The Tottenham managerial shortlist seemingly contains four consistent names. Which might be the only consistent thing about the shortlist. By coincidence those four managers – Thomas Frank, Andoni Iraola, Oliver Glasner and Marco Silva – are the only four potential candidates who a) sit above them in the Premier League table, b) would even briefly consider joining Spurs, c) have never been employed by Spurs before and d) are neither child nor old man.
We know – because this is Tottenham and they have in their possession a massive blunderbuss that they point in the general direction of Premier League managers – that Nuno Espirito Santo would absolutely be on that list if they had not already appointed and summarily sacked him already.
And we fully expect Vitor Pereira to be added as soon as Daniel Levy (or whoever he employs to look at the Premier League table) realises that he has made Wolves far, far better than Tottenham.
Like most football clubs (and human beings), Tottenham are forever trying to recreate the alchemy of their greatest relationships; they reached into the pool of over-achieving mid-table Premier League managers to appoint Mauricio Pochettino in 2014 so they will do so again, ignoring that their last attempt created more sh*t than gold with Santo in 2021.
What did not unite Pochettino and does not unite Frank, Iraola, Glasner and Silva is style. Either in terms of tactics or personality. It’s just a list of managers. Crystal Palace are second for set-piece goals in the Premier League this season; Fulham are dead last. Bournemouth play the most long balls in the Premier League; Tottenham play the very least.
It’s a scattergun approach from a scattergun club who have delusions of DNA, with Levy saying in 2021, between sacking Jose Mourinho (currently being linked again) and appointing Santo:
“We are acutely aware of the need to select someone whose values reflect those of our great club and return to playing football with the style for which we are known – free-flowing, attacking and entertaining – whilst continuing to embrace our desire to see young players flourish from our Academy alongside experienced talent.”
There is an argument that Pochettino fitted that (pipe)dream (and he remains the bookies’ favourite for the job) and so does the doomed Ange Postecoglou, but it reflected the styles of nobody employed between. And those who champion Frank and Iraola might want to take a closer look at the pragmatic styles they embrace rather than a long-distance glare at a painful Premier League table.
Tottenham are in the curious position of being a Big Six club (when measured in terms of income, reach, media presence) but not a top-six side. That puts them in an odd position when it comes to the recruitment of both players and managers. You can absolutely see why they are seeking to recreate the Pochettino effect but there was logic to that appointment; in many 2013/14 metrics, Saints were almost a mirror image to Tottenham.
Fast-forward 11 years and Spurs are looking again towards the middle reaches of the Premier League, but that seems – from the outside at least – to be their only real criteria. Have all four of those managers done well with the resources they have been given? Yes. Could one of then be a successful Tottenham manager? Probably. But the fact that all four are being targeted suggests that there is no real clarity of thinking. Again.
Of course, Spurs could render these discussions moot by winning the Europa League despite being one of the worst teams in the Premier League. And then Postecoglou would magically be the right man again. At least that might be slightly more logical than loading the Premier League table and writing down the name of pretty much every manager between eighth and 12th.