Seldom have there been as many big-name managers available after all the churn at the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea in recent weeks.
That makes things particularly interesting for Tottenham, with Thomas Frank’s job surely hanging by a thread. Reports suggest that Frank will remain at the helm for Spurs’ Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund in midweek, but his future at the club is looking increasingly untenable.
We’ve taken a look at 10 of the biggest managers who are currently out of work and ranked them for how suitable they’d be for the Tottenham job.
We’re obliged to include Zizou’s name here because, technically speaking, he is available.
But he’s not really, is he? Turning down the job he’s always dreamt of – the France national team – to take over this Spurs rabble is simply never going to happen.
Zidane strikes us as an Ancelotti-esque man-manager to get the best out of the football’s absolute elite, not Rodrigo Bentancur, Joao Palhinha and Richarlison.
Although he could teach them a thing or two in training.
Eighteen months ago, Amorim would’ve been an exceptional candidate for the Tottenham job.
A coach on the up with a great reputation, having ended Sporting Lisbon’s long wait for the Portuguese title, Tottenham would’ve represented a natural stepping stone into one of Europe’s major leagues.
The 40-year-old’s dogmatism – absolutely wedded to his wingback system – was a bad fit at Manchester United. But that’s not to say it couldn’t work elsewhere.
And Tottenham are certainly crying out for something different, because Frank’s approach evidently has not worked.
It’ll be fascinating to see what’s next for Amorim. It wouldn’t shock us to see him on an Unai Emery-esque redemption arc, proving himself an adept coach after struggling at a basket case big club.
Available-ish.
Ten Hag doesn’t appear to be in any rush to get back into the dugout, given he’s just signed a contract to take over as FC Twente’s technical director in the summer.
You wonder if his plans might change if offered a role back into top-level management, though.
The Dutch coach’s stock has plummeted after his difficult final few months at Manchester United before a short-lived car crash at Bayer Leverkusen.
But he did a superb job at Ajax. And his tenure at Old Trafford looks better in hindsight when you contrast it against what followed. He’s not to be dismissed, out of hand.
Rose boasts a decent enough CV.
The obligatory second-place finish in his one season at Borussia Dortmund. Silverware delivered at Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig.
On the flipside, the moment has kind of passed for the coaches out of the Red Bull school. They’re no longer the tacticians du jour.
The kind of sensible but ultimately uninspiring appointment whereby getting fed into the Tottenham managerial meat grinder feels inevitable from day one. Nuno, Frank… Rose, step on down.
Southgate’s a weird one.
He objectively did a very good job with England, their most successful manager in half a century, but – like Zidane – we struggle to envisage him outside of one very specific context.
Were he ever to dip his toes back into the club game, Spurs actually seems a natural enough fit.
As a man-manager and inspirational figurehead, he fits the bill. But Premier League football demands much more than vibes alone.
You sense that he’d live or die by his coaching staff. He would, at least, be self-effacing enough to recognise that.
The Italian is evidently a competent coach. But Spurs have gone for Chelsea’s sloppy seconds before and that hasn’t tended to go well.
We could see Maresca doing a passable job. He’d surely offer improvement on their current form.
But we can’t see his patient, possession-focused, Guardiola-inspired tactics exciting many fans. And we certainly can’t envisage him staying around long enough to build a serious, winning team.
We can’t help but go to the bat for Xavi, who delivered an unlikely La Liga when Barcelona were at the height of their financial mismanagement.
Despite that, he never quite lived up to his billing as an arch-Cruyffist who could deliver beautiful tiki-taka football.
Above all, Xavi could organise a team. And he’s spoken of his openness to working in England.
Damaged goods, admittedly, after his miserable, short-lived stint at Juventus.
But that’s simply the reality of the managerial market Spurs will soon be shopping in. Nine of the 10 names in this list departed their last job in acrimony.
Motta’s Juve were an oddly anaemic team, but he landed that big job after working wonders at Bologna. Back then, he was considered one of the most exciting, forward-thinking coaches in Europe.
The positive spin on that is that there’s now a point to prove.
A fresh name has just become available after Eintracht Frankfurt announced the sacking of Toppmoller.
It’s no great shock, given they’ve been a defensive shambles this season. Only Bayern Munich have scored more goals in the Bundesliga, but no team has conceded more.
In mitigation, there is a personnel issue there. Half of their back four (Robin Koch and Rasmus Kristensen) were relegated with Leeds a couple of years back.
In Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, he’d have considerably more refined defenders at his disposal at Tottenham.
Toppmoller did a solid job of getting the club into the Champions League last season, all the while turning rough diamonds like Hugo Ekitike and Omar Marmoush into mega-money assets.
Tottenham’s squad is full of talented youngsters crying out for that kind of transformative coaching.
A bit like Zidane, Alonso is not going to take the Spurs job. Let’s be serious.
But, allowing ourselves to daydream for a minute, Alonso would actually be a perfect fit for the task at hand with Spurs.
He turned Leverkusen from a young, underperforming side with modest resources to one that achieved a historic domestic double.
Having struggled to get buy-in from the superstar egos in Real Madrid’s dressing room, you don’t imagine that same issue at Tottenham.
We can’t see any world in which Spurs can make this happen. But they should move heaven and earth to put together an enticing offer.
Offering Alonso an absurdly lucrative contract, for one, would be a wiser use of funds than the hundreds of millions they’ve spunked up the wall in the transfer market in recent times gone by.
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