Tottenham supporters have been held in contempt this season. Their fears over the suitability of Frank were shunted aside as paranoia. The Dane had built up plenty of goodwill from neutrals during his seven-year stint at Brentford, while fine performances in his first month at Spurs against Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City in high-profile matches only reaffirmed the stance that he would be a steady pair of hands.
But through the rest of August, September and October, Frank's Tottenham could barely put together a 45-minutes' worth of coherent football, let alone a full 90. Fans' doubts turned to anger when the team effectively rolled over for rivals Chelsea and Arsenal in November.
There wasn't an overnight fix to Spurs' woes off the back of finishing 17th in 2024-25, and supporters knew that, but you can't pull wool over their eyes; they know what bad football with no future looks like. You could argue Frank would've been sacked by former chairman Daniel Levy at the end of November or start of December when Tottenham were beaten by Fulham and Nottingham Forest respectively.
The tell-tale sign of whether anyone had watched Spurs during the first half of the season was their opinion on Frank. Those who staunchly claimed he needed time clearly hadn't been watching Tottenham, because if they had they would have quickly sussed it was never going to work. You have to give the people something to believe in, and Frank simply refused to play that game.
Fabio Paratici, who returned to Spurs as co-sporting director in October until the end of the January transfer window, first floated Tudor as a stop-gap replacement for Frank before Christmas, but his pleas and concerns fell on deaf ears. That the club only fired Frank and brought in Tudor a fortnight after Paratici's exit tells you all you need to know about the strength of leadership at boardroom level.
Paratici was never afraid of promoting his harebrained schemes. For example, when he initially joined Spurs in 2021, his managerial shortlist included Gennaro Gattuso, whose previous discriminatory comments saw fans rally against the appointment and forced the club into a re-think. His 30-month ban from taking a full-time footballing position in March 2023 for offences committed at Juventus wasn't exactly met with surprise back in Italy.
The fascination that Paratici had for Tudor remains a mystery. The Croatian bears many similarities to the pair's mutual former colleague Antonio Conte, deploying a back-three formation irrespective of personnel and taking a hard-line, militant approach to man-management. The main difference that Spurs are finding out, just as Juve did, is Conte was far more successful and respected than Tudor ever was or has been.
Tudor has now gone 12 games without a win himself, extending all the way back to his final eight matches at Juventus earlier this season. There wasn't a new-manager bounce for him to lift Spurs' spirits, nor has he brought even a smidgen of final-third quality back to a team who did nothing but attack for the two campaigns prior to this one. Tottenham got it wrong and should have targeted a more progressive interim coach, not one who retained Frank's conservative ideals but with a different go-to formation.
Prior to Tuesday's 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid - don't worry, we'll get to that shortly - Tudor was asked if, after three successive defeats, he was at least 'getting more' out of his players, particularly in training.
"I saw that more the time has passed, the sessions are always better, there's more quality in everything. Especially because important players are coming back in the team. So that's the key, of course. As I said before, lots of old habits, sometimes take more time than you expected to change," he replied.
That, however, is worrying for Tottenham. Tudor was hired to make an immediate impact, and he himself recognised in his first press conference in the job that he had been drafted into an "emergency situation". If he is talking about needing "more time" to get a tune out of these players, then he is openly admitting he is failing. Remember, this was 24 hours before Spurs got trounced by Atletico.
You think you've hit the nadir with Tottenham and then they somehow find a way to create an abyss beneath the abyss they are already trapped in. The hammering at Atletico, during which they found themselves four goals down after 22 minutes, was inexplicable for all sorts of new reasons. The Estadio Metropolitano's dubious pitch didn't help matters, but nor did Spurs' goalkeeping situation.
Guglielmo Vicario's form started to dip upon his return from a fractured ankle last season, and this year his performances have hit all-time lows. It wasn't too much of a shock when his name wasn't among those in the starting XI to face Atletico, with deputy Antonin Kinsky given the nod. But the Czech squandered his opportunity to impress and then some.
Kinsky was hooked on 17 minutes after passing the ball straight to Atletico players, leading to two of their opening three goals. Listen, we're not here to debate whether or not he should have started, nor if this was the appropriate point to take him out of the firing line, but this is a decision that clearly didn't go down well amongst Kinsky's peers.
The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday that the dressing room had 'no faith' in Tudor, who refused to even acknowledge the goalkeeper as he left the pitch and went straight down the tunnel the night before. "There is hardly anybody, if anybody at all, in that dressing room who has any faith in him," a source said.
That, really, should have been the end of Tudor there and then. Barring a miracle across Spurs' next two games, away to Liverpool before the second leg against Atletico, he is not going to get anyone back onside. The club don't have time to dither anymore.
The Athletic reported on Friday evening that Spurs were now 'actively' looking into who could replace Tudor should they decide to spring forth further change. However, it is currently unknown whether the club would look to another short-term firefighter option or bring forward plans from the summer to appoint a head coach on a longer contract.
This was the piece of news most Tottenham fans had been hoping to hear this week, but that it came several hours after what could be Tudor's final pre-match press conference meant he won't have right of reply until after this weekend's game at Liverpool. Just as the club hung Frank out to dry versus the media several weeks after his fate should have been sealed, Tudor and his players have only been put through more misery and this Sunday's match may already be a dead rubber for the Croatian.
It should be 'better late then never' territory for Spurs if they do indeed remove Tudor from his position in the coming days, but we'll only know the true damage of waiting this long come the end of the season.
The dysfunction at Tottenham pre-dates Tudor and, if he is sacked soon, he will barely be remembered as the man who took Spurs down should that wind up being their fate.
The blame instead must go to those upstairs who have dragged the club into this mess. They waited too long to oust Frank, and they're doing the same with Tudor. For all of Levy's flaws, he usually knew when to pull the trigger (bar Jose Mourinho, as he won't stop going on about).
Those who inherited Levy's responsibilities, CEO Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange, appear to think that sticking to their guns is a smarter approach than panicking. Well, you're in a relegation dogfight guys, it's fine if you want to panic. Your reputations matter little in comparison to the club's standing as a Premier League club.
Lange, now infamously in Spurs circles, said of a January transfer window in which they only signed Conor Gallagher and Souza, "During the course of the window it’s very important, even though that is highly frustrating with all the injuries, to remain disciplined because, a) the players are coming back and, b) if you then, can you say, go in and make a 'stress purchase' of any football player then yes, the immediate feeling it gives you is nice. But of course there's no point in signing players that will not help us in the short term, in the medium term or even in the long term."
Venkatesham, meanwhile, effectively hit out at predecessor Levy in a meeting with Spurs' Fans Advisory Board earlier this month, according to the Daily Telegraph. Critics of Venkatesham would say this was an attempt to deflect attention away from his own running of the club.
The only plausible reason the Spurs hierarchy could have for not pulling the trigger on Tudor to this point is there is a shrinking market for any replacement, both in the short and long-term. There were very few options available and willing to take the job when Frank was sacked one month ago.
Former favourite Harry Redknapp revealed this week that he was contacted by Levy, claiming the ex-chairman said he would've rehired him were he still at the club right now.
"I got a phone call last week from Daniel, funnily enough," Redknapp said to talkSPORT. "I think I spoke to him once since I left all that time ago, and I was in the car last week and suddenly the phone goes, it's Daniel Levy.
"I thought 'that's strange' and I was on the phone to him for about half hour, chatting to him and he was explaining what happened to him, and how he got marched out of there, which was really strange. And he did say to me: 'If I was there now, and I'm not just saying it, I would bring you back in until the end of the season, Harry' - so it would have been interesting."
But that we're even talking about Redknapp, who is 79 and hasn't managed professionally since 2017, in these terms speaks to the desperation of the situation. Should Spurs survive relegation, then Mauricio Pochettino is many fans' preferred choice to take over, but he cannot perform a rescue act at this time given his focus on preparing the USMNT for their home World Cup this summer. It is not anyone else's job, be that us in the media or supporters in the stands, to come up with options for Tottenham, however.
Tottenham are almost certain to lose at Liverpool on Sunday. They haven't won at Anfield since 2011, a 2-0 victory under Redknapp, while they have only scraped together one draw there in the post-Pochettino era. The chances of them completing a comeback against Atletico on Wednesday are slim, even despite boasting a 24-match unbeaten home run in European competition.
Thus, most of a Spurs persuasion are looking ahead to next Sunday's showdown with fellow relegation-battlers Nottingham Forest. It is likely the north Londoners will head into the encounter still searching for their first Premier League win of 2026, and with this their last game before the international break, it would be their final chance to record a third-successive month without a victory.
The threat of relegation is very, very real. Death is knocking on Tottenham's door, and they are merely hoping it goes away of its own accord rather than doing anything themselves to improve the reality of the situation.
.png "Harry Redknapp back to Tottenham? Ex-Spurs boss open to replacing Igor Tudor as Premier League relegation battle heats up - Goal.com")
