Romano makes fresh Frank stance claim amid Tottenham approach

Tottenham are one step closer to securing Ange Postecoglou’s replacement.

Sign up to our LondonWorld Today newsletter

Sign up

Thank you for signing up!

Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to LondonWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.

Submitting...

Tottenham have been handed a big boost in their bid to hire a new manager. Spurs are now hoping to lock in a new manager well in advance of pre-season beginning in just a few weeks’ time.

Daniel Levy decided to sack Ange Postecoglou on Friday, with the Australian paying the price for a hugely disappointing Premier League campaign despite winning the Europa League and delivering Tottenham’s first trophy in 17 years.

Tottenham’s search for a new boss to replace Postecoglou appears to be a short one, with the early favourite emerging as the sole option. Brentford’s Thomas Frank quickly became the favourite, and Tottenham seem to have zeroed in on the Bees boss.

The one question was whether Frank wants the job given Brentford have just enjoyed an impressive season. The Dane has enjoyed a consistent spell with the West London side and is said to be very comfortable where he is, but it seems the promise of a step up and Champions League football will be enough to change his mind.

Fabrizio Romano has reported: “Tottenham are aware of Thomas Frank’s position: he wants the job and he’s keen on becoming new Spurs coach.” Spurs must now agree a fee with Brentford, who still have Frank under contract for another two years .

But it does look as though Frank’s appointment at Tottenham is becoming more likely, with likely second option, Fulham boss Marco Silva, looking still unexplored at this stage with Frank the clear first choice.

Frank’s style and appeal

Frank has been linked with Spurs in the past, and speaking back in 2023, former Spurs man Paul Robinson told Tottenham Hotspur News: “He’s done an excellent job at Brentford. He’s guaranteed them a top ten finish, he’s proven at Premier League level. I think it’s difficult for Tottenham at the moment. Julian Nagelsmann clearly wasn’t interested in the job. Pochettino has gone to Chelsea. I think the managerial appointment at Tottenham is going to be key.”

Speakng back in 2024 to Sky Sports, Frank spoke about how he uses statistics in his planning. "With Expected Goals and these kinds of stats, that is definitely something we can read into," he said. "Then there are the performances we look through with video, my eyes, the feeling and all sorts of other stats. With all that added together, there's definitely a feeling we could have got more out of the season - and that is without talking about the injuries.

"I think we have the shortest distance to goal when we take our shots out of all the teams in the Premier League, which I'm very pleased with because we like to have a focus on making the chance big if possible. We also rely on a lot of crosses or play balls in behind, which is the best way - in my opinion - to create chances. It says that we are very good at creating chances and it's hugely impressive that we keep being very good at that.

"One of the reasons why we maybe haven't got as many points as we should do is that too many of the chances we've been giving away are too high quality. That's a combination of us not defending well enough in certain situations and making some bad mistakes that we normally don't; I think we made three where we just passed it directly to the opponent.”

On his preferred style of play, he added: “There's no doubt I'd prefer to play a 4-3-3, but we've shown we can play a lot of different systems and I don't think there's one that's better than another, depending on the players.

"I probably still prefer to play 4-3-3, but we need to have the right players available to do it. A big part of the season, we were without our two best full-backs and without our two best wingers, so it's very difficult to go 4-3-3 as they are crucial to that system.”