Should Tottenham Hotspur succeed in persuading Roberto De Zerbi to become their third head coach of the season, it would further alienate a section of the fanbase at a time when the club desperately needs unity.
Three Spurs supporters’ groups — all officially recognised by the club — have come out in opposition to the pursuit of De Zerbi, citing his public backing for Mason Greenwood, and, judging from social media, others share the reservations about the former Marseille head coach.
There are also Spurs fans who enthusiastically support the idea of De Zerbi, as a leading coach and one of the few genuinely exciting out-of-work candidates on the market.
For context, in 2022, Greenwood was charged with one count of attempted rape, one count of controlling and coercive behaviour and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. All three charges related to the same woman.
The former Manchester United forward had been due to stand trial, but the charges were discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in early February 2023. The CPS said that “a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material meant there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction”.
Greenwood has consistently denied wrongdoing.
As Marseille coach, De Zerbi championed the signing of Greenwood from United in July 2024 and repeatedly backed him as a player and person during their 18 months working together.
In November 2025, for example, De Zerbi described Greenwood as a “good person” and added: “It saddens me what happened to him because I know a very different person from the one portrayed in England.”
There are differing views on De Zerbi’s approach to Greenwood, but what matters for Spurs is that a portion of the fanbase — however small it might be — may never accept the 46-year-old.
This should be a concern for Tottenham at the best of times, but these are dire times, as the previously unthinkable prospect of relegation looms over the club.
Spurs are in freefall, just one point above the drop zone with seven league games to play, and there has probably never been a greater disconnect between the fanbase and the club.
Like any club, Spurs stand a better chance of being successful (or even functional) if they are aligned with fans, and their most successful period in recent memory, Mauricio Pochettino’s 2014-19 tenure, was characterised by a thread of unity that ran from boardroom to terraces right through the team.
Rightly or wrongly, the new manager will be the face and voice of the club, Spurs’ de facto leader and spokesperson, and the most important individual in rebuilding a broken institution.
A striking element of Igor Tudor’s final game in charge — the 3-0 home defeat to relegation rivals Nottingham Forest, which spelt the end of the Croatian’s disastrous seven-game interregnum — was the togetherness displayed by supporters before the match, as thousands of fans greeted the team bus outside the stadium.
This newfound spirit is threatened by the appointment of De Zerbi, who would divide fans from day one.
Admittedly, rehiring Pochettino is perhaps the only appointment which would truly unite the entire fanbase, and the United States head coach is unavailable until after the World Cup (and yesterday suggested he was open to staying on even longer).
But no other candidate would repel a section of supporters as fundamentally as De Zerbi.
If, say, Spurs targeted Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola (and if they are prepared to make De Zerbi one of the highest-paid coaches in the Premier League, it is reasonable to assume that extracting Iraola from the final few months of his contract is not beyond the realms of possibility), some fans would inevitably be unmoved by the Spaniard’s style of play or personality.
But the Iraola doubters would be able to put their concerns aside for the sake of their club, and get behind the new manager and his team.
The supporters who oppose De Zerbi do so on a far more profound level, viewing his backing of Greenwood as a question of values, morality and decency — going way beyond surface-level concerns about personality or tactics.
Appointing De Zerbi, therefore, leaves Spurs at risk of being mired in yet another draining managerial culture war — following partisan divisions among the fanbase over Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou.
There are other factors to consider too, including whether De Zerbi’s tactics, outspoken personality and man-management techniques are suited to a seven-game rescue mission.
De Zerbi’s Brighton & Hove Albion side took two points from his opening five matches, while he has made it clear he would rather take over in the summer, provided Spurs beat the drop.
Handing De Zerbi a five-year deal with a relegation break clause — as suggested — would also effectively rule out the return of Pochettino in the summer, robbing Spurs of the one candidate who could buy the club breathing space, and is also questionable given his record of short stays at clubs and Spurs’ own history of managerial churn.
On the flip side, the club — as well as De Zerbi’s advocates in the fanbase — might reason that he is a great coach and a working coach, immediately putting him above some of the most talked-about interim candidates.
There is also a case — and a valid one — that the only way Spurs can haul themselves out of their current mess is with a degree of certainty under a talented figurehead, in whom the hierarchy and the players can really believe.
Beating relegation is, for some, all that matters now and the way De Zerbi’s spell at Spurs may finish — which feels relatively easy to forecast — is altogether less important than how it starts, which is much harder to predict.
Perhaps upsetting a section of the fanbase should only be a minor consideration if De Zerbi can save Spurs from the ignominy of a first relegation to the second tier since 1977.
Such is Spurs’ predicament, there are no safe bets, however, and in pursuing De Zerbi, the club are in danger of breaching trust with a section of their supporters, possibly irreparably.
If De Zerbi accepts Spurs’ proposal, they must therefore hope he proves worth the money — and the fallout.