Thomas Frank has said he feels the support of the Tottenham Hotspur board after having lunch with the club’s leadership team on Monday, and insists that he is capable of winning back supporters.
Frank said that he had lunch with CEO Vinai Venkatesham, sporting director Johan Lange and Nick Beucher — part of the majority-shareholding Lewis family — on Monday and has been “feeling the trust”.
The Athletic reported on Monday that Frank was expected to take charge of Tottenham’s Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday, despite mounting pressure on the 52-year-old. Spurs have won just three of their last 15 games in all competitions, are out of both domestic cups and sit 14th in the Premier League with only 27 points from 22 games.
“I’ve just been feeling the trust along the way,” Frank said at his pre-Dortmund press conference on Monday. “I’ve said that every press meeting (that) there’s backing and support.
“I had lunch with Nick (Beucher), Vinai (Venkatesham) and Johan (Lange) today. So all good. I know it’s part of the media circus, and the only focus I have is to do everything I can for us to win tomorrow against Dortmund.
“We had a good conversation about life and football, the future of the club, everything normal. Of course, there’s a little bit (of) 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.”
Frank has been targeted by boos from the club’s fans, most recently after the team’s 2-1 league defeat against West Ham United on Saturday. Fans in the south stand at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium chanted “you’re getting sacked in the morning” towards the head coach.
Despite the growing pressure, Frank said that he was “not in doubt” that he could win the fans back.
“As I’ve said many times, and I’ll say it again, as long as we win football matches and make sure we win enough of them, then everyone will support us,” he said.
Tottenham are 11th in the 36-team Champions League table, one point out of the automatic qualification places with two games remaining in the league phase. After the Dortmund game, Spurs return to league action on Saturday when they visit Burnley.