London Evening Standard

Tottenham have been fined £75,000 after homophobic chanting was heard from a section of their fans during the Premier League match against Manchester United last year.

Spurs were charged by the Football Association (FA) with two breaches of FA Rule E21 in relation to crowd control misconduct during their 3-0 win at Old Trafford on September 29, 2024.

It had been alleged that they “failed to ensure its spectators and or supporters (and anyone purporting to be supporters or followers) conduct themselves in an orderly fashion and don’t use words or otherwise behave in an improper, offensive, abusive, indecent, or insulting way with either an express or implied reference to sexual orientation”.

Tottenham admitted both charges and were initially fined £150,000 in addition to an independent regulatory commission issuing a warning and providing an action plan, though that was later reduced to £75,000 on appeal.

Spurs were quick to condemn the homophobic chanting at Old Trafford after the game in September and vowed to take the strongest possible action against anyone identified as having taken part.

“The club is aware of abhorrent homophobic chanting from sections of our away support at Old Trafford today,” they said in a statement.

“The club will be working closely with the Police and stewards to identify anyone instigating or joining in with the chanting - we shall take the strongest possible action in accordance with our Sanctions and Banning Policy.

“We shall be continuing our work with our LGBTQ+ supporters’ association, Proud Lilywhites, to ensure a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans on matchdays.

“We are justly proud of our superb and loyal support, home and away. However, we all have a responsibility to act as ambassadors of Tottenham Hotspur and discrimination of any kind has no place at our club.”

The Dane swapped West London for North last week, putting pen to paper on a three-year deal, and will lead Spurs in their pursuit of a second title in as many seasons after they clinched the Europa League last year.

His predecessor, Ange Postecoglou, was often criticised for his stubborn commitment to an all-action offensive style, but, speaking after signing, Frank committed to doing the very same.

“The intention is to play aggressive front-footed football,” he declared in his first interview since signing. “I know the ethos and the history of the club is massive on attacking football, and I think there is a lot of attacking talent in the squad. I am very excited about that.

“They have clearly shown over the last two seasons, their ability to score goals is fantastic. I am very in on that. I love a team that is scoring goals, very, very big on principles. I want to build on that.”

While rumours abound that Frank Spurs are looking to sign attacking reinforcements, namely Brentford’s 20-goal winger Bryan Mbeumo, Frank gushed over his new squad, saying it has limitless potential to develop.

He went on: “Dominic Solanke, I am a big fan of him in terms of his abilities, I am sure we will make him score a lot of goals.

“[Rodrigo] Bentancur, [James] Maddison, of course, the younger ones as well, it is all players we need to develop and make perform at the highest level. [Lucas] Bergvall, Archie Gray, [Wilson] Odobert, [Destiny] Udogie, all of them have a high ceiling. You could mention the whole squad.

“It is always about winning. We need to make the team win on a Saturday, and a Tuesday, and a Saturday, and on Wednesday, but we also need to develop the individual players. That is down to me and my staff, and the players, how we work together on a day-to-day basis.”

Frank seems set to import his direct tactics from Brentford to N17, specifying that he expected his players to give their all in a high-risk style of play.

“I always say this one-liner, ‘if you don’t take risks, you also take risks.’ You need to play forward. If you don’t risk the ball, you can’t create anything. I am a big believer in that.

“The players need to be brave when we play, and they need to trust themselves. I will do my very best to install that trust.

“For me, if they lose the ball by trying, it is never a problem for me. But if they don’t work hard, I struggle more with that. If they do everything they can and lose the ball, it is no problem, but if they don’t work hard, that is my non-negotiable.”

Frank confident his predecessor will be remember as a “legend” at the club

Warm words: Thomas Frank was full of praise for the job Ange Postecoglou did at Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur

Matt Verri

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Thomas Frank sent a classy message to Ange Postecoglou in his first interview as Tottenham boss.

The Dane has taken charge at Spurs after Postecoglou was sacked, despite leading the club to Europa League glory and a first piece of silverware since 2008.

Postecoglou remained hugely popular with the Spurs players but Daniel Levy and the club opted to part ways with the Australian due to the club’s domestic struggles.

Frank has left Brentford to replace Postecoglou in north London and, speaking for the first time since that move, paid tribute to the work of his predecessor.

“Huge congratulations to the club, to the team,” Frank said as he discussed the Europa League victory.

“Huge congratulations to Ange. He’ll forever be a legend in Tottenham and congratulations to him for that.

“I think it’s very important to understand that we all stand on the shoulders of others. I’m going in on the foundations that Ange built and his coaching staff, and I’m very humble about that.

“I’ll do my very best to continue the great work that he put in.”

Frank’s challenge will be to bring some more consistency to Spurs, who lost 22 Premier League matches last season and finished 17th in the table.

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He must juggle Champions League football with the demand for better domestic displays, but Frank made it clear his focus is on delivering more silverware.

“The feeling and the excitement and the joy and the happiness you could see in the fans’ face and the pictures you saw... wow,” Frank said.

“So hopefully we can create more of those moments, that would be the ultimate dream to do that and build on that.

“Hey, no-one can say they’re not winners. The team and the players are winners, now we need to see if we can become serial winners in the future.”

Frank also emphasised the need for Spurs to improve on their performances on home soil next season.

Under Postecoglou, only six of 19 Premier League matches were won at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season. Ipswich and Southampton were the only teams to concede more goals on home soil.

“We’re going on a journey together and on a journey there are ups and downs,” Frank said. “It’s how we get through these ups and downs together.

“But of course the connection from the team to the fans, from me to the fans, is going to be crucial.

“And a very important thing is to make our home like a fortress. That can only be the fans and us together, that needs to be an ongoing relationship. I want our home to be very, very difficult to come to.”

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Both club and coach will be determined to significantly improve on the 2024/25 domestic campaign, which saw Spurs finish a scarcely believable 17th in the league, just above the relegation zone, with only 38 points and 22 defeats. Ange Postecoglou won the Europa League, ending Spurs’ 17-year trophy drought, but was still sacked.

Frank has since taken over, having been lured from his role at Brentford to replace the Australian at the helm. Spurs have made the Mathys Tel loan move permanent and are targeting Bryan Mbeumo to further strengthen their attack.

Spurs’ first real test comes in their second game as Frank will be tasked to continue the club’s fine record against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. It is part of an otherwise kind opening run for them as they settle into the new campaign. They travel to West Ham in September, and host them in January.

A tough November sees Spurs host Chelsea and Manchester United before the first north London derby, away at Arsenal. The Gunners come to N17 in February.

Frank welcomes former team Brentford to town in early December, before his first return to west London coming just weeks later in the club’s final game of 2025.

Daniel Levy has outlined his commitment to helping Tottenham go on to achieve more success after their long trophy drought finally came to an end.

Spurs had gone 17 years without winning any major silverware until they beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Europa League final in Bilbao last month.

Such a memorable triumph was not enough to prevent a managerial change in north London this summer, with Ange Postecoglou paying the price for overseeing the worst Premier League campaign in the club’s history as he was sacked only a fortnight later and replaced by long-time Brentford boss Thomas Frank.

Levy has now publicly addressed the collective board decision to move on from Postecoglou and hire Frank for the first time in an interview with Tottenham’s in-house media team, in which he spoke alongside new club CEO Vinai Venkatesham.

Levy has come in for increasing criticism from frustrated Spurs fans amid protests against both him and the ownership this season, though the top-flight’s longest-serving chairman - having first taken up the role in 2001 - is now hoping to take the club to Premier League and Champions League success in future after a pivotal hurdle was finally cleared in Bilbao.

“I’ve got very broad shoulders, failure is not an option,” he said. “The desire [is] to succeed. Because it’s so difficult I want to succeed even more.

“The pressure and disappointment of not winning over a number of years, I just wanted it so desperately. Not just for me, my family, but all the fans around the world.

“We deserve some luck, and that last seven or so minutes [of the Europa League final] was horrific. It felt like hours. So when that final whistle went, that was just an amazing experience.

“And you saw the outpouring of emotion with the parade, it was just incredible. We’ve won a European trophy, but it’s not enough.

“It’s what we haven’t done that is more important. We need to win the league. We want to win the Premier League, we want to win the Champions League. We want to win.”

Levy also said: “We’re very proud of the stadium, but we need to make sure we win on the pitch. There’s no point in having a wonderful stadium if you haven’t got a wonderful team and winning.

“The reason we do all these other events is to provide additional financial resources to the club, which in turn goes back into the team. Everything is about the team. Everything.”

Daniel Levy has explained why Tottenham appointed Vinai Venkatesham as their new CEO this summer, with the former Arsenal stalwart outlining his vision for the club to reach “another level”.

Standard Sport first revealed back in April that Spurs were hiring Venkatesham in a newly-created role as part of a summer boardroom shake-up.

The arrival of Venkatesham - also courted by Newcastle - was seen as a coup for Tottenham after he previously spent 14 years in a variety of roles at north London rivals Arsenal, including four as CEO, plus working with the British Olympic Association (BOA), on the board and executive committee of the European Club Association (ECA) and also at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as well as the 2017 World Athletics Championships.

“I’ve known Vinai for a number of years, without doubt he was the candidate,” chairman Levy said in a new joint-interview with Venkatesham posted on Tottenham’s official YouTube channel and website. “Sometimes when you employ somebody you don’t know if you’re going to get on, but because we’ve known each other that risk wasn’t there.

“So I’m very excited that Vinai has joined us and I think the club is going to benefit enormously from it. Vinai is a good communicator, honest, integrity, bright. He enjoys being challenged and I want to be challenged as well.”

For his part, Venkatesham - who received an OBE last year - insisted that he would not have joined Tottenham if he did not think them capable of hitting new heights in the aftermath of their Europa League triumph in Bilbao last month that finally ended a 17-year wait for a major trophy.

“I think the club has got wonderful foundations,” he said. “I’m biased, I grew up in London so I think the club is based in the greatest city in the world.

“It has an outstanding stadium and training centre, and it’s got a huge global fanbase. The foundations are brilliant, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think that there was another level that this football club can get to.

“We got a bit of a taste of that in Bilbao, I think everyone associated with the club wants more of that. I think there is another level this club can get to, and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think that level was there.”

Venkatesham said his and Levy’s complementary skills made for a “really powerful partnership”, revealing that he would be taking “more of a lead day-to-day on operational matters on and off the pitch”, but insisting they would be working together with no significant decisions taken that they aren’t “completely joined at the hip on”.

“That doesn’t mean that we always agree, we often disagree and we often challenge each other. But I think that’s a good thing,” said Venkatesham, who added that Levy was a key part of him deciding to join Tottenham. “I think by working together we will get to better answers.”

Outlining his immediate priorities since starting at Tottenham, Venkatesham referenced the hiring of Thomas Frank to become new manager of the men’s team, searching for a replacement for Robert Vilahamn as women’s head coach and spending time learning what is important to fans, with meetings with the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust (THST) and Fan Advisory Board scheduled for later this month.

He also said he intends to spend as much time as possible with Tottenham’s 800 staff members to understand what the club does well and where they need to improve moving forward.

Tottenham CEO Vinai Venkatesham has revealed that Thomas Frank saw off significant competition from more than 30 other candidates to succeed Ange Postecoglou as manager as he explained details of the extensive hiring process.

Spurs turned to Frank as their new boss last week, paying London rivals Brentford £10million in compensation as they confirmed his appointment just days after making the difficult decision to sack Postecoglou a little over a fortnight removed from their first major trophy success in 17 years in the Europa League final.

Tottenham had been linked with an array of other managers with the future of Postecoglou having long been in serious doubt despite that triumph in Bilbao amid the worst Premier League season in the club’s history, including Fulham’s Marco Silva, Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola and Oliver Glasner, FA Cup winner this season at Crystal Palace.

Former Spurs favourite and current USA national team manager Mauricio Pochettino, ex-midfielder Scott Parker at Burnley, Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna and Marseille head coach Roberto De Zerbi were among some of the other names mentioned in connection with the role in the press.

However, Frank was seen as the clear top candidate to succeed Postecoglou, with Daniel Levy having praised the Dane as “highly intelligent, a great communicator and super human being” who also ticked all of the necessary technical boxes.

Appearing alongside the chairman in a new joint-interview with Tottenham’s in-house media team posted on Tuesday, Venkatesham has revealed exactly what went into the exhaustive but swift search to identify the ideal new manager as he also explained what gave Frank the clear edge.

“We ran a really, really thorough process at speed,” said former Arsenal chief executive Venkatesham, whose own shock appointment in the newly-created CEO role at Tottenham was exclusively revealed by Standard Sport back in April.

“We defined 10 characteristics that we think are important to be a successful manager at Tottenham Hotspur. We analysed in real detail through our technical staff led by [technical director] Johan (Lange), more than 30 candidates.

“We had a shortlist, we spent a lot of time with the shortlist, and Thomas was absolutely the number one candidate. I could not be more excited to have him join the club.

“I agree with everything that Daniel said around his characteristics. Personally, one of the things I’m really excited about is he’s an outstanding developer of young players. I really look forward to seeing what he can do with the squad that we have here.”

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Gareth Bale is set to be the face of a potential takeover of League One side Plymouth Argyle.

The former Wales international, who spent much of his career with Real Madrid and Tottenham, retired from football in 2023 as a five-time Champions League winner.

Having dabbled in punditry since hanging up his boots, he could now be set for a full-time return to the game.

The Telegraph reports that he has joined up with a US-based private equity group which is in talks to purchase a controlling stake in the Pilgrims.

Plymouth, who were relegated from the Championship at the end of last season, are reportedly searching for new investment as they look to revitalise the club.

Current chairman Simon Hallett, who became a majority shareholder in 2018, is leading that search, and saw a deal to sell a large stake fall through last month.

Speaking at the time, he said: “Negotiations have taken too long and the key information that both we and the EFL required to complete the deal has not been forthcoming. I no longer believe that news of the new investor is imminent."

The new investment group would become the latest in a long line of Americans taking over British clubs should their deal go through. Premier League sides Chelsea, Bournemouth, Liverpool, and Crystal Palace are all under whole or partial American control, while actors Rob McElhenny and Ryan Reynolds famously took over Wrexham in 2021.

Bale briefly played in the MLS, ending his career with 12 appearances for LAFC, though The Telegraph’s report says it is not clear how he became involved in the bid.

The news follows the April announcement that Real Madrid and Croatia legend Luka Modric would become a minority owner of Swansea City. The 39-year-old will make his final appearances for Los Blancos at the Club World Cup this summer, with AC Milan keen to sign him on a free transfer following the tournament.

Norgaard is expected to join his countryman in making the move to Hotspur Way. He served as Frank’s assistant for three years since joining Brentford from the Danish Football Association in 2022.

Frank will bring much of his Brentford staff with him to Tottenham. He insisted on bringing Justin Cochrane with him, with head of performance Chris Haslam and analyst Joe Newton also moving. Manchester United’s set-piece coach Andreas Georgson completes his new backroom staff.

On leaving, Norgaard said: “I have loved my time at Brentford and leave with fond memories.

“There is such a strong culture and that has contributed greatly to a very successful period. Brentford will always have a place in my heart.”

Director of football Phil Giles said: “In the three seasons Claus was a Brentford coach, we finished in the top half of the Premier League twice. That is the legacy he leaves.”

Brentford are left facing a considerable rebuild both on and off the pitch as Frank’s dynasty comes to an end.

Beyond the staff exodus, they also stand to lose last season’s joint-top scorers in Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, who combined for 52 goal involvements in all competitions.

Both men could join Frank at Spurs. Mbeumo had appeared close to joining Man United after they offered to quadruple his wages, but is now reportedly leaning towards north London rather than the Northwest. Wissa, meanwhile, is entering the final year of his Brentford contract, with Nottingham Forest also in the running for his signature.

Brentford set-piece coach Keith Andrews is considered a leading contender to take on the top job at the Gtech Stadium. His 16-year playing career featured spells at Wolves, MK Dons, and Blackburn Rovers.

He went on to serve as a coach for the Dons after hanging up his boots, also working as an assistant to Chris Wilder at Sheffield United before joining Brentford.