Thomas Frank ‘constantly going on about Arsenal’ as details of Spurs downfall emerge | OneFootball

Sacked Spurs boss Thomas Frank reportedly would not stop talking about Arsenal to his players, so much so that there was a feeling of “just shut up about Arsenal.”

Frank’s long-expected departure was confirmed on Tuesday after a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle and details have already begun to emerge about the atmosphere within the club during his final days.

According to a report in the Telegraph, one major sticking point with the former Brentford boss was an apparent infatuation with Arsenal and a source told the newspaper that Frank would constantly bring up Tottenham’s biggest rival

“He was constantly going on to the players about Arsenal and they quickly got sick of it,” the source said.

“Even before and after the game at the Emirates, he was telling them how good Arsenal were. The feeling among some was very much ‘just shut up about Arsenal’.”

That feeling would not have been helped by Frank emerging onto the Bournemouth pitch with an Arsenal-branded coffee cup. The image was circulated online and fed into a meme among Arsenal fans that Frank was secretly one of them.

At the time, Frank tried to play down the mistake but failed to grasp the optics: “I definitely did not notice it. It would be completely stupid of me to take it if I knew. It’s a little bit sad in football that I need to be asked about it. I would never do something that stupid. I think we’re definitely going in the wrong direction if we need to worry about me having a cup with a logo of another club.”

A disharmony in the squad was hinted at last weekend when Frank himself admitted he was “pretty sure there are also some players who don’t think I am the best bloke or whatever it is.”

The same source told the Telegraph that Frank’s focus on out-of-possession work had also annoyed some of the squad.

“Most of the work was on what to do out of possession and how to nullify the opposition, rather than working on how they could hurt opponents,” they said.

Meanwhile, the Guardian has reported that Tottenham paid Brentford £6.7m in compensation to bring Frank and his staff to North London, only to sack him eight months later.

Frank signed a three-year contract worth a reported £24m, meaning he will have been owed a hefty amount in compensation.