Igor Tudor will be remembered at Tottenham Hotspur as the firefighter who used gasoline instead of water. That's if he's remembered at all.
Spurs and Tudor parted company on Sunday, just 43 days after replacing Thomas Frank as manager with a chance of getting the job on a permanent basis. His mission was simple, according to a club statement at the time: "To improve performances, deliver results and move Spurs up the Premier League table."
It turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. Depending on what comes next, Tudor's tenure will have accelerated Tottenham's slide toward the existential crisis of relegation, or it will stand as a footnote in one of the worst seasons in the club's 143-year history.
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But he didn't start the fire. Since the beginning of last season, Spurs have lost a staggering 46 games in all competitions. They won the UEFA Europa League under Ange Postecoglou, but a rot set in domestically during the second half of last year that has so far proved more deep-rooted than anyone imagined. There is widespread anger and apathy from a fan base that believes its club is broken, drifting under a lack of direction from its owners.
Sources have told ESPN that Spurs are attempting to convince Roberto De Zerbi to become their next head coach. Sources say the Italian indicated during initial talks that he is open to the role, but only at the end of the season and as long as Tottenham remain a Premier League club.
Spurs are now working to convince him to join immediately because, for the third time this season, they need someone to come in and salvage a desperate situation. Here's the story of how things got worse during Tudor's short reign.
Catastrophic start
In a rare interview with media on Feb. 20, sporting director Johan Lange explained why Tudor got the job.
"We interviewed a few candidates," he said. "Igor impressed us very, very much in the interview. Obviously, we also managed to take references of Igor. He comes in with very big experience at the highest level in football.
"He has shown the capabilities of coming into clubs around this time -- February, March -- and also big clubs, and made an immediate performance impact. That was of course a very big reason."
There is evidence for that. At Udinese (twice), Hellas Verona, Lazio and Juventus, Tudor has increased the points-per-game average of all of those teams when arriving midseason.
"There is a big difference, if you are a coach for example, who has only started a new job on July 1," Lange added. "You have six or seven weeks to prepare to get to know the club.
"I'm not saying that necessarily is easy, but that's a different challenge. If you come in here on the Monday and you are playing at the weekend, you need to build relationships with the players immediately."
Sources told ESPN that Tudor quickly set about trying to increase the intensity of training, believing the players needed to be fitter. They ran ... a lot. However, his efforts on the training ground were complicated by the fact that his trusted assistant, Ivan Javorcic, never arrived at Spurs due to work-permit issues.
Tudor also spoke bullishly in public about being "100% convinced" Spurs would not be relegated, in fact suggesting it was almost a waste of time to even talk about relegation. (He leaves with the club in 17th place, one point above the bottom three with seven games remaining.)
His first game was a tough one: Premier League leaders Arsenal at home. But the visit of their north London rivals, who are chasing down a first title in 22 years, was at least guaranteed to unite the fan base behind a managerial appointment that did not leap off the page.
Yet what followed was catastrophe. Spurs managed to get to halftime at 1-1, but that owed more to Arsenal's carelessness. The Gunners sharpened their focus in the second half and ran out 4-1 winners, after which Tudor spoke with the candor of a head coach who had very quickly worked out the fundamental issues.
"What is the goal of this club? What is the goal of this team? What is the goal of this coach, these players, this staff?" he asked. "To become serious. Serious, not just a group of 20 players, and the medicine is you look in the mirror. Each of us look in the mirror and really try, really start to change the habits."
Tudor was even more blunt when losing 2-1 at Fulham a week later, claiming they "lacked everything" across the pitch. Sources have told ESPN that there was some surprise internally at Tudor's willingness to speak in such derogatory terms about a group of players so short on confidence.
That perhaps explains why his reaction to a third consecutive defeat -- at home to Crystal Palace on March 5 -- was so different, claiming he had "more belief than ever" in the group. Yet results didn't improve.
Kinsky's nightmare
First-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario had not enjoyed the best of seasons -- he had been jeered by some Tottenham supporters at the end of Frank's reign. But still, Tudor's decision to drop the Italian for Antonín Kinsky when Spurs traveled to Atlético Madrid shocked many.
Except what followed was even worse. Kinsky made errors for two early goals and was substituted just 17 minutes into the club's UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Tudor did not console Kinsky as he trudged off and instead Conor Gallagher, João Palhinha and Dominic Solanke followed him down the tunnel.
The 22-year-old was humiliated -- it was the earliest a goalkeeper had ever been substituted in a Champions League knockout tie. Sources have told ESPN that several players were stunned by Tudor's approach, but others in the squad believed a hard line was needed in general to make the group aware of the situation it was in.
Consequently, Tudor also continued to make tactical changes -- switching between a back three and a back four, even playing a natural fullback in Pedro Porro as a right-sided center back against Palace -- in pursuit of a winning formula.
Publicly he spoke of players needing to be "on the boat," but privately, sources say, Tudor quickly harbored doubts about the character of several members of the first-team group.
Spurs were beaten 5-2 in Madrid, and calls from outside the club for Tudor to be sacked soon ramped up.
The false dawn and the bitter end
ESPN reported the morning after that Atlético defeat that Tudor would be given the chance to lead the team at Liverpool. They have won only twice at Anfield in the Premier League era and many feared another hiding, but Spurs showed resilience to earn a 1-1 draw through Richarlison's late strike.
Despite having 13 players out injured, Tottenham deserved the point they earned at Liverpool, even though their Premier League winless streak extended to three months. That said, the sense of momentum continued four days later as they beat Atlético Madrid 3-2 at home. It was not enough to avoid exiting the Champions League -- they lost 7-5 on aggregate -- but their first win in any competition for eight weeks seemed to set up the blockbuster visit of relegation rivals Nottingham Forest perfectly.
Spurs did everything to whip up the crowd, offering drinks promotions for fans arriving early and encouraging supporters to line the streets and greet the team bus, while a prematch message from captain Cristian Romero posted across social media acted as a call to action.
As a result, the atmosphere before kickoff was electric. Spurs started well but could not make the breakthrough and once Igor Jesus put Forest ahead on the stroke of halftime, Spurs went on to lose 3-0.
Sources have told ESPN that Frank felt the group did not respond well to setbacks and some of his work behind the scenes was designed to help improve this aspect. It was just one of many problems Tudor inherited, along with a squad decimated by injury, a broken relationship between the club and its supporters and a general sense of an organization as rudderless as it was when Frank was fired less than two months earlier.
Tudor was informed of the death of his father, Mario, after the end of the Forest game and was effectively put on compassionate leave last week before both parties agreed to part company on Sunday. Now, with the manager's job officially vacant, the search for a new boss is on.
There are major questions for Lange and CEO Vinai Venkatesham to answer about why Tudor was hired. With De Zerbi now in their sights, they have to get this appointment right, otherwise Tottenham's house will burn down.
