Under-pressure Tottenham manager Thomas Frank says he can win back the fans and pleaded for their support ahead of what could be his final match in charge
The lunch date at the training ground probably felt more like the last supper. Thomas Frank has been left in the bizarre scenario where he is taking charge of Tuesday’s showdown with Borussia Dortmund but is unsure whether he will still have a job by the end of the week.
Frank admits he is in “stormy weather” but took a glimmer of hope from his lunch meeting with members of the club hierarchy at the training ground.
Spurs boss Frank met with chief executive Vinai Venkatesham, sporting director Johan Lange and Nick Beucher, son-in-law of co-owner Vivienne Lewis, on the eve of a game which could decide his future if that has not been done already.
Frank admitted that no assurances were given but still saw it as a positive because normally when a manager is about to be fired the directors are nowhere to be seen.
Frank said: “I haven't heard any situation like that in football where they say 'hey, mate, if you win tomorrow, no problem. If you lose tomorrow, no problem'.
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“We had a good conversation about life and football, the future of the club, everything normal, like you do. Of course, there's a little bit, how would we say, stormy weather out there.
“I just think it's an extremely good sign, because normally people are running away if there's bad news or bad weather coming, they're normally not coming in and being friendly for lunch.”
Even by football standards, it was an odd day for Frank who relied heavily on weather analogies amid his growing crisis at Tottenham.
There is a feeling that if there was an obvious caretaker or interim that Frank might have got his marching orders on Sunday following the defeat to West Ham which saw the crowd turn on the manager and the board.
But Frank was left to face the music on Monday and, when before he took the team for training, he was asked by photographers how he was. “I’m good, the sun is shining and we’re playing football,” he replied.
The reality was it was overcast and cloudy in North London and that has been the story of Frank’s seven month tenure. One win in his last eight games has left him on the brink.
Frank is a nice guy who probably is not a great fit for Spurs. His football is more about set-pieces than free-flowing entertainment. But you could only admire his “resilience” and determination to fight on.
When asked if he can turn it around, Frank said: “Yeah, I'm not in doubt of that. I think you can say in this game, you always need to show resilience. I listened to some interesting things the other day, where the three biggest things in showing resilience is one, you have good values.
“I see myself as a guy that has pretty good values. Two, you know reality. And reality is one in five people normally don't like you, no matter what you do. One in five love you, no matter what you do. Both of them probably biased either way too much.
“Then there's the three in five, that if you behave well, respectful, show integrity, do your best, normally that's the way. So no matter what you do, reality is someone will not like you.
“But I keep doing what I do, what I believe in. And then the last bit, by the way, have perspective in life, which I have in abundance. So, looking forward to the game tomorrow.”
Sadly, it is hard to believe one in five Spurs fans still love Frank. The biggest issue is that he appears to have lost the crowd. But he pleaded with the supporters to back the team against Dortmund.
Frank added: “The fans are crucial of course. I don’t see any club performing well without the fans supporting, helping and doing everything they can. It’s fair that it’s not been smooth and it’s not been as fluid as we want to. A little bit too much up and down.
“Unfortunately it’s a results business and there’s a lot of emotions in this as well but there’s a lot of signs it’s going the right way. Then of course when it’s a little bit tricky to play every third or fourth day, that makes it more difficult.
“We still need to find a way to get over the line but we’re much closer than we think and we just need to keep going.”