‘Lame duck’ Tudor to be ‘next manager out’ as Spurs ‘sleepwalking into catastrophic relegation’ | OneFootball

Igor Tudor has been tipped to be the next Premier League manager sacked as Spurs would have been better off with Harry Redknapp over a ‘lame duck’…

Also, the Jose Mourinho of ‘this generation’ is why neutrals want Manchester City to pip Arsenal to the Premier League title.

Tudor is to do

By my usual standards, I’ve been largely quiet over the last six months or so (in these hallowed pages, at least) on the subject of my beloved Spurs; preferring to peacefully enjoy the generational achievement of an actual real-life trophy and accepting that there is a resultant karmic payoff for the universe permitting such an anomaly. So I’ve just let the subsequent chaotic season wash over me in the vain hope that some injury-returnees might see the club through to the end of the season and a chance for Thomas Frank to build into a second season.

At worst; a managerial change, a written-off season and the cycle starts again for the 427th time of the ENIC era. At best; all of the above but they also fluke their way to the Champions League final in the process, because that would absolutely defy any semblance of logic and that’s pretty much the hallmark of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

February came and, fair enough, it wasn’t getting any better. Fair enough, Thomas Frank was clearly out of his depth. The decision to give the unfortunate, Arsenal-worshipping Dane the old tin tack was the right decision in the end, even if it was too late to make any positive impact on 2025/6.

I’ve been happy to wait and see what the end of the season brings. On past trends, I’d expect to see an undignified and protracted, scattergun chase for managers who are either plainly out of Spurs’ league or too smart to drink from the poisoned chalice at this particularly batshit crazy point in their recent history (Alonso, Poch, Maresca, Xavi) before settling for someone available but entirely unsuited, like Amorin or Glasner, some time in late August. The full Alanis-baiting irony of that last suggestion would come when Crystal Palace appoint Thomas Frank to lead them to finish eight points and three places above Spurs in the 26/27 league standings, while Spurs bin off Glasner before the clocks even go back!

But that’s a problem for another day and so I’ve spent the last couple of days bantering with mates about who Spurs could bring in as an interim appointment until the end of the season. Would it be a “Club-DNA” hire (Robbie Keane, Jurgen Klinsmann or maybe even Redders – presumably with Nico Krancjar in tow) or someone who has made their name in the substitute teacher / relegation firefighter mould (Solskjaer, Big Sam, Sean Dyche) or perhaps someone who ticks both of those boxes (Tactics Tim or Ryan Mason)? I even Googled whether David Pleat was still knocking about (and I’m pleased to report he turned 81 last month, for anyone interested, though I think I’d have to accept his top flight coaching days might be behind him at this point).

And then Igor Tudor happened.

A shiny penny awarded to anyone who can explain to me the logic in that move. Here comes the lengthy and cathartic missive.

Yadda yadda “reputation as a firefighter”. Whatever. How many of those reputation-forming managerial spells were proper relegation scraps? Most of his “successes” across his multitude of jobs in the last decade or so, involving getting a marginally underachieving club from mid-table to a slightly-more-respectable finish, or from fourth to fifth with very short-term boosts that provide no context for the form of the clubs above them. I’m clinging on to the couple of spells at Udinese for any hope that he has some sort of particular set of skills to Liam Neeson his way through the Spurs shitstorm that awaits him.

And do you know where those “rescue jobs” took place? That’s right: not England. Not to get too parochial about “our league”, but it’s stating the mind-blowingly obvious to anyone reading this website that football is culturally, tactically and stylistically very different in different countries. Tudor’s successes, such as they are, have either come in his native Croatia or Italy, where he spent the majority of his playing career. Early spells in Greece, Turkey and then latterly France ranged from disappointing to just-about-par-for-the-course. He has 12 games (if he lasts all of them) and absolutely no room for learning on the job. I f*****g hope he’s a quick study or the North London Derby is going to be a bloodbath.

I’m not saying that Spurs should be entitled to expect someone ‘better’ (and I’m old enough to remember Igor Tudor as a magnificent centre half for the Old Lady of Turin so I promise it’s nothing personal), I just can’t for the life of me fathom what he brings to a Premier League relegation battle in mid-February. I’d genuinely take any of the names I’ve mentioned above (including Redders, who I abused mercilessly on these pages throughout his tenure) at this point to mark a culture and mood shift big enough to avoid the unthinkable. Perversely, I think I’d be marginally happier if Tudor been announced either as the permanent manager or if he had been the big summer appointment after Spurs had secured safety. In that case, I’d have been happy to see him given the time that was needed to establish himself and his style. But that’s time that he simply doesn’t have now. Instead, they have a lame duck manager, who seems to have as much of a reputation for tetchiness with players, press and club hierarchy as he does for relegation-battles. Exactly what the club doesn’t need.

The club – the players in particular – need a boost; a change of vibe and a change of mood. The relationship with the fans is toxic. The club captain is at war with the boardroom. Strong characters and locker-room leaders have been sold and not replaced. And as a result, everyone seems to be playing with the handbrake on for fear of making a mistake and getting both barrels from the stands – a mindset that Frank really did nothing to help by small-timing his 8 months in charge. Thinking that Igor Tudor – he of zero premier league experience – is the man to fix this, isn’t the “roll of the dice” that Will Ford describes – this is throwing a dart at a dart board, blindfolded, while riding a horse and hoping you hit bullseye. Twice.

I want to be wrong, but the most worrying thing is that it’s such a bonkers appointment (and I can’t even bring myself to mention the Paratici nonsense), that it screams that the decision-makers don’t actually recognise how serious the threat of relegation really is. Not to go full Thomas Frank, but this is a side that finished 17th last season and has shown no signs in the league that it is equipped to do any better this year. Such a reckless managerial hire is professional negligence (were they blinded by the glow of the word “Juventus” on his CV?) and the decision suggests to me that the powers-that-be don’t recognise the seriousness of the issue. Either that or they genuinely believe West Ham will revert to being dogsh*t (currently fifth in the PL form table, aided by the recent visit of a certain Doctor) or Forest will be distracted by going deep enough into the Europa League that Spurs will once again be saved from relegation indignity by the inadequacies of three other Premier League teams. It’s shameful for a club with their resources.

This appointment has serious Jacques Santini vibes. In fact, I’ve not been this concerned with a managerial hire at WHL since Christian Gross and his London Underground ticket rocked up at a press conference. It’s all contactless on the tube now, so Tudor can’t even play that hand! I want to be wrong, but I think Spurs are sleepwalking into a relegation that could be catastrophic for the club. I reckon they need three wins to stay up. I look at the fixture list and I think they’re lucky if they can find two. If I were a gambling man, I’d back Tudor in the “next manager out” stakes because I genuinely see John Heitinger overseeing at least the last few games after Tudor’s spell turns to custard.

Please send reasons for optimism.

Special prize, though, for Matt Stead best line of 2026 “Quite fittingly for a club that has lost its entire head, Spurs have appointed a Tudor”. Well played, sir. Well played. Chris Bridgeman, Kingston upon Thames

What club are you?

​I recently caught “Big Ange” claiming that Spurs were not a big club. Reading between the lines, it was clear that he was saying a “Big Club” needed to sign and keep big players, which means big salaries, and of course, recruit a “Big” Manager to handle all the egos, of which I am assuming he thought of himself as one!

If a club cannot achieve or sustain that sort of revenue, they have to look at a different model. Hire Coaches and players that are both unknown and potential gems. No one is bigger than the Club but all see it as a stepping stone. Assuming these “Middle Clubs” do not have unrealistic expectations, they are consistently successful within their “ceiling” and their fans are relatively content, e.g. Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford, etc.

The challenge for the “Cusp Clubs” is, are they prepared to pay the big bucks for those elite players? Would MUFC, Newcastle, Villa or Spurs be willing to pay nine-figure sums for and Anderson or Baleba? What elite Manager would go to Spurs or MUFC with some assurances of quality players to compete with the likes of Arsenal or City. If not, the fans need to manage their expectations. Fans of MUFC have just gone through this painful process and we would all be astonished if we made Europe, let alone 4th. I am not sure that Spurs fans fully realize that staying up may be one of their greatest achievements. Adidasmufc (The next Coach/Manager of MUFC will tell you all you need to know about the aspirations of the club)

The decline of the Premier League

Dear Ed,

I listened to a Mark Goldbridge podcast match review today, who I usually find really rather good and fair as a general rule. He was decrying the decreasing quality of the PL referencing stylistic changes, and time taken up by set pieces etc. It’s easy to say the league is poorer in quality than recent previous years, but I took a couple of his points and did some digging with OPTA looking back over roughly the last decade.

Goals per game are down significantly on two seasons ago and below the average of each of the last 8 seasons. More 0-0’s at this stage of the season than in all of last season. Fewer shots are being taken and unexpectedly lowest average number of shots on target on record. Fewer passes per match this year, but increase in long balls per match. Opportunities created from high-turnover pressing at a ten year low. Set-piece dependency at 10 year high with 26% of the goals in the league this year coming from set-pieces rather than open play – up from 18% last year – a 44% increse! Time the ball is in play at a ten year low at just under 55% of a 100min macth. Eight managerial sackings (so far) point at systemic underperformance as much as lack of patience – the record is a frankly bonkers 14 from a few years ago, and figures of 10 are not unheard of, but 8 is more in total than the two previous seasons combined.

Finally, in terms of the top four and the rest – the top four have dropped further in terms of points won, than the teams in the middle have improved. There is an asymmetric decline. The table compression comes more from decline at the top than improvement from the chasers, the so called ‘strength of the league’. If you want to put it in terms of a 100 metre race, those in the middle of the pack have gotten only slightly faster, but those who take the medals have gotten noticeably slower. If the league had gotten stronger, the compression would be at the top, not the middle. JB (I just want to see more goals from open play and better free flowing football)

Eze does it

Pep may have coached some of the flair out of Grealish, but he was still visible and effective in matches during a treble winning season. Legohead must be a magician, because he’s made Eze totally ineffective AND completely invisible. RHT/TS x (Igor Tudor is going to shithouse a one nil win in the North London derby, thereby saving Spurs’ season, and providing genuine hilarity for everyone when City pip the Goons. Again)

‘Why do non-City fans want City to win?’

Yo Jimmy. What a pathetic message about ‘why do non city fans want City to win. They have a highly successful yet extremely unlikeable manager’. Extremely unlikeable? By who? You? Have you seen the absolute bellend sitting on your bench? Mikel is this generations Mourinho. A complete and utter sap who when his team gets knocked out fair and square in the champions league he tries telling the whole world they deserved to win the whole thing. Complains about every. single. decision that goes against them. There’s so many annoying and stupid stuff he’s said that he made ETH look amateurish. Then add on the fact you have little pricks like Gabriel, Timber, Havertz, Jesus, Martinelli who tries pushing an opponent off the pitch who is lying down with a season ending injury (maybe cos he thinks everyone is like him and always pretends he was fouled). nobody likes your lot because they’re arrogant, entitled and a bunch of knobs but it stems mostly from the manager and the fans. Arsenal used to be fun under Wenger. Now, I can’t fucking stand them. I’ll be rooting for your lot to bottle it.

To quote good ol’ Kevin ‘I’d love it, love it’ if they beat you Alex (another Irishman in New York )

JimmyB (Irish Gooner) writes ‘But what I cannot understand is why so many non City football fans would like City to win it’ (14/02/26). Let me offer an answer. It’s most likely to be Liverpool fans – alongside Spurs’ of course – who want to see Arsenal pipped by City (though certainly not United’s, but then again it’s Arsenal). Why? Because it means that Liverpool’s own recent achievements are not eclipsed and they remain, in their own happy minds, the people’s champions, true sporting victors, authentic footballing people. Past and future City premier league crowns will be forever buried under 115 asterisks, rendered almost meaningless. To watch them devour Arsenal’s lead is not to watch them succeed – the asterisks and all that – but to watch Arsenal fail. Bock

Liverpool’s COVID title win

I’m a Liverpool fan and have been for 60 years.

I’ve seen Liverpool win many titles (Yes these did exist prior to the premier league) It really annoys me when fans of other clubs give backhanded remarks about our first premier league win.

I’m looking at you Paul K, London: “Liverpool only broke their Premier League duck when stadiums were empty”.

When the lockdown happened Liverpool were TWENTY FIVE points ahead of Man City and only needed one win to secure the title.

Covid, lockdowns etc had absolutely no impact on our title win.

The only downside (football wise) was that the fans couldn’t celebrate when the league restarted.

Please stop trying to re-write history. Neil LFC, USA

Alan Shearer’s VAR take

So, in the Villa Newcastle FA Cup match with no VAR, obvious decisions were called very badly incorrectly by the referees that WOULD’VE BEEN CORRECTED BY VAR, so the always insightful Alan Shearer concludes that it is VAR’s fault for making referees scared of making decisions!!