Heurelho Gomes has named two candidates very different to each other as his top choices to become manager at his old club Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs are currently looking for their next head coach after a disappointing season in which Antonio Conte, Cristian Stellini and now Ryan Mason have all taken the helm of the north London club. Gomes has his own opinions on who should take the reins next at a club he played almost 100 times for.
On Sunday the 42-year-old Brazilian was back in a Tottenham shirt playing alongside a whole host of former Spurs stars such as Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, Ledley King, Danny Rose, Michael Dawson, Edgar Davids and Sandro in a remarkable charity match for Tottenham's popular kit man Steve Dukes in memory of his father and in aid of Essex & Herts Air Ambulance at Bishop's Stortford FC in front of 3,500 fans.
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When talk turned to current day Tottenham, the jovial Gomes' smile dissolved though as he spoke to football.london about his old team's plight.
"Spurs are struggling, they are struggling at the moment. I think they still have a good team, but they couldn't work with it, the team they had," he said.
"I think they need to change a few things over there to get in the way that they were going. They were going up, even fighting for the Premier League when Pochettino was there. Since he left I think they started to go downhill again."
When asked who he would like to see as the next Spurs manager, the Brazilian named two managers with very different styles and careers.
"Luis Enrique I think. For me, I think he would be good if there was a possibility to sign," he said. "Also the Brighton manager I like, [Roberto] De Zerbi. I like him as well.
"They need to bring back the style of football they were playing while Pochettino was there. That's the type of game I think Spurs need to play."
Gomes looked in fine fettle as he linked up with his old team-mates at the weekend. Managed by Harry Redknapp, the Spurs side won 7-1 against a team containing celebrities and ex-players with Defoe scoring a hat-trick, Keane netting twice, Sandro once and Keane's young son coming on late in the game to round off the scoring.
"I enjoyed it a lot. Some of the guys it's been a long time since I've seen them so it was amazing to be with them, amazing to be here for this day. Especially because it was a charity game, it's something that makes it even more special," said the goalkeeper, before lavishing praise on kit man Dukes who had organised the whole thing.
"The players, the ex-players and the players that are now at the club probably all have the same feeling about him because he takes care of us. He took care of us for a long time and we showed our appreciation as well because he's the one that I'm still in contact with all the time. Not just because we were doing this. We're still very close. He's a top man."
The final 10 minutes of the match saw Gomes play outfield and having been coached as a striker as a youngster he showed off plenty of flicks and tricks.
When asked about those outfield skills by football.london, Gomes replied with a big grin: "My friend, I used to say that that was my position. I only played in goal because the goal chose me. That's me."
To donate to the fundraising in memory of Charlie Dukes you can head to the JustGiving page right here and you can look out for the latest news on the match auction on Steve's Instagram page right here. For those wishing to put their cause forward to be considered to receive money from the funds raised, they should email cdcharityfootball@yahoo.com
