Why it’s FALLING APART again at Tottenham | The Pitch
In this brand new episode of The Pitch, we look at the key issues that Thomas Frank and his Spurs side are facing. Why is it falling apart? We dive into the deep-rooted issues causing mayhem for the underperforming Tottenham Hotspur. spurs tottenhamhotspur thomasfrank premierleague football
Transcript
club motto to dare to do. At the moment, we're certainly not daring and we're certainly not doing. >> Since Thomas Frank's appointment, key factors have defined this campaign and fans aren't happy. Chris Cowan explains supporter unrest and male sport football editor Ian Ladyman explains how Tottenham can turn things around. Where has it all gone wrong for Spurs? So, we start here on the 12th of June 2025. Thomas Frank replaces an Costa Coglu as the head coach of Tottenham Hotspur. It's a season where they just recorded 38 points. How did you feel about letting go of an >> Well, of course, we had that magical night in Bil Bao. Uh Tottenham hadn't won a trophy in 17 years, so it was a delightful evening under an of course last season, 22 league defeats, finishing 17th, not acceptable. Um we needed some sort of calmness, stability um in at Tottenham. And Thomas Frank, it was a good appointment. I think it was a good appointment at first. A lot of people were um excited by him improving players um getting the best out of players and ultimately driving us forward and winning the Europa League should have been or should be the spring ball to more success at Tottenham. >> Well, that goes into what you were saying, Ian. He had a 35% win rate at Brenford in 152 games. What did you think at the time of the appointment? Yeah, I thought it was a it was almost like it was almost a necessary appointment because we'd gone from the great love affair which was Daniel Levy and Micro Pochettino which had been brilliant in many many ways. I love watching that team play but they didn't win anything and so they went into the kind of two win all cost merchants of Mourinho and Conte. Blime me two Chelsea managers who would have thought of it didn't work. Didn't win anything. Um and you keep spinning and you keep spinning and then you spin backwards to an which is right. go back to the days of kind of fabulous front foot front foot football and if we can't win let's enjoy ourselves and you almost get relegated despite what happened in in Bill Bao until you get to this point where it's like well we've got to find somewhere or someone who sits in the middle of all that and that's what they thought they'd found with Thomas Frank uh someone who had a pedigree as a coach uh a good reputation as a man manager someone who looked like he had the personality and the and broad enough shoulders to handle being Tottenham manager and he had the promise to win things at a big club and as we stand here today it's not worked. >> Well, you listed off a few of the managers there and a few of the different um ways that Spurs have tried to to kick on when it wasn't a big name this time. It was someone that had Premier League experience. Did it feel like a bit of a necessary reset for you as a fan? >> Yes, you could say that. We've gone round in circles though since 2019 of Mauricio Pochettino um you know going in there in the brand new stadium. We've gone through six managers now since 2019. Three interim appointments as well. So we have gone round in circles and certainly got it in terms of what Ian said about you know the the managerial appointments win now managers Kante Jose Mourinho you know they didn't get Tottenham over the line and got the fact that you know the the the Tottenham fan base would be you know coming alive if uh he could deliver success deliver a trophy uh which he ultimately did. But when Thomas Frank come in, I think it was all about the the calmness and all about uh you know taking us forward and we should be in a much better position than we are right now. >> That takes us on to boring football. Bottom for successful through balls, fourth bottom for total shots, fourth bottom for expected goals from open play. Did you prefer to watch Angie's Spurs or Frank's Spurs? >> I think Angie's uh Spurs was a lot more entertaining. Um we certainly went for it. you know, you you look at that club motto to dare is to do at the moment. We're certainly not daring and we're certainly not doing um an football um you know, would never have worked. I think it was the right decision for Anostogloo to go. Uh but Thomas Frank football is boring. You know, the the fans at the the Brenford game were singing boring boring Tottenham. The xG stats, every stat you look at is really poor. Lack of creativity. Um and people just aren't excited by Thomas Frank football. What is it about Thomas Frank's appointment and his football that hasn't worked for them? >> They've not won matches. I'm not being facicious. It's the truth. You know, I've been to Tottenham many, many times over the years. Not as many times as Crystal have been, but I've been many times to the old stadium to a new stadium. I know how they like to see teams play. But I tell you what they like more than anything, which is winning matches because of football supporters. Okay? So, don't get me wrong, the start of the season, um, Tottenham hit the ground running. They beat Burnley at home, then they win away at Manchester City. contact of mine very very close to Tottenham Tottenham buried deep in his soul knows what goes on at that football club he rang me up the day after the Burnley game and said it's Brenford and he wasn't saying it in a critical way he was just saying it's Brenford I thought it was I saw it preseason it's Brenford football it's set pieces it's throwins it's direct football it's Brenford and he said to me if he wins games playing Brenford football everything will be fine he said if he doesn't you'll be in trouble and he hasn't and he's in trouble >> well because with an it you know, you were losing but playing exciting football. Thomas Frank, you're not picking up points and you're playing boring football. What you were saying there about early stages and understanding that it was similar to Brenford, what were your first impressions on the preseason tour? >> Yeah, I was out in South Korea and Hong Kong and I think that his man management skills are absolutely excellent and when I looked at him really closely about him uh you know with the players um you know really really good compared to what we've seen in previous years. Um, but I don't think this is all just solely on Thomas Frank because he does need the players in this team to take the uh the club forward. However, I do feel at this stage that he has lost the fan base and when you lose the fan base, it's going to be very very difficult uh you know to get those fans back and the xG stats are just absolutely awful. We have created Premier League records this season. Uh you know lack of creativity uh lack of shots on target. um you know the Chelsea game one shot on target in the first half that is not good enough and when you're playing at home you know you expect to attack and there is a certain way you play at Tottenham it's called the Tottenham way that's why a lot of fans support Spurs because of you know the way that we play there's no identity at the moment and uh you don't know what a Thomas Frank team is or what it's meant to do the players look lost right now >> you talk about the players a lot and since Pochettino was sacked Spurs have spent nearly a billion pounds on transfers there's a bit of a myth that Tottenham don't spend on players and that is just a myth. How much of this Ian do you think can be put down to Levy and his dealings? >> Um, some of it because the squad isn't really good enough at the moment. Um, I thought we were getting there that first season of Boston when you almost saw that new Tottenham coming together and I looked it and thought by me there's a something there. There's something there. Didn't work. Won't look backwards. We're here to look forwards. Um, so since then it's they've had a couple of windows, have not made the most of them. So they've gone into the new this new model that they that they've that they've uh glued themselves to through uh Bjan Langanger, the technical director or sporting director, whatever his title is. They got rid of a lot of the traditional scouts, people who had the feet on the ground. They've gone very heavy on the data. Not the only club to do that. And the policy at Tottenham has been very much to buy young players for the future. Okay. So that's why we've seen players like Bergall and Oddberg and Gray and um and others and now Tail and Simons come through. Okay. But the problem is you buy players for the future. What happens in what happens in the present? Okay. Tottenham lack what I call oven ready Premier League footballers. They tried to buy one in Salanki. Not sure it was a great buy. They bought one in Madison. Good player, very good player. Injuries. Bought one in Bren Johnson. Didn't work. She's moved on to Palace. Um, and at the moment they just look like a squad that's light on knowhow. Look at Arsenal's bench at the weekend. Okay, talent all the way through it. What did Manchester City do when uh a couple of weeks ago when they thought they had a when they realized he had a problem, they're going by Seno, oven ready, 60 million quid, 26 years old, straight in, ready to play in the Premier League, scores a couple of goals. Tottenham don't do that. So, I'm not sure it's about spending money. It's about spending money on the right type of players. And of course, there is the other issue of not just spending money on transfers, but spending money on wages, which of course is another thornish topic when it comes to Tottenham and their supporters. >> Well, we'll move on to that because you're completely right and there are some interesting quotes from the chief executive in the program at the weekend. Chris, I want to hear from you as well on this then because Ian has laid out so many of the problems on the board level. Where do you see it? How do you how do you explain it? Well, I think uh if we go back to 2019 again, Mauricio Pochettino, he said at the time, we've got this great mansion, you need to put the furniture in it. And we've never ever put the furniture in it. Uh I think we're still buying from IKEA. Um so, you know, we need real quality players in this squad. You know, we've gone through so many different managers. Can it keep being the managers or can it be the way that the club is run and we're not buying in the right players? As Ian said, you know, we're always buying the players for the future. You've got to buy impact players, players to make a real difference. You know, the last time that Spurs signed a world-class player in my opinion, you'd have to go back to 1994, Jurgen Kingsman, you know, bringing in a world-class player. You know, Spurs just don't go down that route. The wage structure does need to change. Um, Venoi has said that, you know, the club are going to address that. And I like that positive message from the board, but they have to deliver. Um, and I know that, you know, they've said as well, time and patience. That is a term that Spurs fans hate because we seem to hear that every single year under multiple different managers. But there has been so much change a board level uh in the dugout on the pitch and the fans are just frustrated. They really are. >> Well, you know, to go back to that point, uh the chief executive of Spurs, Vin Venites, made a really strong statement in the program at the weekend to fans. A particular excerpt I found interesting was when he said, "We believe in our current squad. We must add more quality, experience, and leadership to compete consistently at the highest level. Doing so requires a more proactive approach to recruitment alongside a wage structure that supports our ambition. Does that excite you? >> The wage structure definitely needs to change because then we can uh bring in that different caliber of player. Um, you know, much better quality into this team because we certainly need it. You know, where we're sitting in the league table right now, we need to be in a top European spot and challenging for challenging for honors year in year out. Like I said, um you know, it should have been a springboard for us, you know, challenging this year and beyond. You know, that parade in May outside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was incredible. We want to feel like that all the time as Spurs fans and you you must inject that quality as Ian also rightly said about Arsenal squad. When you look at the depth of their squad to Tottenham's right now, it's like chalk and cheese. So, um you know, things do need to change massively at board level and I just hope they deliver what their what their message says. >> I think you're right. And it's a club that is split on so many things, but change at the top is one of the things they've seem to be collective on. Over 10,000 fans have been missing from some home games this season, though. Chris, you've noticed it recently. Have people just had enough? >> Yeah. Um, a lot of people that I know actually um don't want to go to Tottenham right now because they're finding it boring. Um, they want Thomas Frank gone. As I said, Thomas Frank has lost the majority, if not all of the fan base and uh people are really bored um of it right now. And he's not, you know, it's sad times. It's sad times because as I said, like in the summer you win the Europa League and everyone should have felt on a high. We sacked our manager, we brought in a new manager and we want change, positive change at the football club. And when you don't get that, I get a January transfer window is hard. And I and I do commend the club for bringing in someone like Connor Gallagher who is, you know, got Premier League experience and a and a real leader, but you need a lot more quality in this squad. Um, but I don't think that that the board thought that they would be in this position right now, uh, because they want this Thomas Frank appointment to work long term. >> Ian, when you see stadiums, you know, half empty, uh, fans, you know, protesting with their feet, does that tend to spell the beginning of the end for the manager? often. But I think I think that there there are different layers to what goes on at Tottenham as far as I'm concerned. I was amazed by the way when I saw that there were 15,000 empty seats for that Champions League game given that Tottenham had worked so hard last season to get into the competition and then they're not turning up. Okay. But I think I absolutely think I understand the frustration of Thomas Frank. Okay. Of course I do. I'm a fan of his. I like him. I like what he did at Brenford. I think he's working. He's handicapped by missing players at the moment. I think Kyleski is probably Tottenham's best player. Not had him. Madison, others, Silank, blah blah blah, Richardson um less so. But um but also, like I said, there are layers to what happens at Tottenham. Historic frustrations with Daniel Levy in the board, not spending wage structure, things that we've talked about before. Daniel never wanted to run his football club the way that other football clubs in the Premier League run. They pushed themselves up against financial margins. Daniel would never do that. He made it clear. Now Tottenham, as far as I see it, don't have to do that anymore. They've got this incredible new stadium that is that is making money. It is printing money every time they turn the lights on and open the front door. Okay. So, as far as I'm concerned, they're making the money and they've and they've now got to spend it. Tottenham fans, I think, turn up at the start of every season and they're already a bit hacked off before the season started. And that's because deep down a lot of them, especially ones like Chris have been going for years, are carrying with them the burden of previous dissatisfactions about high ticket prices, about a a wage structure that isn't uh competitive at at the higher level, about a churn of managers. Tottenham fans are used to being disappointed. They turn up at the start of every season waiting to be disappointed. You say they turn up waiting to be entertained. I think you turn up waiting to be hacked off, disappointed, upset. So I think all of the stuff that plays into empty seats and chance about the manager, yes, if you win in games, it all goes away. Of course it does. But I do think that a lot of that historical frustration is placed on the shoulders of a new Tottenham manager, whoever he is. >> And that frustration, you can you can feel it on the TV, but actually to be there, does it feel toxic from minute one or or is it not quite as as bad as that? >> The Tottenham fans have been excellent this season. Um they're with the team, they're with the manager all the time. And uh you know when at Brenford away I bring that game up again. You know uh Thomas Frank obviously set Tottenham up to play for a nil nil draw. That is not the Tottenham way. And uh you know people were frustrated. The fans actually that night were singing about Hunson Son Harry Kane Aaron Lennon. They were exactly even even him. Um but as Ian said there um about the stadium >> in 2019 when we moved into the new stadium it was meant to be a game changer. We were told by the board then this is going to be a gamecher you know better players would come in things would be better and you know we've waited so long for a trophy that was a wonderful night in Bill Ba I mentioned it again um but you know where will we be uh in the next 10 years would we have won another trophy by then because we cannot keep making the same mistakes again and again and again >> absolutely and I think you know what we're talking about the the fans they they support the team but it's a reactive response really isn't it they're not they're not going into it wanting to be annoyed at the football. So, I'm wondering to myself, what are the fan expectations at the beginning of each season then? I mean, Spurs have been in the Champions League three times out of the last five years, won one trophy since 2008, and the biggest fee they've paid for a signing is 65 million pounds, which is nothing compared to some of their rivals. Chris, does Spurs fans overe where they should be? >> I don't think so. Um, I think that we should always be in a European spot. I think that Tottenham should always be in that conversation and I would personally like as a fan to see us be in the conversation of winning a Premier League title and uh you know we got to the Champions League final in 2019. So um you know Tottenham fans I don't think expect too much. We pay a lot of money. Um we do expect to be entertained and play a certain uh type and brand of football that we haven't seen this season. And can I just say on Thomas Frank because he is a good manager. We know that he's a good manager. Um, but I just feel like this is now the wrong fit. Sometimes you can have the wrong manager at the wrong club and I feel like this is this is it. You know, another club may do a very good job. >> And Ian, what do you think? Do you think Spurs fans are overly ambitious for where they actually are? >> I think historically maybe, but I think right now I'm not I'm not actually sure because you only have to walk into that stadium and think, "Oh, okay. This is a club that's set up. I've had a a tour of that stadium. I've been in some of the dressing rooms. I've been in the NFL dressing rooms. That place is like something I've not seen. Seriously. And it's working. You only got to look at the numbers. The the the uh increase in or the uptick in max day revenue. It's absolutely extraordinary. >> That's the thing of it. But they're not seeing the results. >> No. So that's what I mean. So that with that, I think they're fair to see to see expectations rise. Doesn't happen overnight, but it's not overnight. They've been in there quite a few years now, as you say. So I think they're right to expect. They won't do the same numbers for shirt sponsorship, for example, as a club like Manchester United. They won't. Okay. That's not but they can be competitive at that level around