Tottenham Hotspur appear to have their top target to replace Ange Postecoglou as head coach at the club, and it’s Brentford’s Danish manager Thomas Frank. That’s not exactly a surprise as it’s what’s being reported by just about everyone. The deal isn’t done yet, but according to Fabrizio Romano, who is as clued in as probably anyone, progress is being made towards Frank’s appointment.
I suppose you could say there are some Frank discussions taking place over Tottenham’s vacant head coach position. (No, I’m not sorry.)
If I were to guess, and this is total supposition, I’d say that contrary to early reports Tottenham have laid a lot of track with Frank already, even if they haven’t made a formal approach to appoint him yet. There are numerous reports that suggest Spurs have been quietly looking at Frank for about a year now as a post-Ange option, and I would be shocked if they haven’t had their intermediaries reach out to Frank’s intermediaries before now to gauge whether he’s interested in the job. As frustrating as it is to not have Frank ready to walk in the door immediately after Postecoglou was fired, I don’t think it’s going to take a lot of work to come to an agreement for early next week. Hope I’m right about that.
But what if negotiations break down or Frank decides he doesn’t want the job? The backup option is probably Fulham’s Marco Silva, if the Portuguese media have anything to say about it. The Record (via SportWitness) is reporting that Silva is “on the verge” of becoming Tottenham’s next manager.
A Portuguese newspaper reporting that a Portuguese manager is going to take over one of the best currently open jobs on the football market? Shocker! I honestly wouldn’t take much in this report as it stands now, but I would also say that if Frank falls through then all bets are off. And at that point we’re just Marco Silva walking away from possibly approaching Nuno Espirito Santo... again. (I kid. OR DO I?!?!?!?)
Honestly, I’m starting to come around to the idea of Frank coming in. It took me most of yesterday to overcome my disappointment with Spurs sacking Postecoglou, but I’m over it now — it’s happened, there’s nothing I can do about it, time to put aside any lingering emotional response and move on. Frank’s a good manager, has some fun ideas, and could ultimately be a good appointment for Spurs going forward. I’ll do a look at his approach to football in a future article, once things crystallize a bit.