My padel date with Thomas Frank convinced me he's perfect for Tottenham, writes OLIVER HOLT

Daily Mail​

6 hours ago

Some are already saying that, whoever the new Tottenham manager is, the first thing he will receive when he pitches up at the club's state-of-the-art training ground is a hospital pass.
Social media has been abuzz with emotional testimonies from Spurs players about how much Ange Postecoglou meant to them. Good luck to the new guy, trying to win over a bunch of disaffected, disillusioned, mourning millionaires.
That, actually, is one of the many arguments for making Thomas Frank the next Spurs boss. Frank is probably the best man-manager in the Premier League and the most emotionally intelligent.
If he walked into the club and found players still simmering with loyalty to his fallen predecessor, Frank would have no problem accommodating those feelings. He is secure enough in himself and his abilities to acknowledge the debt he owes to others.
It might be just what Spurs need. Because what they need, most of all, is not to allow the oceans of positivity they gained from winning the Europa League to ebb away in a sour feeling of loss over the firing of Postecoglou. They need to take that positivity and harness it.
'We stand on the shoulders of others,' Frank said when I spoke to him at Brentford 's training ground last month, 'and we build on foundations they have built for us. We need to acknowledge that every single time.
'It's all about the ego. So how fragile is it or how big is it? Some people need reassurance all the time and to say, 'The reason I'm so good is because of me and has nothing to do with these top players and good staff'. It depends who you are.
'So you need to believe in your own skill set, but be humble enough to know there's a lot of hard work and you're not the only one and all that. So I'm confident in myself and what I'm capable of doing. Also humble enough to know I can do nothing alone. No one can.'
Frank and I played a couple of sets of padel at Brentford's Osterley facility. Me and my pal John against him and assistant first-team coach Kevin O'Connor. I would not say it was a pleasure losing 6-0, 6-0 to them but it was an education.
It was a reminder that, for all they are often patronised, Brentford are no longer a small club. Spurs would be a step up but it would not be a leap.
It was a reminder, too, that Frank has a talent for building a successful culture and improving it one step after another. He is a clever, innovative coach who led Brentford to 10th in the Premier League with the second-lowest wage bill in the top flight.
But he also has highly rated coaches like O'Connor around him and created an environment where his players, signed for their character as well as their ability, feel valued and generally achieve far in excess of what is expected of them.
Frank's Brentford sides operate on a high-pressing, high-energy model but when they attack, they do so with verve, speed and fluidity. Frank was especially proud that three of his players scored more than 10 league goals last season.
Maybe there is a perception he is too nice. I don't share that, and not just because I was one half of a geriatric pairing taken apart on a court by somebody so competitive he would have seen losing a single game as a defeat.
'Look, if you ask whether I'm tough,' Frank (left) said that day, 'I think I'm extremely resilient. And I think we've all got a dark side. I've got five per cent dark side in me. Even my wife says that. You need that dark side, to have an edge and I have an edge. I'm extremely competitive, very determined, and you don't survive in this business if you're not tough.'
It is surprising Frank has not been recruited to coach at a Champions League level already. Spurs have work to do to repair the damage done by Postecoglou's departure. Frank deserves the chance to be the man to do it.