Thomas Frank is now making his mark on the training pitch at Tottenham's Hotspur Way base. Appointed in the hotseat one month ago following the decision to part with Ange Postecoglou as head coach, last Saturday saw a number of Spurs players return for the beginning of pre-season.
Tottenham's non-international players were the first to return, with those involved in international action in June set to arrive at a later date. After a day of testing in the gym, the players are now back on the grass and back working with the football.
Frank did a wonderful job during his time at Brentford and he will be looking to make a similar mark at Tottenham as they bid to climb back up the Premier League table. After his first couple of days working with his new squad, the Dane took some time out to talk to the club about the start of pre-season training, the coaching staff changes, the return of his full squad and so much more. You can read every word of what Frank had to say below.
How have the sessions been so far? Have you been impressed by the boys?
Yeah, it's been good. We had the first session on grass today. There was a lot of tests Saturday, so it's been good to have them out there. That's the fun bit, that's where we try to affect things. So yeah, good effort, good mentality. Happy.
Following the coaching staff changes, can you just tell us a little bit about them and the roles that they'll do individually and as well as what they'll provide to the team more generally?
Let's start with the three assistant coaches. Justin Cochrane, who came from Brentford and worked with me before, he'll be in charge of the offensive part of the game and then some training planning and get that smooth and running. Then we've got Andreas Georgson from Man United, but also worked with him previously in Brentford. He will be assistant coach but the main focus on set pieces, of the restarts and some culture. Then we will have Matt Wells, who will be responsible for the defensive part of the game and also contributing to training. I think that the way they split the roles I think is really good and covering all the abilities we would like to have.
Then we have added Cameron Campbell, who is individual coach and big on how we develop the players. That was a big wish from both Johan [Lange] and I, it was something we talked about that we thought was crucial and I think not many clubs have actually nailed that. We tried in the past, I tried in the past, so hopefully we can take it to the next level.
Then we've got Fabian Otte in as a goalkeeper coach. Really excited about him coming in, great experience in terms of working with some of the best goalkeepers in the world and hopefully they can help push the goalkeepers. And then finally, Chris Haslam, who is the head of performance first team coach, which is, of course, the physical part of the football training and all that but also the link to everything. So I think we've got a very exciting group together.
Thomas, tell me a little bit about the way that you line up your coaching staff. So you broke it down there into the different areas of the field, is this usually the way that you go about building at coaches?
Yeah, it is. I believe it's very important to have combination between clear role description for the coaches so they know what they're in charge of. So it's not like, 'okay what are we doing today?' So they know their roles, they know what they need to execute, they know what they need to be on top of, but also they need to be able to all help each other and help but make sure that their most important thing is the training out there is world class. So we need to be with quality, intensity and focus, so that's the main bit. So I think clarity is important for everyone.
There has been so much enthusiasm and excitement from Tottenham fans to see which coaches you're bringing, how potentially you'll go about things but also what you'll do on the analysis front. So can you tell us a little bit about that in terms of the way that you'll be preparing for games and the way that you'll be preparing for pre-season?
So in the analysis front, we also got Joe Newton in who came from Brentford as well and he'll be like a coach analyst. So he will be the bridge between the analyst team and the coaching staff so we make sure that everything is aligned in terms of training, matches, debrief pre and post-match and how we prepare for the opponent. But just as in as much and how we debrief the game because it's the way we play, our principles, that is the most important thing, but with the twists we use or how we tweak it to the opponent.
Is there anything that you look out for in terms of the types of person that you want in your team?
It needs to be people that that understand that we are a unit and we need to work hard together. And yes, I know half of the coaching group, the other half I don't know, but we need to work on that relationship. That's an ongoing process. So hopefully, when we know each other well, we know how we work together, how we are aligned and then we can up to a very well-run engine that just delivers every day.
Pre-season has changed a lot and preparation is slightly different now in the modern day. What does preparation look like as we look ahead to the next few weeks?
I don't know if I'm a modern coach or not sometimes but we started running today! I think old school is still good school, I think that's still important to have a bit of that. Now we had a running test today and we'll have that again when the internationals are back and probably also a little bit later down the season.
But, in general, that was just a short test, basically a 1km test. So if they did it well enough they're below three minutes 15 seconds, So that sounds easier, with turns by the way. So that's one thing that is done and then it's it's football. Everything with the ball, everything is on that, and then we will top up with some runs because I believe there's a big bit in that mental part of pushing.
You've got a little bit of time now before your first game against Reading and I guess the players gradually start to filter back in. How excited are you to get to that point where you got the full group?
That's what I want. I want everyone in, really compare them against each other, see how they make themselves a relationship. Of course, I know the group in terms of looking from the outside, but it's different when you're on the inside and you work with them, you feel them, you understand them better and we all have our own views on certain players or relationship and it's up to me to find that perfect combination that make the team perform on the highest possible level.