On the other hand, Venkatesham and Lange are the two most responsible for sacking Thomas Frank so late and appointing Igor Tudor to save the club from relegation, a decision that thus far has not worked at all. Tudor, who had a reputation of being a reclamation specialist, has gone 0-4 while in charge and has made several veiled remarks about how this particular salvage operation has been a lot more difficult than he expected. There’s also unsourced background info unearthed by Mockbel that suggests the Spurs players have not (at all) taken to Tudor nor his methods, and have been left confused and frustrated by his tactics and approach. Letting the decision fall to the two people perhaps most responsible for Spurs being in this mess to begin with doesn’t feel especially great either, especially considering how long it took for the club hierarchy to come to grips with the fact that things weren’t working at all under Thomas Frank.
Tudor is expected to take the press conference ahead of the trip to Anfield to play Liverpool this weekend, which isn’t a particular surprise. One would suggest he’s also likely to be in charge for the return leg of the Champions League Round of 16 tie against Atletico Madrid at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next week, a fixture that finds Spurs down three goals on aggregate after the 5-2 defeat at the Wanda on Tuesday.
Considering Spurs haven’t won at Anfield since 2012, that raises the distinct possibility that Tottenham could go 0-6 under Tudor, continuing their worst outright losing streak in the Premier League era. Spurs have yet to win a match in 2026.
If Spurs DO make a change, there’s a new suggestion that they could turn to a familiar face in the Premier League. Miguel Delaney, writing in the Telegraph, says he has been told Spurs have made initial contact with Sean Dyche’s camp about taking over for Tudor should a change be deemed necessary, though this appears to be extremely thinly sourced — Delaney uses words like “being considered” and “said to have contacted” in his article, and also admits near the end that Dyche would be reluctant to take on a short term role with no guarantee past the end of the season.
That seems to be a moot point anyway, at least for the next week or so. Keep your powder dry and let’s pray for a miracle.