The Tottenham Hotspur boss has been speaking about his future at the Premier League club after a tough start to life in north London
Thomas Frank is very confident that Tottenham's owners will stick with him despite the north London club's struggles and an increasingly strained relationship with the fans.
Spurs have won just three of their past 13 matches under the Dane and their wretched home form - just three Premier League victories in all of 2025 - continued with Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Fulham, which brought boos from the crowd at half-time, full-time and for Guglielmo Vicario after an early gaffe in the game.
Frank said that those who mocked the Italian goalkeeper were not "true Tottenham fans" after the game and the 52-year-old is facing increasing scrutiny from the supporters about a Spurs team that is struggling to create chances while conceding 13 goals in their past four matches.
The Spurs board made a big decision in the summer to sack Ange Postecoglou a fortnight after the Australian landed the club its first trophy in 17 years with their Europa League triumph. Postecoglou departed because of Tottenham's 17th-place league finish, but compared to this stage last season Frank's 10th-placed team have scored seven fewer goals, conceded two more and have two fewer points to their name.
Frank is confident though that he will be given the time to build his Spurs project by the Lewis family, who own the club, and CEO Vinai Venkatesham, who showed patience while at Arsenal with Mikel Arteta's struggles in his early seasons across the other side of north London.
"I'm very confident. I think the ownership - of course I'm just starting to know them - but it seems like they're good guys, intelligent people," said Frank. "They know how to run businesses and learning about football, learning more now they've become owners.
"I think when we're dealing with intelligent people they can see every successful dynasty, every successful club has taken time. Yeah you have one where you maybe win one year or the second year, but you can't sustain it if you don't build something sustainable. It's impossible."
Frank has made it clear that it was the mocking of his goalkeeper Vicario that prompted him to label those who did it as "not true Tottenham fans".
After Kenny Tete had put Fulham ahead just three minutes into the contest, it was only another three minutes later when Vicario came out to claim a ball outside of his box. He did so perfectly, but then inexplicably chose not to kick it out of play and instead hit a weak pass down the line which eventually fell to Harry Wilson, who curled it back from the touchline into the empty net.
The Italian goalkeeper was booed by his own fans with his next two touches and they cheered sarcastically when he next kicked the ball out of play in a similar situation. It evoked memories of centre-back Davinson Sanchez being booed for mistakes by the Spurs fans during the home defeat to Bournemouth in April 2023 until he was finally taken off.
The relationship between the current crop of Tottenham players and the club's fans has been increasingly strained in the past year aside from the Europa League triumph in May and subsequent parade. There have been angry exchanges between supporters and players after games and following Vicario's targeting on Saturday, the players only applauded their stadium's big south stand from afar rather than going over.
Right-back Pedro Porro even looked furious at that, shouting at youngster Lucas Bergvall to stop and come down the tunnel. In a recent post-match meeting after the defeat to Chelsea, the players raised their difficult relationship with their supporters.
After Saturday's game, Frank had labelled those who booed Vicario as not 'true Tottenham fans', a term Porro also used on social media, and he specified exactly what he meant ahead of Tuesday's match at Newcastle.
"When I said the 'not true Spurs fan', what I meant by that just to make it clear was the mocking of one of their own players," said the Dane. "He makes a mistake and there is a little bit of booing after that, as I remember it. The next ball he clears and there is like cheering. You can't do that. The opponent can do that, you can't do that as a fan.
"That's where I would stand by what I said. The booing during the game I don't think is helpful, we are all different."
As someone who likes to complete a lap of the pitch applauding the fans after every game, Frank made it clear that his recommendation would still be for his players to at least applaud in some way.
"I think it is important that we connect with the fans. It is pretty obvious that away from home we go to the away fans and thank them for their travelling and support," he said. "There were maybe not many who clapped after the [Fulham] game but I still saw a few. Sometimes they can be emotional or whatever but I would still say 'clap the fans after the game'. You don't have to do the big loop. There is no specific instruction, that is what I recommend."
Of the players raising their concerns about the fans in a team meeting, Frank added: "We didn't have a meeting about the fans. We had a debrief after the [Chelsea] game about the game as we do all the time and it was pretty evident after that game that it was the first time there was a little bit talk about the fans and the relationship and that. We had a talk about that, which is natural."
Tottenham travel to face Eddie Howe's in-form Magpies on Tuesday night at St James' Park and Frank made it clear that despite the recent disconnect, the supporters are crucial both away but even more so at home.
"We are nothing without the fans. Tottenham Hotspur, we are nothing without our fantastic fans. Nothing. We need each other. There is nothing we want more than making them happy," he said.
"My point was during matches that’s where we need each other. After, fair with the booing but during that is when I want to create a fortress. If any club wants to be successful, you need to create a fortress. If you want to create a fortress, it can only be together."
Frank is not blaming the fans for the home struggles and believes the players need to be able to perform regardless of what's going on around them.
"Mainly it's on the pitch we need to improve. There we need to perform and no matter what the mood is find a good structure and calmness and do the right thing throughout 90 minutes," he said. "I think there’s a reason why some home grounds are more successful for whatever reason, because there’s also a part that we can be pushed forward, which I definitely feel we do a lot of times. So the more we can do that as well the better."
He added: "It’s a fact that we haven’t won that many times at home so there’s no getting away from that but I don’t think the relationship with the fans is that bad as if it’s like the big talk of the town. Every game we go out there and I definitely feel the fans are behind us and we keep going.
"Of course the last game, everyone was a little bit shell-shocked in the stadium from the players to me to the fans, six minutes down. We believed 'let’s come out flying against a team we respect but one we on a good day have a very good chance to beat'."
Frank has arrived from a stable, calm club in Brentford and is now discovering the tumultuous life of a Spurs manager with all of the quirks and hurdles at the north London club.
"This is on another scale, of course, but more like my first job in Brondby if you compare some of it. Brentford was in a different way, no doubt about that," admitted the Dane. "You can say there is always a challenge when there are big expectations. No problem with big expectation if you have also earned the right to really compete for those big expectations, which I think it’s fair to say we haven’t done.
"I said it near the start that we have not been able to compete in a cup tournament, Europe and the Premier League in the last six years. Now we are coming from a season where we finished 17th and did fantastically to win the Europa League. Now we want to compete in both places, which is natural and will take a bit of time without the normal front players, the four front players who scored the only goals. No problem. We will get there. I am not in doubt, not in doubt."
