Tottenham must decide what comes next in the dugout as they approach their final seven matches of the Premier League season
Tottenham appear to be heading towards a fourth head coach in less than a year at a delicate time for the club on and off the pitch.
Spurs currently sit within a three-week hiatus in their season due to the international break and the following FA Cup weekend, with the north London side out of all cup competitions. In the Premier League they sit in 17th place, just a point above West Ham in the final relegation spot with the danger of the drop a very real possibility.
Sunday's 3-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest was a big one in the relegation battle as Vitor Pereira's side leapfrogged the Lilywhites in the table.
Spurs interim boss Igor Tudor has bigger things on his mind than football right now after being informed after the game that his father Mario had passed away. The Croatian's assistant coach Bruno Saltor stepped in to take the media duties after the defeat to Forest.
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It is a delicate situation and Tottenham will want to be sensitive towards what Tudor is going through. football.london understands there is a growing belief among some inside the club that a mutual parting of the ways with Tudor is the likeliest scenario with the 47-year-old then able to focus on family matters, and Spurs on the huge pressures of what lies ahead.
Any next move must be made with sensitivity and also timing. There is some time to work with due to this unusual elongated break in the season. A new coach, if appointed in the next week, would have a clear seven to 10 days to work with most of the squad after the international break and ahead of the next game at Sunderland on April 12.
Here are the potential managerial scenarios that the north London club's CEO Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange will have had to think about as they decide on the fourth person to step into the dugout in the past nine months and Plan C for this troubled season.
A club man
Much of the criticism of Tudor's appointment, despite his previous football firefighting experience in Serie A, came because of his inexperience in Premier League terms.
For the Tottenham supporters, many expected someone to be put in place who had more of a knowledge of the inner workings of the club. Ange Postecoglou and Thomas Frank's assistant coach Matt Wells would have been a strong candidate had he not left for his first managerial role across the Atlantic where he has won three of his opening five MLS matches with the previously struggling Colorado Rapids.
There is Ryan Mason, who was working with much of this Tottenham squad just nine months ago under Postecoglou before leaving for an ill-fated spell at West Brom, who only got worse after his departure with a long winless run until a couple of recent victories. The 34-year-old has been in this situation twice before in caretaker stints at Spurs so knows how to step in at short notice.
There are also more experienced former Spurs coaches and managers around in Chris Hughton and Harry Redknapp, while Ferencvaros boss Robbie Keane has been linked with the job but is believed to prefer to be a permanent candidate.
Another foreign coach
Spurs could also repeat the gamble of appointing yet another foreign head coach with little to no Premier League experience.
The unfortunately named Adolf 'Adi' Hutter is on the market after leaving Monaco in October last year having struggled to maintain his early momentum at the Ligue 1 club. The 56-year-old demands an aggressive style of football which has been compared over the years to that of Thomas Tuchel, Jurgen Klopp and Ralf Rangnick. Eric Dier played under Hutter at Monaco and compared his style to that he had found at Bayern.
There are also the other interim options when Tudor was appointed of Marco Rose or Edin Terzic and whether Tottenham take a second glance after deciding that the Croatian was the better bet last time around.
To appoint another coach with zero Premier League experience would be a huge gamble and the club would have to believe that someone like Hutter would have the experience and playing style to turn around the confidence of this team at a crucial time.
A safe Premier League pair of hands
There's only one obvious name in this category right now and that's the former Burnley, Everton and Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche.
Some Tottenham fans would hate the idea as Dyche-ball is not exactly what one would perceive to be the style of football associated with the north London club, while others might see it as a needs-must scenario. That's assuming Dyche himself would want the interim job and also what entanglements exist with Forest after his exit from there.
There's also a line of thought that Dyche's style of coaching and football would not be that far removed from Tudor's which has seen little change in fortunes at this point.
A permanent hire
Another option is to go all out on a potential long-term appointment and push that forward despite it then ruling out the wider managerial market in the summer.
That would rule out the most popular fans' choice of Mauricio Pochettino, who has the World Cup to focus on preparing for with the USA. It would surely be too difficult to combine the two roles in the weeks ahead and give the required focus to both.
Pochettino this week confirmed reports back in the day that Spurs had contacted him in 2021 to leave PSG and re-join the north London club, only for the French side to turn down all approaches, and Tottenham appointed Nuno Espirito Santo instead. The Argentine has also been linked with the Real Madrid job this summer.
Andoni Iraola will still have hopes of getting Bournemouth into European football as the Cherries sit just seven points off fifth spot, which is likely to get Champions League qualification this season. The Basque coach has also been linked with the Athletic Club job this summer.
One available candidate is Roberto De Zerbi. The Italian left Marseille but is believed to be waiting until the summer to see what all of his options are. Could Spurs convince him now with a big financial offer and a relegation release clause? De Zerbi would bring the Premier League experience and the playing style along with the fire required - even if that sometimes proves his downfall in the long-term - but Spurs are a tough sell right now in their current state.
The wildcard
This seems the least likely option right now but there is an out of work manager who knows Tottenham and these players inside out and is one of the best motivators in the game - Ange Postecoglou.
The 60-year-old proved last season that when focusing a small squad on one competition that he can get results and these players would run through a brick wall for him.
It's not quite how he or anyone envisioned season three going but there's a big logic to his temporary return, if he were up for it, and he would be able to hit the ground running.
Such a move is more commonplace in Italy and Spain where managers return to their clubs, often because it's cheaper as they were already on gardening leave.
The problem in this scenario would be that Tottenham's hierarchy would need to go cap in hand to Postecoglou to ask for his help while also paying out more money to him on top of the compensation they had to shell out for sacking him. It just doesn't seem feasible despite the logic behind it.