Who will be Tottenham manager next season? De Zerbi? Poch? Tudor? | OneFootball

Thomas Frank has been replaced by Serie A firefighter Igor Tudor as Tottenham bid to stave off an unthinkable but distinctly possible relegation from the Premier League.

Tudor’s record is marked by two things: making an instant impact on teams from Hellas Verona to Juventus, and then that fast start disintegrating almost entirely in record time if mistakenly given the chance to lead the team into the next season.

His Spurs remit is very, very obvious and even success won’t necessarily lead Michael Carrick-style to a permanent clamour for an extremely interim appointment. We’re therefore left with two questions. What division will Tottenham be in next season, and who will be their manager? We don’t know the answer to either of those questions, but the latest odds from Oddschecker have these lads as the poor sods in line for some Tottenham punishment.

9=) Diego Simeone

There’s always talk about Simeone leaving Atletico Madrid even though the idea appears absurd. Fifteen years he’s been there now. Easy to see why Spurs might be interested in a manager who has such a distinguished record of competing with bigger, better-resourced rivals. Less clear why Simeone would consider it.

9=) Eddie Howe

Not hard to imagine a world in which Newcastle go in a different direction after an awkward season.

7=) Andoni Iraola

7=) Oliver Glasner

Definitely leaving Crystal Palace at the end of the season and very possibly leaving Crystal Palace before that. The reasons Spurs would be interested are obvious, but so are the reasons for caution. Is another underdog manager really what they want or need?

There is a certain appeal in the idea of Glasner flouncing out of Palace in a huff at the board’s failure to back the football side of operations sufficiently, only to then rock up immediately at Tottenham.

6) Edin Terzic

Has been linked with Spurs and other Premier League teams since leaving Borussia Dortmund at the end of the 2023/24 season. That remains Terzic’s only senior management role, and it probably should have delivered him a Champions League winner’s medal.

Would be no surprise to see him in England at some point, and Spurs seem as likely as anyone if the looming catastrophe of this season is averted.

5) Marco Rose

The former RB Leipzig manager jumped from nowhere to favourite early on Friday morning before it became clear that Igor Tudor was in fact the leftfield interim option Spurs had landed upon. But he remains right up there in permanent contention.

4) Robbie Keane

Has shown a bit of gumption by managing in Israel and then Hungary with plenty success and obviously has all the club DNA you could possibly want after two spells at the most boyhood of all his boyhood clubs. But does he have the gumption to take on Tottenham?

3) Igor Tudor

You can understand the logic. If he were to keep Spurs up comfortably and steer them into mid-table with a solid set of results there will be chat that he has earned the right at a permanent crack at the job.

But it does seem like everyone involved here is very clear about what this appointment is and how long it will last. Tudor’s entire managerial career has involved speed-running the path from new-manager bounce to acrimonious exit. Spurs’ plan is clearly to solve that by only doing the first bit before everyone shakes hands and moves on.

2) Roberto De Zerbi

Has always felt inevitable that Brighton wouldn’t remain his only Premier League sojourn. And now he has left Marseille, he is one of the best available managers.

De Zerbi was the obvious and instant favourite when Frank was dismissed, the combination of being both available now and someone Spurs would obviously look at in the summer being a tantalising one.

A stressful end to his time at Marseille has led De Zerbi to take a break to consider his options, and that seems entirely wise. a still-Premier League Spurs would definitely be one of those options, and he still has availability advantages over Pochettino, who would not be able to take charge until relatively late in the summer.

1) Mauricio Pochettino

It’s always been clear that unfinished business exists for both club and manager here, with Pochettino’s fantastic but trophyless Spurs reign leaving all manner of ‘What ifs?’ that really could be answered one way or another next season.

The potential summer availability of Pochettino and his obvious keenness to have a second crack at the job will surely have been a factor in Spurs’ decision to make Frank’s inevitable and necessary replacement the most clear-cut short-term appointment imaginable.