Tottenham are reportedly ‘close’ to sacking Igor Tudor and pundit Darren Bent has backed the club to swallow their pride and appoint a manager who their fans will hate, but who’ll guarantee survival.
Tottenham are in dire straits right now and staring down the barrel of a first relegation since 1977. They sit just one point above the drop zone, and the arrival of Igor Tudor – slated as a survival specialist – has not had the intended effect.
OneFootball Videos
The Croatian has overseen three successive defeats since taking charge, and there’s growing talk another managerial change will be made as Spurs begin to panic.
TEAMtalk have been told former Spurs striker, Robbie Keane, is on standby and keen to answer the call if the phone rings.
What’s more, the latest from Football Insider on Monday claimed Tudor is ‘close’ to being relieved of his duties.
But while Keane is very much the frontrunner to step in if a change is made, former Tottenham striker Bent believes Sean Dyche should get the nod.
Dyche is readily available having been sacked by Nottingham Forest last month. He’s built up a well-earned reputation as a manager who’ll get a club back to basics, firm up a leaky defence, and grind out positive results.
What’s more, Dyche has proven in the past that he can achieve those aims almost immediately after walking through the door.
Of course, there is a stigma attached to Dyche, with the veteran Englishman viewed as one of, if not the least sexy appointment there is.
But in Bent’s mind, Tottenham need to swallow their pride, and given the ultimate aim is to retain their Premier League status, it’ll be far more embarrassing to go down than it’ll be to hire Dyche for three months.
“If you genuinely believe and sense that Tudor’s not the right man and he’s not getting anything out of the players, then you almost just walk into relegation,” Bent told talkSPORT.
He added: “Regardless if people are laughing at you now, come the end of the season, you want to hope you’re still in the Premier League, because if you’re not, that would be the biggest laugh.
“They need a manager that’s going to go in there and just make them organised and hard to beat.
“And as I said, for the next couple of weeks, it might be horrible to watch, but if you’re nicking 1-0’s, getting draws, picking up points, [it] doesn’t matter.
“Sean Dyche, right now, for me would be the perfect man for Tottenham. Because one thing he can do is get teams organised, hard to beat.
“I get it, Spurs fans might not want that, but at some point you’ve got to go, ‘Do you know what? We just need someone who’s going to keep us up.'”
Ben concluded: “You just need someone who’s going to steady the ship and make you hard to beat.
“There’s no point getting someone in there that plays all this attractive football, get you on the front foot – because you’re too easy to play against.”
Latest Tottenham news
In other news, and looking towards the summer, Tottenham have opened talks with one of the three managerial targets Manchester United have narrowed their search down to, and when he could arrive and what the appointment hinges on has been revealed.
Elsewhere, an insider has detailed the feelings of Tottenham centre-back Micky van de Ven in regards to .
View publisher imprint