Thomas Frank kept committing the ultimate sin that contributed to his dismissal at Tottenham, and the race to become the next Spurs manager appears to be narrowing down to two candidates.
Frank was relieved of his duties on Wednesday, and leaves Tottenham staring down the barrel of a scrap to avoid relegation over the coming months.
There is sympathy for Frank in some quarters, primarily due to the mind-boggling amount of injuries he had to deal with.
Arguably Spurs’ two best attackers, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, have missed almost the entire season so far. They are just the tip of the iceberg in the treatment room right now.
Yet Spurs believed the time was right to remove Frank from power, with on-field results – including an appalling run of two wins in 17 Premier League matches – too poor to ignore.
And according to a report from The Telegraph, there’s another factor that contributed to Frank’s sack – his bizarre obsession with Arsenal.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out a Spurs boss should tread carefully when praising Tottenham’s north London rivals.
Yet per the report, Frank practically had an obsession with The Gunners and put simply, wouldn’t stop banging on about how great they are.
The Telegraph quoted a source as saying: “He was constantly going on to the players about Arsenal and they quickly got sick of it.
“Even before and after the game at the Emirates, he was telling them how good Arsenal were. The feeling among some was very much ‘just shut up about Arsenal’.”
Frank namechecked Arsenal in his first press conference as Spurs boss, and although he was clearly stitched up, being pictured drinking from an Arsenal-branded cup earlier in 2026 didn’t help his cause.
The report concluded by stating Frank’s love affair with Arsenal ‘undoubtedly made life more difficult’ for the Dane that it otherwise would’ve been if he’d kept his mouth shut.
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Who’ll succeed Thomas Frank?
TEAMtalk understands the decision to axe Frank was actually made at half-time of what turned out to be their 2-1 defeat to Newcastle on Tuesday night.
That news was relayed by our insider, Graeme Bailey, who quickly confirmed Mauricio Pochettino and Roberto De Zerbi are among the key contenders to become Spurs’ next permanent boss.
De Zerbi is available right now after parting ways with Marseille over the past 24 hours. Pochettino would have to wait until the summer and after he’s wrapped up his commitments with the USA at the World Cup.
If going for Pochettino, Spurs would appoint an interim manager to see out the season. John Heitinga – one of Frank’s assistants – and Robbie Keane have been mentioned as viable fits for that role.
And per the latest from reporter Ben Jacobs, the race to become Tottenham’s next manager is narrowing down to the two candidates Bailey zeroed in on – Pochettino and De Zerbi.
Taking to X, Jacobs wrote: “Roberto De Zerbi and Mauricio Pochettino two leading names under consideration to replace Thomas Frank.
“Robbie Keane and Francesco Farioli also discussed. De Zerbi and Pochettino both understood to have unfinished business in the EPL.”