How Igor Tudor’s seven rescue jobs have gone so far: from Adebayor hat-tricks to winning an actual trophy | OneFootball

Spurs have taken a remarkable risk in appointing Igor Tudor, but his sustained record of rescuing clubs mid-season does show method in the apparent madness.

Quite fittingly for a club that has lost its entire head, Spurs have appointed a Tudor.

The Croatian has been picked as the man to take over from Thomas Frank before a more permanent arrangement is made in the summer – when Mauricio Pochettino should become available.

It is sensational work for Spurs to ignore the recommendation of Fabio Paratici for Tudor to replace Frank, then listen only when Paratici has left.

But expecting joined-up, coherent, strategic thinking from Spurs at any point in their history, never mind these halcyon days of 2026, is not in itself the most sensible thing to do.

Have they, however, actually stumbled upon a decent decision? When one of the leading alternatives pushed to the foreground is Tim Sherwood: yes.

And Tudor does have a decent track record of being parachuted into clubs during seasons and doing well.

It remains to be seen whether that qualifies him as the best candidate to be thrown headfirst into a circus with his first game being a derby against perhaps the best club in the country, needing to turn around a team five points from a potentially ruinous relegation with 12 league games left. But he has done well in similar circumstances before…

Hajduk Split – appointed April 29, 2013

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Hajduk “found ourselves in a position where qualifying for Europe is in jeopardy,” as president Marin Babic said when sacking coach Miso Krsticevic, sporting director Sergije Kresic and consultant Fredi Fiorentini just one day after a defeat at home to Rijeka.

Croatia assistant Tudor was drafted in and secured European qualification on goal difference despite overseeing a single victory in four league games.

His biggest impact was evident in the Croatian Cup, which he delivered with a pulsating 5-4 aggregate win over Lokomotiva.

That should be easy enough to replicate in the Champions League.

Galatasaray – appointed February 15, 2017

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There were no such distractions in Tudor’s next post; Galatasaray had already been eliminated from the Turkish Cup by the time he arrived, with their European ban for financial irregularities also upheld that season.

Jan Olde Riekerink was shown the door with Gala third in the Super Lig, five points behind leaders Besiktas.

It was a gap Tudor could not close. Galatasaray even slipped to fourth, ultimately holding onto a European qualification spot but suffering a particularly bruising 4-0 defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir in April.

Spurs legend Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick. It was a different time.

Then Tudor started the next season being beaten by Graham Potter’s Ostersund in Europa League qualifying. Oh mate.

Udinese – appointed April 24, 2018

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“There is important work to be done, so we can end this season the way the club deserves, then we can resume with new energy,” Tudor said when making his long-awaited return to Serie A, this time as a manager.

Udinese had already dispensed with Luigi Delneri and Massimo Oddo by the time Tudor came in on the back of an 11-game losing run in the league.

He did stem that tide with a 3-3 draw with Benevento, before Inter thrashed Tudor’s side 4-0.

But the season ended with wins over Verona and Bologna to pull Udinese clear of any relegation worries; had they lost those two games they would have gone down by a point.

Tudor and Udinese could not come to an agreement to extend the union beyond the end of the campaign, however, so he upped and left…

Udinese – appointed March 20, 2019

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…only to return within the year to save them again.

His summer replacement, Julio Velazquez, only made it to November, while Davide Nicola lasted a handful of months himself. So for the second consecutive season, Tudor embraced the role of Udinese’s third manager in one campaign.

This task seemed tougher: they were 16th, one point above the relegation zone after winning just three of their last 14 Serie A games.

But Tudor again turned things around, engineering wins in six-pointers against Genoa, Empoli, Frosinone, SPAL and Cagliari – while this time holding Inter to a goalless draw at home – to secure mid-table safety.

Who patrolled Tudor’s Udinese midfield at the time? Another Spurs icon in Sandro. It’s meant to be.

Hajduk Split – appointed January 2, 2020

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Tudor does not subscribe to the notion that you should never go back, doing the Splits twice for his hometown club.

It did not go especially well the second time around. There was certainly no trophy, with everything other than their league endeavours taken off the table long before Tudor came in.

But with him in charge Hajduk slipped from a distant second to an almost disastrous fifth, losing as often as they won in one of his few true interim failures.

Lazio – appointed March 18, 2024

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After the second-longest reign of his entire managerial career – 48 games – was ended by Marseille, Tudor spent close to a year out of work until he landed at Lazio.

He replaced Maurizio Sarri on an 18-month contract, guided them from ninth upon his appointment to European qualification by winning more than half his games, beat Juventus twice and was only narrowly knocked out of the Coppa Italia at the semi-final stage.

Then he quit less than three months into his stay, reportedly due to ‘tiredness’ with the club. He might not last the week at Spurs.

Juventus – appointed March 23, 2025

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Tudor again spent about a year in the shadows, aware that he just needed to wait for Juventus to sack enough managers so that he’d finally get his Knows The Club-based turn.

That finally came to pass last season, when Thiago Motta was terminated for elimination from every competition while only having The Old Lady in fifth, a point off Champions League qualification.

Tudor could dedicate the entirety of his focus to that cause and ultimately benefited for it, comfortably dragging Juventus over the line in the end.

It went hilariously wrong beyond that initial remit, with Tudor sacked by October for a run of eight winless games. But Spurs will concern themselves with what comes after this season when they know whether to prepare for the Premier League or the Championship.