Both shown the door in the end! Club boss tears into his own coach online | OneFootball

Meanwhile, Thomas Frank has arrived on the big football stage. The Dane took over Tottenham Hotspur in the summer. His path there was arduous, and right from the start, a bizarre obstacle was placed in his way.

Until the fateful spring of 2016, Frank's coaching career looked like a fairy tale. For years, the father of two, who by his own admission was never a good player, worked his way up in Scandinavian youth football with up to three parallel jobs.

In the summer of 2013, the then ten-time Danish champion Brøndby IF reached out to him, and after a rocky start, it actually looked as if the highly-touted coaching gem could lead the traditional club to its first championship since 2005.

At the financially troubled Blue-Yellows, Frank consistently relied on young players, playing bold possession football and high pressing. Brøndby finished the 2013-14 season in a strong fourth place and qualified for international competition for the first time in three years.

But the rejuvenation course was halted in the summer of 2014. In April, Jan Bech Andersen was installed as the new CEO, who didn't think much of "youth research" and brought in more money. At his urging, the veteran stars Daniel Agger (29) and Johan Elmander (33) were signed, and the eleventh championship title was to be achieved as quickly as possible.

Frank took on the challenge sportingly. "Others might have been upset about such a major upheaval, but Thomas simply said: 'Well, then we just have to try to win the league,'" recalled the then IF sporting director Per Rud to 'FourFourTwo'.

However, the new mix did not bring the desired success. Two years later, Brøndby finished the league in third and fourth place. Additionally, there were crashing exits in the Europa League qualification. The already tense atmosphere in the suburb of Copenhagen became restless when IF was only in fifth place by the winter break of the 2016/17 season. Another season without a title loomed.

Many fans discussed the stagnation of their club in the fan forum 'SydSiden Online'. At that time, a user named "Oscar" was also very active, not holding back criticism of the coach and club management. "Per and Thomas have made so many crazy decisions together out of ignorance and lack of experience," he ranted, or: "If we then have a head coach who is inexperienced and stubbornly sticks to a system that doesn't work, then we have problems."

On March 6, in the evening after a 1-3 defeat of Brøndby against the table neighbor Sønderjyske, "Oscar" published a damn curious post. "To all the dissatisfied: Please come to the stadium tomorrow at 14:00 – then we will meet in the Vilfort Lounge and clarify everything. As I said, now is the time to support – none of us, not even I, is blind. From 10:30 to 14:00 we have a board meeting, and afterwards, I would gladly have a cup of coffee with anyone who wants to express their opinion. Sleep well, Kh Jan Bech"

The confusion and especially the skepticism about the authenticity of this message were great in the forum. Nevertheless, curiosity won out for some fans, and they made their way to the announced meeting point the next day. And lo and behold: CEO Jan Bech Andersen aka "Oscar" actually appeared in the lounge and discussed the club's sporting crisis with the fans.

The absurd circumstances spread like wildfire through the media in the following days and led Thomas Frank to a decision. On March 9, the coach, criticized behind his back by his own boss, announced his resignation. About a month later, Andersen also left his position as CEO under media pressure.

In the following years, Frank took the substantive criticism to heart, developing a more variable playing style at Brentford, which recently earned him the head coach position at CL participant Tottenham. And Andersen? He returned to Brøndby as CEO in 2019 - and remains in the position to this day.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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