Thomas Frank has admitted he didn’t notice he was using a cup with an Arsenal logo before Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat to Bournemouth on Wednesday night.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank watched his team slip to another costly defeat on Wednesday, losing 3-2 away to Bournemouth to slip to 14th in the Premier League table.
Yet the night may well be remembered for something that happened before the game even kicked off, with Frank spotted walking around the pitch at the Vitality Stadium holding a cup with an Arsenal logo printed on it.
The Spurs manager was spotted by media photographers, who caught him on camera cradling the Arsenal cup. Speaking afterwards, Frank insisted he had no idea about it, and added it would have been “extremely stupid” of him to do it on purpose.
“Definitely [did] not notice it,” Frank said. “I think it’s fair to say that we’re not winning every single football match so it’ll be absolutely completely stupid of me to take a cup with Arsenal (on purpose).
“So anyone thinking I’ve done that or the staff has done it… You know, [Arsenal have] been in the changing room of the game before us, it’s normal, take a cup, give me an espresso, [I] do that before every game.
“I think actually it’s a little bit sad, in football, that I need to be asked a question about that. I think we’re definitely going in the wrong direction if we need to worry about me having a cup with another logo of another club.
“Of course, I will never do that [deliberately], that’s extremely stupid.”
Frank’s explanation makes sense. Arsenal were indeed the last team to visit Bournemouth’s home ground, the club probably left some spare unused cups in the away dressing room, and someone must then have picked up a cup without spotting the Arsenal logo.
Unfortunately for Frank, it doesn’t much matter whether he took the cup deliberately or not. The optics are the same either way, with an underperforming manager on the day of another defeat starring in photos holding a cup branded with the logo of his team’s biggest rivals.
At best, Spurs fans will forgive it as an honest but embarrassing mistake. At worst, it’s another stick to beat him with.