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- [00:01]
Jennifer
Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter?
- [00:03]
Danny Kelly
Right.
- [00:04]
Jennifer
And the best part? They accept Discover. Except Discover in a little place like this? I don't think so. Jennifer. Oh, yeah. Huh? Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think.
- [00:23]
Ayo Akimolere
Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on.
- [00:28]
Danny Kelly
The February 2025 Nielsen report.
- [00:31]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
In the Where January is supposed to be boring, one staple of the holidays.
- [00:37]
Danny Kelly
Refuses to end the great deals at Verizon. The joy just keeps on coming. Right now you can save on four new phones and four lines. Critics agree it's the deal that keeps on giving. Come into Verizon and save on four new phones and four lines on unlimited. Welcome additional terms applied seeverizon.com for details.
- [01:01]
Podcast Announcer
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states. The Athletic FC.
- [01:27]
Ayo Akimolere
Welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Ayo Akimolere. Tottenham are out of both domestic cups and are struggling in the league. So how much longer does Thomas Frank have to turn this ship around? Right in with us in the studio right now, we've got Jackpit Brooke. We've also got Danny Kelly, two of the stars from the View from the Lane podcast. Right, gents, I'm going to read out a couple of stats here regarding Thomas Frank's start at Spurs. Let's get into it. 31 matches, 12 wins, 8 draws and 12 losses. That's a points per game average of 1.32, which is a lower average than that of Juan de Ramos, who was unceremoniously sacked by spurs after a year in charge in 2008. Can we just sum up? Danny, we'll start with you. How bad a start Thomas Francus had because it wasn't so bad at the beginning, but it seems to have sort of withered away.
- [02:29]
Danny Kelly
I mean, it's calamitous, really, isn't it? Let's be honest, the figures you've just read out there tell you that for, and I always say this, a club that is one of the nine or ten richest in the world, that doesn't guarantee success, but it ought to guarantee at least a floor through which you do not fall A safety net through which you do not plummet. And spurs are showing signs this season of being as poor as they were last. And given that we're just seven months away from a third of a million people gathering in the streets of north North London to celebrate the Europa League win, that is a terrible, terrible look. Now, look, I won't go into it here because I want to get you. I know you want to get Jack's view on as well. Thomas Frank's. The chaos on the pitch is replicated and amplified by the chaos off the pitch, but we'll get onto that. It's not entirely his fault, though. He has made a number of pretty startling mistakes. It's a terrible start, spurs, and as you're right to say, once they're out of the cups, you end up in a situation of what is the spurs for, for the rest of the season? What have the fans got to look forward to? And is this the right person to bring those things into, into, into view?
- [03:39]
Ayo Akimolere
What are you thinking, Jack?
- [03:41]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
I actually, I think that as bad as the results are on paper, the football has played on the pitch is worse and the football that they've been playing this season is going to do that has done more damage to Thomas Frank than the results. I just, I think that most spurs fans would have expected a pretty choppy start to the seat in terms of results because there's been so much change because of the issues in the squad, because of injuries, because of issues with recruitment. But I think nobody would have expected the football to be as bad as it's been. And I think it's the poverty of the football which has left them in a situation where not many of the fans have been given anything to believe in by Thomas Frank. And that, I think, is more damaging to him than any numbers in the league table.
- [04:23]
Ayo Akimolere
What about the home record? Only two home wins this season. I mean, that in itself just keeps compounding this fact that potentially he's not sort of warming to the fans either.
- [04:32]
Danny Kelly
I, I want to be positive. I always want spurs to win and I want to be positive about the team and the football it plays. So forgive me if I actually, you know, you, you say two home wins this season, that's four in the league in a calendar year because they were just as bad last season at home. Look, you could argue, though some will say, well, ah, but look at the away record, that's, that's matched by, by virtually nobody except Arsenal. And you could argue that, that case, but of course what you do at home is important. For two reasons. One, when the crowd gets on its hind legs, the board are always there en masse. Hearing it. I don't know what it is with the home performances. A lack of intent, a lack of intensity. The old pros keep saying it's too nice to play at the spurs stadium. I don't get that. I mean, it's nice for the spurs players too, so they don't have to start as slowly as they do. Spurs supporters. People will laugh at them. Have an expectation the team is going to play a certain way. Not kamikaze going forward like some of the performances under Ans Postecoglou, but with a certain intention to hurt the opposition and not just to wait for the opposition to wilt in front of them. That has not been supplied. And the team's not very good either. It's not playing very good football, as Jack pointed out. And this is one of Thomas Frank's big mistakes. When Vicario was booed for that mistake he made, he should never have started on the spurs fans. Because I said on the pod, and I say it again here, Thomas, mate, long after you've gone and are sleeping on a great big pile of payoff money, those people will still be there. They're paying to watch this. You're being paid to watch it. He should never have gone through down that line of criticizing the home fans. It can only end in disaster. There are two ways to get yourself sacked in modern football. Criticize the people above you, Maresca, etc. Or criticise some people who are actually paying your wages as supporters. It's a mess there now because people have lost faith in Thomas. I can't speak for the players. And each home game again, Jack has written about this as well. It's the Groundhog Day. The replication of the same performance where they go behind, they rouse themselves, they play for 15 minutes, they look okay, they lose, and then they all fight with each other at the end.
- [06:48]
Ayo Akimolere
Jack, I want to talk to you in a second about sort of the games coming up for spurs, but just very quickly. Danny, I'm very aware that there's a potentially a group of spurs fans here who know spurs from, I guess, the Pochettino time, where you've seen Harry Kane, Son Heumin, all this kind of stuff. And when you ever talk about, you know, spurs should be playing a certain way. Where does that come from? Is it from that time or does it come from before?
- [07:11]
Danny Kelly
Oh, no, no. It's way deep in the roots of the football club. IO look, people will start sighing now and rolling their eyes. But, you know, we have to live in the present and look to the future, but everything and everybody carries around the past with them. Post the Second World War, spurs have always been associated with a kind of freewheeling style of football. It comes from winning the title in 1951 under a man called Arthur Rowe with his push and run team, who were precursors of the way Barcelona taught the rest of the world to play 15 years ago. Then you get the double winning team of 61 who were so completely dominant it allowed Danny Blanchflower to make his famous speech about the game is about glory was the opening of the quote. The game is about glory. And not. There's a lot of dots in between as he goes, not waiting for the other fellow to die of boredom and that has stuck in the club. And so you have a situation then where. And you know, I'm not unrealistic. In my long, long, long decades of watching spurs, they've tended to be a slightly above average team, but with great players. And often those great players have been forward players. You know, whether we're talking about Gascoigne and Klinsmann and Lineker and then Lekane and Son and all the rest of them. The problem at the moment is that the team is not equipped to play like that. There was a game, IO Jack, will help me remember it, earlier in the season, where the front four of Tottenham had scored precisely three Premier League goals for spurs in their entire time. The moment the star players are all defenders, particularly two centre backs. But IO that's where it comes from. It's historically ingrained in spurs fans. All football clubs at one level away from being a financial institution are just the collective memories of their supporters. And it's handed down from father to son, from mother to daughter, that they've got to play a certain way.
- [09:01]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, Jack. Well, doesn't seem like the football's going to be changing anytime soon. You know, you've got Champions League matches, Dortmund, Eintrek, Frankfurt. You've also got Premier League games against West Ham and Burnley. I mean, you'd like to think these are the kind of games that spurs should be winning, especially in the Champions League. You don't know what kind of Dortmund you're going to get, necessarily. And Frankfurt. If you look, you know, blow for blow, spurs technically have a kind of better squad.
- [09:27]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Yeah, I think the Premier League games are more important than the Champions League games. Just because spurs are in a pretty good position in the Champions League, I don't think they will get in the top eight. But I think they will probably be seeded for the punishment round. So they just need to. I mean, I think they'll probably get, you know, they'll get a few points in these, in their two remaining league phase games and that will be enough. The big question really is West Ham and Burnley. Like they have to. If they win those games, then I think they will, you know, they'll obviously move back up the table. It's a very bunched table at the moment. If they don't win those games, I think people will start to. I think the questions facing Thomas Frank will become even more serious. I think they're close to being must wins both of them.
- [10:04]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, there was a point you guys made on View from the Lane podcast, Jack, in terms of actually, do spurs just go in ham on. On the Champions League and try and redeem some sort of fan clamor, you know, buy some, you know, emotional points with the fans? It's. Could that be a thing as we've seen with the Europa League, for instance? Maybe they antipasakogly kind of sacked off the league, but you saw the joy it brought the fans to do well in Europe.
- [10:29]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Yeah, I mean, I think it's not quite the same as last season because they were always in the mix to win the Europa League. You know, they were always one of the best teams in the Europa League. They are not one of the best teams in the Champions League. They are not going to win the Champions League. So there isn't that same prize at the end. That said, I do, I do think that the Champions League is probably the only way of making any kind of positive memories, positive energy over the second half of this season and given that they are almost certainly going to be in the punishment round and then from there, if they get a lucky draw or if they play well, then they could go into the knockout stage proper. Then all of a sudden they do have some big, exciting, fun games on the horizon and maybe those will be the games that people remember, the games where they can create something, they can make something happen. They can create some good energy and good feeling because there's been very little of that at Tottenham so far this season.
- [11:21]
Ayo Akimolere
Danny, what do you think of Thomas Frank's style of play then? If we're going to come back to you on spurs style of play, what do you think of the style of play you've seen from Thomas Frank right now?
- [11:30]
Danny Kelly
I mean, that's two separate questions you asked me what I think about Thomas Frank's style of play. And then you asked me what I think about Thomas Frank's style of play that we've seen. So I don't see any style. So far he has not imposed a way of playing on the team. What I see is a team that appears to have no idea what it wants to do in attack. Now whether it's got the players to do that is a separate issue. What the plan seems to be is to get the ball to the wide players, the fullbacks and to lamp crosses into the central area of the penalty area. I mean, I suppose it is a plan. This is caused by two things, I think. One, they don't have have a player in midfield who can progress the ball through the lines because all their best players in that department are long term injured particularly. I mean, people keep on talking about James Madison, bless him, and it's good to see him back on the grass, at least trotting about. But the loss of Kulusewski has been a disaster because in a Premier League that becomes more and more physical. Here you have a player who is as strong as an ox, beats his man by strength and then can play the ball to the next forward player. We just have no way of getting the ball to somebody in the penalty spot with a chance to shoot a goal. Other than speculative crosses. This has been exacerbated as well by the need because of the injury to destiny. A doggy to play Jed Spence wide left. And Jed wants to play on his right foot. But Thomas Frank, to be fair, I don't think he's shown any intention of improving the attacking prowess of the team. He seems to want to, wants to solidify the team at the back. It doesn't satisfy the customers and worse than that, it's not getting results because we all know the simple equation, isn't it? In football, including at spurs, you can get away with playing stodgy football if you're winning matches or you can get away with losing matches. You're playing thrilling football but you can't play stodgy football and have bad results because that is the road to what used to be the P45. I don't know what you people have now in England.
- [13:27]
Ayo Akimolere
I'm just thinking about managers going from smaller teams to. I guess you class spurs as a bigger team historically than Brentford, but you know. No, because you know, there's also the argument that teams like Brentford, Aston Villa, etc have caught up with Spurs. Now in terms of where are Brentford currently in the league? We look at recruitment. Exactly. But you know, I'm thinking About Pochettino coming in from Southampton, a manager that's started at a smaller team and actually graduated to Spurs. And you've seen his ideas, you've seen how he's managed to implement himself on that team. Jackson, why do you think he's been able to do it and someone like Thomas Frank hasn't?
- [14:05]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Because Pochettino was playing big club football at Southampton. That was his power, really. That was why that Saints team was so. Was so great to watch and so successful is because he had them believing that they were winners. He got them incredibly fit and he got them playing like high pressing, dominant, incredibly physical, expansive football with, you know, with that generation of like Ricky Lambert, Luke Shaw, Alana and so on. And so it was very. I think it was easier for him to make the jump from Southampton to a bigger club in Tottenham because he didn't have to change the style of play. He could take that high pressing, dominant, physical football from Southampton to Tottenham and then get the Tottenham players to believe in it, get them fit enough, get them to play that style at Spurs. The problem that Thomas Frank has got is he played smaller team football at Brentford and now he's gone to Tottenham and suddenly the football looks, I think, slightly out of place. Now, obviously, you know, Thomas Frank is not the first manager to fall into the. To have this issue. Like lots of the history of the Premier League is dotted with examples of Premier League clubs who have recruited a manager from a smaller club and the football has not quite fitted. I'm thinking of, you know, David Moyes going from Everton to Manchester United, Roy Hodgson going from Fulham to Liverpool. You know, arguably Graham Potter going from Brighton to Chelsea like it does. It does happen sometimes. But I think that if you're going to make a jump up the Premier League food chain and coach a higher level of Premier League team, you need to be able to bring with you a brand of football that those players and those fans can really believe in. That kind of fits the traditions and the expectations of the club that you've gone into. That's what Pochettino did when he arrived at Tottenham in 2014, and that's what Thomas Frank has failed to do so far at Tottenham since arriving from Brentford.
- [15:48]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, Danny, do you get a sense of that after enough time and there's a decent sample size now that things might click for Thomas Frank? Or does it feel like a downward spiral from your perspective?
- [16:00]
Danny Kelly
Look, that's a very hard question to answer, but I'll try because I think, you know, all managerial appointments are to a lesser or greater extent, a gamble, because even I suppose there are a handful of ultra elite managers where it wouldn't be a gamble. But even spurs have tried those and it hasn't worked because there's so many moving parts. Take away all the stuff about negotiating players contracts, all the rest of it. That's not just. As you've got 25 or 30 young people with their egos and their ambitions and all the rest of it, it's difficult to know you're appointing the right manager. But if you're to answer your question directly, I take it it takes time to turn something around, but you've got to see signs that it is being turned around. I think the business aphorism that when you get a new job in management for the first six months, you're part of the solution for the time you're part of the problem. I don't think it applies quite the same way in football because there are so many things going on at the same time. Not least a football match every four days that you've got to try and negotiate. I would be much more optimistic about Thomas Frank at Spurs if I saw any sign that he was either capable of, but more importantly intending to develop a more attacking style of play or what I mean by that is just something that's going to discomfort the opposition. The opposition are far too comfortable against spurs, not just going forward, but at the back as well. They know what they're going to do. They're not threatened by superstar players, so it has to be a team effort. There were moments in the most recent in the FA cup defeat against Aston Villa, where Spurs roused themselves and had about 10, 15 minutes. Jack will get me right, maybe 15 minutes where they really were threatening Aston Villa and you could hear the crowd. I wasn't there, I was watching on television. You could hear the crowd suddenly invested and roaring in that giant stadium, roaring the team on. There's been too little of that and I'm not sure that Thomas Frank is emotionally set up for that kind of gamble on getting your players forward and risking losing the ball and all the rest of it. He seems to be a coach so far who understands that keeping control of the game either with your players behind the ball or hanging onto the ball, which is less of a thing with Brentford and is the way forward. And Jack has made that point about, you know, small club, big club football, it happens to the best of them. When Roy Hodgson went to Liverpool, he found himself overwhelmed by the need to play a different kind of football. And here is an experienced and brilliant coach. It can happen. I I don't see it getting any better.
- [18:28]
Ayo Akimolere
I'll be truthful with that in mind, Jack. Ahead of obviously West Ham and also Burnley. After Any thoughts or voices from the board as to how they feel about Thomas Frank at the helm?
- [18:39]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
So far, everything we've heard is that they're very supportive. You know, their position of support and patience for the manager I think has been clear for some time. I've always thought that the biggest challenge would not so much be the results or even the football, but the mood inside the stadium. So hypothetically, if Saturday goes badly for spurs and the fans are very grumpy as I would expect them to be if they were to lose to West Ham at home, then I imagine that that would exert extra pressure on the board. But for now, everything all the indications that the board are continuing patience with Thomas Rank.
- [19:16]
Podcast Announcer
This is the Athletic FC podcast with IO Akimolere.
- [19:23]
Jennifer
Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter?
- [19:26]
Danny Kelly
Right?
- [19:26]
Jennifer
And the best part? They accept Discover. Accept Discovery in a little place like this? I don't think so. Jennifer oh yeah, huh? Discover is accepted where I like to shop. Come on baby, get with the times. Right, so we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think.
- [19:46]
Ayo Akimolere
Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.
- [19:53]
Podcast Announcer
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
- [20:26]
Danny Kelly
Par le tu francais? Hablas espanol? Par le italiano?
- [20:30]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
If you've used Babbel, you would Babbel's conversation based technique teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babbel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. Start speaking with Babel today. Get up to 55% off your Babel subscription right now at babel.com acast spelled b a b b e l.com acast rules and restrictions may apply.
- [21:11]
Ayo Akimolere
Well Jack, let's discuss whether spurs issues actually go beyond Thomas Frank. Daniel Levy's gone. Fabio Paratici is going. We'll come to that in a minute. But, you know, is that a bit of a power vacuum from where you were sitting at Spurs?
- [21:26]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
I think there's a huge process of change because Daniel Levy, even though Daniel Levy was just an employee at the end of the day, as proven by his dismissal, he ran Tottenham as if he owned it. He ran Tottenham almost as if he'd founded it. And he concentrated so much power in himself and in the people closest to him. And so removing Daniel Levy was always going to be far more than just, you know, sacking a manager or losing a sporting director, or it would. It effectively has required the rewiring of the whole institution. And that's a long process. You know, they only. I mean, he was only sacked in September, three, four months ago, and now I think the spurs are still in the. You know, spurs are still trying to find their feet. You know, they've got. They've been building up an executive leader leadership team under Vinod Gatesham, who's the CEO. Paratici came back as a sporting director and is now seemingly on his way back out again. So, yeah, it's going to be a long and difficult process. But I think that that long and difficult process does mean that it does kind of add to this sense that it's not quite as clear as it used to be. Who is, you know, what's going on day to day, what the strategy is, who's setting the direction for the whole club.
- [22:37]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, you talk about Paratigi back in the club. Well, technically for three months, Jack. And he's off to Fiorentina. Do you know. Do we know why?
- [22:45]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Yeah. So he'll be. I think nothing's been agreed yet, as far as I'm aware, but the expectation is at the end of the transfer window, he will be leaving and returning to Italy to go and run Fiorentina. Yeah, it's a very. It's a very strange one. You know, he was only. He only rejoined as a sporting director in October. That means his second spell at the club will be about three and a half months long. I do think personal reasons are a factor. Personal circumstances of change which leads to him wanting to return to Italy. I also think that he will just be. He will be far more powerful at Fiorentina than he is at Spurs. You know, at spurs he is. He's one of two sporting directors. As a CEO there. There's a lot of voices. Whereas at Fiorentina he gets to be the only voice, you know, he gets to basically run the whole. The whole thing. And I imagine that's probably quite attractive. But yeah, I think that that just underlines the sense of confusion and underlines the sense that Tottenham have still not figured out their kind of post Levy structure, post Levy identity yet.
- [23:42]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, okay, Danny, we'll talk about that more. But I just want to read you part of the statement from the spurs supporters Trust after the defeat to Bournemouth last week. It states, there appears to be a dramatic fall in ambition for the football club as evidenced by the transfer window to date. And also repeated statements by Thomas Frank reminding supporters that the club finished 17th in the Premier League last season, that the club is only participating in the Champions League through winning the Europa League, and that Bournemouth, a side without a win, I should say, in 11 games, are always a difficult team and that he is not enjoying the job. Does some of that resonate with you, Danny?
- [24:23]
Danny Kelly
The sportless organization you refer to there, they do some fantastic work. So I don't want to down anything they said there. It was unfortunate because the meeting they had, I presume, scheduled came after another, you know, catastrophic home performance or very difficult home performance. I don't know about the transfer window because we haven't yet seen the full thing. I think there was an expectation that we would do better spurs than the Daniel Levy waiting till the last minute of the last day to try and pull off the Van der Vaart trick. That was a summer window, I think, but the last minute trick one more time. But of course since that's happened, they brought in. He hasn't been unveiled. It'll be unveiled tomorrow, I think. An established Premier League and England midfielder in the form of Conor Gallagher. Whatever you think about that transfer, they brought in another talented player to play on the left hand side of the team, which has been decimated by short and long term injuries in the boy from Brazil. So we have to give them at least a chance to prove that they're going to be something different from the parsimonious and occasionally disastrously late transfer dealings that spurs had become accustomed to under Daniel Levy. But of course, if they've been to a meeting and sensed a lack of ambition on the board, they're completely right to say it. This question would be much more easily answered. Least that part of it come. Is it whatever January 31st or February 2nd, whatever the last day of the transfer window is. The whole problem's been exacerbated, of course, by the amount of injury spurs have got. They have to buy players now just to bring up the numbers, never mind the quality. I don't know about the ambition. This is the problem IO I do not know what the ambitions for spurs are. The famous quotes after Europa League and particularly to justify the dismissal of Antipostecoglou. We want to win more often and more things or whatever the exact quote was. That's easy to say. You've got to do it. And the only accusation I would make against the spurs owners and board at this stage is that I think, unless you're Chelsea who have made an art form of turning chaos into trophies, football clubs at this level need complete, utter, total, eternal and laser sharp focus on what's happening on the pitch. Because everything flows from that. You can have Beyonce playing there for 150 years every night. You can charge 20 quid for a bottle of beer. It doesn't matter if that's not being converted into viewable, tangible success. And I mean just in quality of the football on the pitch. And that requires incredible focus on that activity. Moving the deck chairs around so everyone's got a new nice job title and a nice car parking space. That's not focus, that's messing. Get on with it. Yeah.
- [27:08]
Ayo Akimolere
This alludes to a piece by Elias Burke on the Athletic Jacks headlined. Tottenham's defeat is a reminder of their decline. Aston Villa and others have left them behind and he got me thinking about the leadership. And back to what Danny's saying about, you know, what are the ambitions for the club? I mean, look at the team that Thomas Frank left Brentford. Keith Andrews, appointed Brentford are doing some might say overachieving this season, but in recruitment they've brought in a striker in, Igor Thiago, who we never knew would be this decent, but in a weird way punching above its weight. But that's probably down to the structure and how they operate and what they feel their ambitions are. Now, are we struggling with spurs in that respect? In that, yeah, we've spoken about Thomas Frank, but are we not talking about what the ambitions of this club are from the upper echelons of the club?
- [28:00]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Yeah, I mean, I think that this is one of the challenges that Thomas Frank has got, right. He's gone from a team that recruits well to a team that recruits badly. And suddenly the players that he's got, I think in some positions, the players that he's got at Tottenham are probably not as good as the players that he had at Brentford.
- [28:16]
Ayo Akimolere
Interesting.
- [28:17]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
And certainly there's much less of a sense of you know, like joined up thinking and clear strategy and clear culture like there was at Brentford. But I do think at the same time that because it's such a big leap from Brentford to Tottenham, really, the Tottenham job needs someone who has got that kind of big club personality, someone who can. Who can provide some of the sense of direction that's needed, some of the sense of kind of charisma and really get the fans believing in what they're trying to do. I think that is one of the many things that Tottenham are lacking at the moment. I think that that sense of direction has to come from somewhere because I think fans, right now, fans are not experiencing any kind of sense of direction at all.
- [29:04]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, Danny. I want to talk about Christian Romero, who, after the defeat to Bournemouth, the club captain questioned on social media why other people at the club were not fronting up, adding, they only show up when things are going well to tell a few lies. He then later edited the post to remove the line about the lies. What do you make of the statement?
- [29:27]
Danny Kelly
First of all, I mean, you can never be sure whether he wrote those things or they've been written for him by his people. Because, you know, I guess the stumbling language suggests it might mean somebody writing in a second language. So let's say it was entirely Christian's own work. I'm afraid you, Christian Romero, you pays your money and you take your choice. He is a unique footballer. Let me be straightforward about it. I think he's the best player at spurs, with all due respect to Dejan Kulusevsky, by a mile. And I think he. But he brings with him all sorts of issues, not least that he expects to be allowed to do virtually what he wants. So you see in games, and I don't blame him when spurs are some of these home defeats, he goes up front when he feels like it, you know, plays the last 10 minutes up front. Not under instruction. You can tell he just decides to do it. He is insanely committed to winning football matches and sometimes it does fall over into insanity. He has pulled up the spurs management before whether the club captain should be doing that. It's probably a bad look, but I don't have any real problem with it because mostly, as far as I can see, speaking the truth, because this is one of the other issues I've got. I've had with, you know, in the post, not the post Levy era, but the last seven or eight months with the senior people who own and run the club, they make these videos. There was the one where Daniel Levy and Vinaya Venkatesham discussed each other's taste in red wine. Then there was the one where the two sporting directors told us with great chumminess how it was all going to work out. Those people, those relationships didn't last. I've got Christmas cake that's lasting longer than those relationships. So that level of communication was performative. It was for the cameras. It wasn't real. And I think Christian is picking at a scab. That really bothers me the whole time. Why is it that we only hear, and I think we're seeing more of this across football, this question from the manager, when half the questions is being asked about recruitment, about injuries, and all the rest of it are way out of his control. Where are the people who run the recruitment department? Where are the medical people to tell us how long Kulasevski's patella, which was described as a knock by the previous manager, is going to take to heal football for? And, you know, I feel sorry for colleagues like Jack who have to. Friends like Jack who have to stare into this darkness and try and shine a light into its most elusive recesses. Other sports, American football is a good example. People front up and they say what's going on? And you have to deal with that. In football, it's all about hiding the truth from the paying customers. It's nonsense. And spurs are world leaders at this nonsense at the moment. I think that's what Christian may have been referring to.
- [32:13]
Ayo Akimolere
Should we be hearing more from the guys upstairs, Jack? I mean, spurs aren't the only club that people are calling for, you know, bigger voices to speak up.
- [32:20]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
I think that that has been one of the something that the club has wanted to do better at this season. Obviously, you know, communication in the Daniel Levy era was never good. And I think that there is, in theory at least, there's a desire to talk more. But I think that that has to be backed up with actually, actually hearing from people. And I think that the many issues that the club has run into on and off the pitch in the last few months actually makes the need for the fans to hear more from the people making their decisions clearer than ever. Like, we still haven't. No one has really heard anything at all from the Lewis family since Levy's dismissal in September. And so I think a lot of fans are now thinking, well, when are we going to hear from the people who own and run the club?
- [33:14]
Jennifer
Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter?
- [33:17]
Danny Kelly
Right?
- [33:17]
Jennifer
And the best part, they accept. Discover, except discover in a little place like this. I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah. Huh? Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times. Right? So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think.
- [33:37]
Ayo Akimolere
Discover is accepted at 99 of places that take credit cards nationwide.
- [33:41]
Danny Kelly
Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.
- [33:44]
Podcast Announcer
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- [34:12]
Darina
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- [35:14]
Podcast Announcer
You're listening to the Athletic FC podcast with Ayo Akamolere.
- [35:18]
Ayo Akimolere
Well, let's sort of finish on some positives. Danny, you mentioned color Gallagher and set to join for a deal, I think about £34.7 million from Atletico Madrid. I've had a couple of Villa fans message me going, oh, they took him off us. They swooped in for, for him. I mean, look, that's just football chat, but in many respects it's a good signing. But is it the signing that spurs need?
- [35:46]
Danny Kelly
As I said just a minute ago, spurs need numbers. At the moment. He I've always liked Conor Gallagher. He's a strong box to box midfielder. His box to box activity was curtailed at Atletico Madrid where he was asked to play the kind of anchor role. And then they, you know, they went back to Koke doing that this season, which is the reason why he surplused a requirement there. Look, there are many, many things that spurs need. He is not what. He's not those things. He's not a line breaking passer of the ball. He's not going to dribble. He may run, but not going to dribble past his immediate opponents and make space for himself. But he's energetic and he's strong. I think he'd be motivated by being back in his native city. I've got no problem with Conor Gallagher. He's an upgrade on some of the players, but he's an upgrade on players who have really got a surplus of anyway. But the most important thing was that they'd gone out and addressed something by saying, right, well we will, we will pay the extra few quid. Because I think the main issue with Villa was that they weren't able to match quite what he was earning at Athletico. I don't know the spurs have or haven't, but imagine if that, if that. And this is a, this is a source of optimism, imagine if that transfer had been under Daniel Levy. They would still be discussing the possibility, whereas they've gone in and done something equally. The decision to let Brennan Johnson go, which now with the injury to Kudis looks like a disaster, was actually a change in policy as well, and a welcome change in policy again. And I'm not, you know, I was one who was always saying be careful what you wish for by getting rid of Daniel Levy. But the truth is that, you know, his ridiculously combative style of negotiation was doing the club harm, in my opinion. So the departure of Brendan Johnson for a good transfer fee and the incoming of a decent Premier League player as far as desperately need just because of numbers, they are signs to me that there's going to be a different policy at the very top of the club, at least in the transfer windows, which would be a good thing.
- [37:48]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, still 14th, Jack, but you know, eight points off the top four, which I think is really interesting. Seeing players like Solanke coming on can only be a positive things. Finally they've got a striker they can ping balls to.
- [38:01]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Yeah, I think they've missed Solanke so much this season, like he hasn't started a game yet and we're, we're into January. I think he, he showed at the first half of last season that he can really elevate the team. Like Richarlison. Richarlison worked really hard this season. He's put a lot of effort in, but he shouldn't, he can't be, he can't be your best, most reliable, fittest striker like he. I, I think that this, the sense forward situation has been a real problem for spurs this season. So they need Solanke back. I do think that a fit Solanke massively elevates the team. Then next one's Kulasevsky, who Thomas Franco started talking about. He talked about his press conference last week, said that he'd had a. I think he'd said that he had had an injection on the knee where they're going to see how that goes and then maybe they can get him back, back into training from there. They've missed him so badly. Like he hasn't played since. He hasn't played since he had knee surgery in May. Again, that's been a total disaster for Tottenham. He was, he was one of their best players last year and in the years before then. So, yeah, they've got to get players back into the team and they've got to start moving back up the table.
- [39:04]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, here's a wild one. Danny, before we go, and I know I don't want to go back to go forward, but Mauricio Pochettino, if he became available after the World cup, is that someone spurs should be looking at to maybe come back if they relieve Thomas Frank of his duties?
- [39:19]
Danny Kelly
There will be a whole raft of experienced and elite quality managers available after the World Cup. I wouldn't have too much problem with Maurizio coming back, although his record at club level since he left spurs is not fantastic. But of course he was at clubs which chew up managers. PSV chews up and spits out managers. Chelsea chews up and spits out managers. Look, it will be a PR triumph because he will be welcomed back as a conqueror, conquering hero when he sees what he has got to work with in place of Peak, Kane Peak, Son Peak, Ericsson Peak, Dele Alli. He might go, hmm, I don't know about that. Look, people going back to football clubs is always traditionally said to be a difficult thing. Spurs got a reasonably happy record of this. I think about Robbie Keane and Sheringham and Defoe this thing that, you know, people gravitate back to the club. I also think Pochettino was very much at home at the club. I wouldn't have any problem with him. Look, the Thomas Frank thing, you know, I hope he goes on to be a legend at spurs. But there's always managers out there. Pete say, oh, well, what. Who would you replace him with? There's always managers out there. There's always. Because. Except for 1% of the elite IO, let's be honest, most managers are neither good nor bad. They're just right. You either have the right. The example I give you, and you'll recognize this from your own backyard, is that Unai Emery is an absolutely brilliant football coach. Yeah, he was the wrong manager at Arsenal. You're not good, you're not bad. You're either right or you're wrong.
- [40:52]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, that's an interesting one. And I think you made this point on view for the lane, Jack, is that who do you bring in fundamentally to Spurs? Who's available right now? You're saying Frank out, Frank out. But who, who do you bring in right now? Is this the best of what's out there?
- [41:05]
Jack Pitt-Brooke
I think two things. Firstly, this summer is going to be a really good time to appoint a manager because there'll be so many managers at work, both World cup managers and managers in the Premier League in the last year, their contract and so on. So I think this summer is not a bad time to be in the market. Right now the market is. Is pretty bad. There's not a lot, there's not. If you take a look on the shelves for available managers, there's not a lot out there. So I think for those two reasons, my, my instincts are stick with Frank for now. I don't think sacking him or changing now would really make. Would really do Tottenham any good. At the same time, I think if things don't improve then I think in the summer then they would be in a good position to maybe have a rethink and see who else is out there.
- [41:46]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay gents, let's leave it there. Danny, Jack, appreciate you joining us and also thank you guys for joining us as well. We'll be back soon.
- [41:56]
Podcast Announcer
You've been listening to the Athletic FC podcast. The producers are Guy Clark, Mike Stabre and Jay Beal. Executive producers are Abby Patterson and to listen to other great athletic podcasts for free, including our dedicated club shows, search for the Athletic and all the usual places. You'll also find us on YouTube at the Athletic FC Podcast, so make sure you subscribe. The Athletic FC Podcast is an Athletic Media company production. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. A password manager should be the first security purchase you make for your team. Why? Because compromised passwords are the number one way bad actors attack companies, and small businesses are their favorite targets. But unlike a lot of security challenges, passwords actually have a pretty simple solution. 1Password lets you manage all your business's credentials so you can feel confident that your data stays secure as your company grows. Find out more@1Password.com special offer and start securing every login.
- [43:25]
Jennifer
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