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Pasquali said:
ange-postecoglou-trophy-lift-ange-postecoglou.gif
Click to expand...
Frank is a top bloke and coach but remember the whole 'Frank will maul Ange' has not even come close to fruition.
 
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Thomas Frank was clearly seen drinking from an Arsenal-branded cup

Frank was mocked after being pictured drinking from an Arsenal-branded cup
​
By his own admission, Thomas Frank made his first rookie error as Tottenham Hotspur head coach before a ball had been kicked this season and the “A-word” proved to be a problematic theme of his eight months in charge.

It was in his first press conference following his appointment that Frank said: “I haven’t seen a team that is not losing any football matches. There is Arsenal, that we can’t mention, in the Premier League. So I made my first rookie mistake there.”

It was not a rookie mistake confined to his media duties, however, as Frank is said to have regularly referenced the strengths of Tottenham’s North London rivals in team meetings – much to the frustration of some players.

The irony of Frank finally being sacked ahead of next Sunday’s game against Arsenal will not have been lost on those who were surprised by his reverence to the Premier League leaders.

One source told Telegraph Sport: “He was constantly going on to the players about Arsenal and they quickly got sick of it. Even before and after the game at the Emirates, he was telling them how good Arsenal were. The feeling among some was very much ‘just shut up about Arsenal’.”

It is hardly surprising, then, that players were just as dismayed as supporters to see pictures of Frank holding an Arsenal coffee cup as he strolled around the Vitality Stadium ahead of Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth.

The resulting social media pictures poking fun at Frank and portraying him as an obsessive Arsenal fan were not just shared among Spurs fans, but also members of staff and players.


It undoubtedly made life more difficult for Frank that his and Tottenham’s struggles came at a time when Arsenal were top of the Premier League and Champions League tables. Chief executive Vinai Venkatesham’s previous association with the club has been seized upon by critics, even though Spurs elected not to mention it when his appointment was announced last April.

Venkatesham can also be accused of making rookie errors that did not help Frank or Spurs. The club were gazumped by Arsenal for Eberechi Eze in the summer and the decision to officially reappoint Fabio Paratici as co-sporting director in October blew up in Venkatesham’s face, as it was announced three months later that the Italian would leave at the start of February.

Former Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou once joked the Australian national team federation would replace him with “John the Pragmatist” and those words resonated with Spurs players who worked with Postecoglou’s successor and fans who watched Frank’s team.

Just last week, Frank conceded: “I am pretty sure there are also some players who don’t think I am the best bloke or whatever it is.”

Almost from day one, there was a feeling within the squad that Frank placed too much emphasis on the opposition in training and preparation. A source said: “Most of the work was on what to do out of possession and how to nullify the opposition, rather than working on how they could hurt opponents.”

Thomas Frank on the Turf Moor touchline

Thomas Frank’s post as Tottenham manager only lasted eight months Credit: Getty Images/Robbie Jay Barratt
​
That was reflected in performances and results with some success in the early weeks of the season, as Tottenham won three of their first four Premier League games, conceding just one goal and beating Manchester City.

Alarm bells first started to ring with the home draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers and the league defeat to Aston Villa, which highlighted that starting with on-loan Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur was unnecessarily pragmatic when Spurs needed to take games to their opponents at the club’s £1bn stadium.

Frustration on and off the pitch boiled over in the home defeat to Chelsea at the beginning of November, when supporters booed and defenders Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence dismissed Frank’s suggestion for them to applaud the home crowd.

tmg.video.placeholder.alt gVXOBCIVfkM

​
As exclusively reported by Telegraph Sport, players discussed their relationship with the fans in a team meeting after the defeat. It can now be revealed that players who had arrived in the summer were shocked to hear longer serving players articulate their strong feelings on what they believed was a long-standing disconnect.

That disconnect quickly widened with fans turning on goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario; arguing with Van de Van and Pedro Porro; and loudly singing “you’re getting sacked in the morning” at Frank.

The vehemence of the chanting against Frank in the defeat to West Ham United forced Tottenham’s Lewis family owners and Venkatesham to consider their options. The Dane was given a stay of execution for the Champions League visit of Borussia Dortmund and lunched with Venkatesham, Nick Beucher, who is a member of the Lewis family, and sporting director Johan Lange in the build-up to the game.
​
It was the Champions League that ultimately stopped Frank being sacked sooner, with Tottenham finishing fourth in the league phase. But his injury-hit team could not transfer their European form to the Premier League and Frank will not get the chance to take charge of Spurs in the last-16.

Frank had tried to remain calm amid the chaos. He likes to read for half-an-hour before going to bed to clear his mind of football and problems, and went for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea on the morning of Tottenham’s Champions League game in Monaco.

But there was no shaking the troubling feeling he had inherited an unbalanced squad that was incapable of competing domestically and in Europe, and that he was badly short of leaders.

tmg.video.placeholder.alt E2TKvjDGr5A


Cristian Romero was made club captain under Frank after Heung-Min Son left the club, but there were doubts over his suitability for the role even before the Argentine’s post-transfer window head loss.​

A strong character, sure. Somebody who can galvanise the team when he is in the right frame of mind. But a leader to rely upon when the going gets tough? His social media post less than an hour after the transfer window shut, describing Tottenham’s lack of available players as a “disgrace”, and subsequent red card at Manchester United provided a definitive answer.

Some believe Romero is granted privileges not afforded to others at Tottenham’s training ground and is not somebody who sets standards with the way he behaves. That feeling was underlined when the defender, who is the highest-paid player at Spurs, was not punished after publicly calling out the club’s hierarchy following the Bournemouth defeat.

On the same day the club confirmed Romero would not be fined, the defender was handed an extra game ban for refusing to leave the side of the pitch after being sent-off against Liverpool. He scored on his return to the team against West Ham, but also registered his eighth yellow card of the season.

The defender has three games of a four-game suspension left to serve and is only two bookings from another two-game ban. If availability is the best ability, then the 27-year-old has a lot of making up to do.

Cristian Romero looks on

Cristian Romero was made captain under Frank and some believe the Argentine is not a player who sets standards with his behaviour Credit: PA/Mike Egerton
​
It is not just Romero’s discipline that has been questionable, as time-keeping was an issue for players, young and old, under Frank. The Dane tried to draw a line in the sand by leaving Yves Bissouma out of his first squad for the Uefa Super Cup following repeated incidents.

Bissouma apologised after being pictured using nitrous oxide, but was then called upon to make his first Spurs appearance of the season as a substitute in the defeat to West Ham. It was just the latest in a list of examples of Frank undermining his own authority.

Frank had arrived at Tottenham with a “no d---heads” policy that he cultivated at Brentford, but implementing that in north London was not as easy as he might have anticipated or liked. The cultural problems he encountered were not confined to his players, with issues existing and presenting themselves in other areas of the club.

They will not be magically cured by another change of head coach and, at Christmas, Frank had candidly warned club chiefs that the second half of the season would remain bumpy with tough moments. But, even after the embarrassing West Ham defeat, the former Brentford manager believed he could start to turn around the Spurs “supertanker”.

There were some encouraging signs in the Champions League victories and comeback draw against Manchester City. But an 11th League defeat of the season against Newcastle United, during which supporters again chanted “you’re getting sacked in the morning” and sang for Mauricio Pochettino, proved to be fatal.

Frank claimed he was “convinced” he retained the backing of the Tottenham board after the Newcastle loss, but that belief proved to be another rookie error to add to the list for the 52 year-old. The message for his successor is clear: Don’t mention the ‘A-word’.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Thomas Frank’s bizarre obsession with Arsenal helped seal his fate

Poor results and a series of rookie errors also eventually led to the Dane’s sacking as Tottenham Hotspur manager
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk
 
Pasquali said:
Thomas Frank was clearly seen drinking from an Arsenal-branded cup

Frank was mocked after being pictured drinking from an Arsenal-branded cup
​
By his own admission, Thomas Frank made his first rookie error as Tottenham Hotspur head coach before a ball had been kicked this season and the “A-word” proved to be a problematic theme of his eight months in charge.

It was in his first press conference following his appointment that Frank said: “I haven’t seen a team that is not losing any football matches. There is Arsenal, that we can’t mention, in the Premier League. So I made my first rookie mistake there.”

It was not a rookie mistake confined to his media duties, however, as Frank is said to have regularly referenced the strengths of Tottenham’s North London rivals in team meetings – much to the frustration of some players.

The irony of Frank finally being sacked ahead of next Sunday’s game against Arsenal will not have been lost on those who were surprised by his reverence to the Premier League leaders.

One source told Telegraph Sport: “He was constantly going on to the players about Arsenal and they quickly got sick of it. Even before and after the game at the Emirates, he was telling them how good Arsenal were. The feeling among some was very much ‘just shut up about Arsenal’.”

It is hardly surprising, then, that players were just as dismayed as supporters to see pictures of Frank holding an Arsenal coffee cup as he strolled around the Vitality Stadium ahead of Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth.

The resulting social media pictures poking fun at Frank and portraying him as an obsessive Arsenal fan were not just shared among Spurs fans, but also members of staff and players.


It undoubtedly made life more difficult for Frank that his and Tottenham’s struggles came at a time when Arsenal were top of the Premier League and Champions League tables. Chief executive Vinai Venkatesham’s previous association with the club has been seized upon by critics, even though Spurs elected not to mention it when his appointment was announced last April.

Venkatesham can also be accused of making rookie errors that did not help Frank or Spurs. The club were gazumped by Arsenal for Eberechi Eze in the summer and the decision to officially reappoint Fabio Paratici as co-sporting director in October blew up in Venkatesham’s face, as it was announced three months later that the Italian would leave at the start of February.

Former Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou once joked the Australian national team federation would replace him with “John the Pragmatist” and those words resonated with Spurs players who worked with Postecoglou’s successor and fans who watched Frank’s team.

Just last week, Frank conceded: “I am pretty sure there are also some players who don’t think I am the best bloke or whatever it is.”

Almost from day one, there was a feeling within the squad that Frank placed too much emphasis on the opposition in training and preparation. A source said: “Most of the work was on what to do out of possession and how to nullify the opposition, rather than working on how they could hurt opponents.”

Thomas Frank on the Turf Moor touchline

Thomas Frank’s post as Tottenham manager only lasted eight months Credit: Getty Images/Robbie Jay Barratt
​
That was reflected in performances and results with some success in the early weeks of the season, as Tottenham won three of their first four Premier League games, conceding just one goal and beating Manchester City.

Alarm bells first started to ring with the home draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers and the league defeat to Aston Villa, which highlighted that starting with on-loan Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur was unnecessarily pragmatic when Spurs needed to take games to their opponents at the club’s £1bn stadium.

Frustration on and off the pitch boiled over in the home defeat to Chelsea at the beginning of November, when supporters booed and defenders Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence dismissed Frank’s suggestion for them to applaud the home crowd.

tmg.video.placeholder.alt gVXOBCIVfkM

​
As exclusively reported by Telegraph Sport, players discussed their relationship with the fans in a team meeting after the defeat. It can now be revealed that players who had arrived in the summer were shocked to hear longer serving players articulate their strong feelings on what they believed was a long-standing disconnect.

That disconnect quickly widened with fans turning on goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario; arguing with Van de Van and Pedro Porro; and loudly singing “you’re getting sacked in the morning” at Frank.

The vehemence of the chanting against Frank in the defeat to West Ham United forced Tottenham’s Lewis family owners and Venkatesham to consider their options. The Dane was given a stay of execution for the Champions League visit of Borussia Dortmund and lunched with Venkatesham, Nick Beucher, who is a member of the Lewis family, and sporting director Johan Lange in the build-up to the game.
​
It was the Champions League that ultimately stopped Frank being sacked sooner, with Tottenham finishing fourth in the league phase. But his injury-hit team could not transfer their European form to the Premier League and Frank will not get the chance to take charge of Spurs in the last-16.

Frank had tried to remain calm amid the chaos. He likes to read for half-an-hour before going to bed to clear his mind of football and problems, and went for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea on the morning of Tottenham’s Champions League game in Monaco.

But there was no shaking the troubling feeling he had inherited an unbalanced squad that was incapable of competing domestically and in Europe, and that he was badly short of leaders.

tmg.video.placeholder.alt E2TKvjDGr5A


Cristian Romero was made club captain under Frank after Heung-Min Son left the club, but there were doubts over his suitability for the role even before the Argentine’s post-transfer window head loss.​

A strong character, sure. Somebody who can galvanise the team when he is in the right frame of mind. But a leader to rely upon when the going gets tough? His social media post less than an hour after the transfer window shut, describing Tottenham’s lack of available players as a “disgrace”, and subsequent red card at Manchester United provided a definitive answer.

Some believe Romero is granted privileges not afforded to others at Tottenham’s training ground and is not somebody who sets standards with the way he behaves. That feeling was underlined when the defender, who is the highest-paid player at Spurs, was not punished after publicly calling out the club’s hierarchy following the Bournemouth defeat.

On the same day the club confirmed Romero would not be fined, the defender was handed an extra game ban for refusing to leave the side of the pitch after being sent-off against Liverpool. He scored on his return to the team against West Ham, but also registered his eighth yellow card of the season.

The defender has three games of a four-game suspension left to serve and is only two bookings from another two-game ban. If availability is the best ability, then the 27-year-old has a lot of making up to do.

Cristian Romero looks on

Cristian Romero was made captain under Frank and some believe the Argentine is not a player who sets standards with his behaviour Credit: PA/Mike Egerton
​
It is not just Romero’s discipline that has been questionable, as time-keeping was an issue for players, young and old, under Frank. The Dane tried to draw a line in the sand by leaving Yves Bissouma out of his first squad for the Uefa Super Cup following repeated incidents.

Bissouma apologised after being pictured using nitrous oxide, but was then called upon to make his first Spurs appearance of the season as a substitute in the defeat to West Ham. It was just the latest in a list of examples of Frank undermining his own authority.

Frank had arrived at Tottenham with a “no d---heads” policy that he cultivated at Brentford, but implementing that in north London was not as easy as he might have anticipated or liked. The cultural problems he encountered were not confined to his players, with issues existing and presenting themselves in other areas of the club.

They will not be magically cured by another change of head coach and, at Christmas, Frank had candidly warned club chiefs that the second half of the season would remain bumpy with tough moments. But, even after the embarrassing West Ham defeat, the former Brentford manager believed he could start to turn around the Spurs “supertanker”.

There were some encouraging signs in the Champions League victories and comeback draw against Manchester City. But an 11th League defeat of the season against Newcastle United, during which supporters again chanted “you’re getting sacked in the morning” and sang for Mauricio Pochettino, proved to be fatal.

Frank claimed he was “convinced” he retained the backing of the Tottenham board after the Newcastle loss, but that belief proved to be another rookie error to add to the list for the 52 year-old. The message for his successor is clear: Don’t mention the ‘A-word’.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Thomas Frank’s bizarre obsession with Arsenal helped seal his fate

Poor results and a series of rookie errors also eventually led to the Dane’s sacking as Tottenham Hotspur manager
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk
Click to expand...
And the Spurs poison chalice rolls on to the next pair of hands to take a sip out of......
 
sorry Ben, LFC first visitor taking points from SOL !
Got to say that was a fair performance considering our injuries And our best player to date suspended.
Always a tuff game for us there so called we walked away with 3 important points.
Now we may have Endo out for a week or ?
3 points from 4th - happy with that for now........
Cup game coming up on Sunday - next 5 league games would be great not to drop any points for a change.
 
https://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/news/2026/february/12/club-statement

Nottingham Forest have now given head coach Sean Dyche the sack after 114 days in charge, with the club looking for a fourth head coach of the season. He's the second head coach to be given their marching orders in the space of 14 hours after Spurs gave Thomas Frank the sack earlier, and the decision comes after they were held to a scoreless draw at home by wooden spooners Wolves midweek, leaving them three points safe from the relegation zone.
 
could get to record gaffa sackings I mentioned sometime back.
Isn't it ironic both Clubs Ange went to replacements gonnnne ! yet he still came up with a trophy for the Spudz.
 
I like Palace but they've also become a club with a lot of money and glamour. While that's the goal and it's needed to survive, the way all these once battling clubs have become a stale plastic sort of product irks me. Coventry are next. Once the hard battling club with a lot of local players, in come imports en masse which is fun at the start but then you hardly recognise the set up.

When Palace came up they were a bare bones side that fought and stayed up. I miss the days of a battler's Fulham too. They can buy nearly anyone at will.
 
and the slow choke begins - just great for giggles if so........
Mind you IF city get up so pissed considering they keep getting away with over 115charges + breach's ffs.
Top 6/7 battle is quite close.
Last relo spot who from P15 to P18 takes that 3 step down with Burnley/Wolves.
 
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