Thomas Frank and the 20-year bond that will determine Tottenham's future

Telegraph

a day ago

Tottenham Hotspur described Thomas Frank as one of the most 'progressive and innovative' managers in football after confirming his appointment as their new head coach following the sacking of Ange Postecoglou.
Frank has signed a three-year contract after taking the decision to leave Brentford, the club that was promoted from the Championship and then transformed into an established Premier League side under his management.
Spurs have also hired three of Frank's coaching team at Brentford, with Justin Cochrane, Chris Haslam and Joe Newton all joining the 51-year-old at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. His staff will also include Andreas Georgson, who has worked at Brentford, Arsenal and Manchester United in recent seasons.
'Thomas has extensive experience in English football having joined Brentford in 2016 — since becoming one of the longest-serving current managers in the Premier League,' said Spurs in a statement.
'During his time at Brentford he transformed the club, moving them up from the Championship to an established Premier League side, consistently and significantly outperforming expectations for an extended period of time.
'In Thomas we are appointing one of the most progressive and innovative head coaches within the game. He has a proven track record in player and squad development and we look forward to him leading the team as we prepare for the season ahead.'
The phone call that lured Frank back to coaching
Two decades have passed since Johan Lange, the technical director of Tottenham Hotspur, first offered a job to Thomas Frank. Lange was working for the Danish club B93 when he approached Frank, then in his early thirties, about a talent development position.
For Frank, who was on Thursday appointed to be the new head of Tottenham Hotspur, it was the perfect opportunity. A full-time coaching position, at last, after years of juggling academy roles with his university studies and various other part-time jobs in football. He also had the significant responsibility of being a father of two children, aged two and three.
There was, however, a problem. Earlier that year, Frank had effectively agreed with his wife, Nanna, that he would give up on coaching, finish his masters in psychology and probably look to become a teacher. And so Frank thought about Lange's offer, telling no one else about it (not even Nanna) and then gave his answer: thanks, but no thanks. He turned it down.
The story could have ended there, and no one in English football would ever have heard the name of Thomas Frank. He would never have gone to Brentford, where he has played such a fundamental part in their thrilling rise, and he would certainly never have gone to Spurs, the club he has now joined as head coach.
The rest is history
What, then, changed his mind? Shortly after declining Lange's offer, Frank received a call from the instructor on his Uefa coaching course. It was a verbal slap in the face. In an interview with Telegraph Sport in 2020, Frank recalled the conversation as follows: 'He called me and said 'what the f--- are you doing? This is your dream job. You need to take it'. The rest is history.'
Frank and Lange actually did not spend much time together at B93, as Lange soon made a temporary move to Australia. But it was not long before they were united again at Lyngby, another Danish club. Here, they shared a small office and became part of a remarkable group of young, ambitious and intelligent coaches.
Alongside Frank and Lange at Lyngby were Kasper Hjulmand, most recently the coach of the Danish national team, and Niels Frederiksen, the current manager of Lech Poznan. Those days marked a unique and formative period for all four men, who would bounce ideas off each other and experiment relentlessly on the training ground.
Lange, who was appointed by Spurs in 2023, and Frank now join forces once again. Around 20 years on from that first offer of a coaching job to Frank, albeit a different role in a different country, Lange has made the same call, to the same candidate, as he did back then.
Lange, as Frank's long-time friend, should know better than anyone that Frank is capable of transitioning from Brentford to Spurs. The two men know how each other work, how they think and what each of them needs. As Spurs embark on yet another new era, this Danish connection could be a determining factor in the club's future.
Those who have not followed Frank's career closely might worry he is too much of a 'long-ball coach' to suit Spurs. Thankfully for the more idealistic supporters in north London, such accusations and labels simply have no grounding in reality.
Yes, Brentford have often played direct football since their promotion to the Premier League. And yes, they are strong on set-pieces and use long throws. But to suggest this is Frank's entire managerial philosophy is to totally ignore his previous success in English football and his history as a coach.
In the early days in Denmark, for example, Frank was fascinated by the philosophies of Ajax and Barcelona. If he had unlimited resources, this style of possession-based attacking football would be his preferred approach. In that sense, he is perhaps not too dissimilar from Ange Postecoglou.
It was with aggressive, possession-based football that Brentford earned promotion to the Premier League, after all. In both of their full seasons in the Championship under Frank, his team finished as the division's top scorers. They averaged 57 per cent of possession in those two campaigns.
Following promotion, though, Frank was not stubborn or foolish enough to think he could simply replicate this approach in the Premier League. Unlike other promoted teams in recent years (Vincent Kompany's Burnley or Russell Martin's Southampton, for example) Brentford were willing to adapt in order to survive.
This is where Frank certainly does differ from Postecoglou, who spent most of his time at Spurs insisting he would stick to Plan A. Frank is a manager who will happily deploy Plan B, Plan C or Plan D, depending on the opponent, the players at his disposal and the wider context of the match.
The Spurs squad appears well-suited to Frank's methods, too. At Brentford he tried to sign both Brennan Johnson and Archie Gray, so we know he rates them, and he has a long history of improving young players. The likes of Ollie Watkins, Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo, Said Benrahma and David Raya have all reached far greater heights, after working with Frank, than anyone expected. The same is true of Brentford as a club.
Perhaps the only concern is whether Frank will be able to operate as efficiently away from the enviable culture that has been fostered at Brentford. Not only do Brentford possess a famously effective data-led recruitment model, they have also constructed a true family environment at the club. Frank has been a major part of building this culture but he has also benefited from it. Spurs, a bigger club with an entirely different feel, will not be the same.
Lange, at least, represents a familiar face. These two men found themselves on the same path 20 years ago, at a struggling club outside Denmark's top flight, and now their journeys converge again at one of the biggest clubs in European football.