Tottenham Hotspur have tried everything. After sacking Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019 – five months after the club’s first Champions League final, with Spurs sitting 14th in the league and sleepwalking to second place in a weak UCL group – There came a pair of chronic (if cantankerous) title winners: José Mourinho and Antonio Conte. They gave a pragmatist (Nuno Espírito Santo) a Big Six test and moved on when performances instantly stagnated. Then arrived Ange Postecoglou; a staunch tactical ideologue whose principles excited at first before becoming a liability.
Thomas Frank, though, seemed like the appointment most reminiscent of Pochettino’s 2014 arrival. Both raised relatively unfancied clubs to prominence and established firm operational bedrocks. Both spoke about the importance of culture as much as on-field Xs and Os. Neither had been tested at a club of this caliber.
