With Ange Postecoglou given his marching orders by Tottenham chair Daniel Levy, candidates are lining up to take over the north London club.
Postecoglou’s tale of delivering Spurs the trophy they so craved, but being sacked regardless because of a Premier League campaign riddled by injury and the need to keep important players fit and firing for vital European fixtures, could be a cautionary one.
History is also not on their side as Levy has now fired 15 managers in the 24 years he has been at the helm, hence why the Spurs managerial role has been labelled a ‘poisoned chalice’ by countless football pundits.
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Nevertheless, several top names have been linked with filling Postecoglou boots, and some of them were even caught meeting with Levy in recent months.
So, who are they? foxsports.com.au runs through the list of candidates.
- Thomas Frank -
It has been widely reported in the English press that the Brentford manager is the top contender for the Tottenham gig.
Levy has reportedly met with Frank multiple times after he led the Bees to a tenth place finish in the Premier League in the season just past.
His attacking philosophy is not far removed from the style Postecoglou has implemented on the current playing group in the last two seasons.
Only top five teams Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle scored more goals than Frank’s side but perhaps what has endeared him most to Levy is the fact that the Danish manager has turned Brentford into a stable Premier League side on a limited budget.
The Bees were in the Championship when Frank took over in 2018, and he guided them to promotion in 2021.
Levy has notoriously been unwilling to splurge in the transfer market, notably in January when Postecoglou was crying out for defensive support, prompting regular protests by fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The BBC’s Sami Mokbel and Andy Cryer also reported that “Frank has a good relationship with Spurs technical director and fellow Dane Johan Lange, which could be a deciding factor when club chairman Daniel Levy comes to decide who he appoints”.
- Francesco Farioli -
Now, this one had some layers to it.
Farioli recently quit as Ajax manager in the Netherlands after a disastrous end to the season.
No team had ever not won the title leading by nine points with five games to go until Farioli’s Ajax coughed up the Dutch title.
He stepped down afterwards but it also came about with strong links to Tottenham.
Fabio Paratici, who has been serving a two-and-a-half year ban by FIFA for illegal accounting practices at his former club Juventus, is set to return to his managing director role at Spurs.
He was linked with taking up the same position at AC Milan before the Italian giants opted not take him on.
Among those reports were links between Farioli and AC Milan given Paratici is an admirer of Farioli’s.
But since he quit the Ajax job, Farioli has also been linked to bringing his possession-based, high-pressing style of football to Tottenham.
- Andoni Iraola -
Iraola’s Bournemouth finished one place above Frank’s Brentford in the season just gone.
The Spaniard has reaped the rewards of a high pressing style, that again would not be a complete overhaul of Postecoglou’s methods, with impressive victories against Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle last season.
But the Cherries were also defensively solid, with only Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Everton conceding fewer goals for the season.
Iraola is another example of a manager that has worked with a budget that is among the lowest in the Premier League.
- Marco Silva -
Another manager of a mid-table Premier League club, Silva’s Fulham finished 11th.
The Portuguese manager also implores his teams to play in an up tempo fashion, and he did so at Craven Cottage, guiding Fulham to promotion in his first season in charge at the end of the 2021/22 season and re-establishing them as a Premier League club since.
Silva is also the experienced option for Levy.
He was once in charge of Everton and is familiar with European nights having led Greek club Olympiakos in the Champions League.
- Roberto de Zerbi -
De Zerbi may be hard to pry out of France given he led Marseille to second on the Ligue 1 table behind Champions League winners PSG.
But The Telegraph’s Emily Thomas reported that “there have been whispers that the current Marseille manager could be open to a return to the Premier League”.
The Italian had two seasons at Brighton before departing 12 months ago and took the Seagulls to Europe for the first time with a sixth-placed finish in de Zorbi’s first season securing Europa League qualification.
However, the Telegraph’s Emily Thomas also issued a word of warning “poaching the Italian would be a gamble, given he is temperamentally similar to Mourinho and Conte. We know how Tottenham’s love affairs with that pair ended.”
- Oliver Glasner -
Like Postecoglou, Glasner was recognised by the League Managers Association with the John Duncan Award for bringing a drought-breaking trophy to his club.
Glasner’s Crystal Palace won their first significant trophy in their 120-year history when they defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup.
It is a feat that would not have gone unnoticed by other clubs, but it would be difficult to get him out of Palace, who have made it clear they want Glasner to stay on.
- Mauricio Pochettino -
This one feels like a bit of romanticism and a bit fanciful.
The former Tottenham manager who once led Spurs to a Champions League final and runners-up in the Premier League feels unlikely to come back, despite previously saying he would love to some day, due to his current job.
Pochettino is in charge of the USA men’s national team, who just so happen to be hosting a FIFA World Cup next year.
That does not scream an imminent return to club football.