Tottenham are set to miss out on a manager who has been ranked among the best.
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Tottenham are now searching for a new manager after deciding to sack Thomas Frank following a torrid run of form that has left them within five points of the relegation zone. Frank has been under pressure for some time, and Tuesday night’s defeat to Newcastle United proved to be the final straw.
Frank was sacked by the morning, as some chants at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday night predicted, and the search began instantly.
Frank has been let down in many ways, with poor recruitment certainly not helping his cause, but it rarely felt like he had a firm grasp of the wheel in North London, and that frustrated fans.
With Spurs sliding quickly towards the drop, the club pulled the trigger, and it will be interesting to see whether there will be a full-time appointment now or an interim appointment until the summer.
John Heitinga seems to be a contender for an interim role having served as an assistant to Frank, while a number of other bosses have been linked with the full-time role.
One of them is AFC Bournemouth’s impressive boss Andoni Iraola, who is in line for a big job in the not too distant future. According to GiveMeSport, Bournemouth are braced for a Spurs approach, but they are not worried.
It’s claimed Iarola has no intention of leaving the Cherries at this point. In fact, it’s claimed that if Iraola is to leave, he would prefer to return to Spain and crucially wants to join a club on the up.
Iraola has done superbly at Bournemouth, continuign to keep the Southern club more than steady despite the loss of key players like Dean Huijsen. But who can blame Iraola for not wanting to risk his stock in the way Frank did.
Managers so often get caught by the lure of thinking they can turn around a difficult situation at a club, and it can lead to significant setbacks in their careers. Spurs have issues beyond the manager role, that much is clear, and unless those above the manager are willing to change the way they do things, it’s unlikely anyone will succeed in the role.
Like players, managers should choose their employers carefully, and especially when they have upward momentum as Iraola clearly has.
That’s something Jamie Redknapp made clear when he dubbed Iraola as one of the best during a Sky Sports appearance earlier this season. He said: “He gives young players opportunities, his system is great, it’s progressive, everything is on the front foot. So yeah, I would say he is one of the best managers in world football right now. We’ve just got to enjoy him while he is here. How long? Who knows.”