Thomas Frank is perfect manager to deal with Tottenham's Daniel Levy – after being slammed by his OWN chairman on forum

The Irish Sun

4 hours ago

THOMAS FRANK'S first big job ended when the club chairman was exposed for criticising him on an online fans' forum.
Although some Tottenham supporters have a pretty low
opinion
of supremo Daniel Levy, it's unlikely he would ever be caught doing the same.
5
Thomas Frank is the perfect manager to deal with Tottenham's Daniel Levy
Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
5
Spurs owner Levy is on the hunt for a new gaffer after sacking Ange
Credit: Alamy
Levy keeps a low profile and says very little about whether he is backing his manager — until the moment he doesn't any more.
Which is not quite how Jans Bech Andersen handled things after becoming chairman of Danish club Brondby.
Frank had left his role with the Danish FA coaching the youth teams and working with senior boss Morten Olsen, to take over at the cash-strapped fallen giants in 2013.
But he resigned in March 2016 after just under three years in charge because of what became known as 'Oscar-gate'.
READ MORE TOTTENHAM NEWS
'Oscar' was the name attached to a profile on a leading Brondby fan messageboard which had repeatedly hammered
And it turned out that 'Oscar' was Bech Andersen, a rich fan who had increased his investment and influence at the club a few months after Frank's arrival.
Among 'Oscar's' posts were rants criticising Frank for being a coach 'who is inexperienced and stubbornly sticks to a system that doesn't work' and his 'inability to integrate new players that he himself has 100 per cent chosen'.
'Oscar' said Frank and Rud had made 'crazy decisions together due to ignorance and lack of experience', creating 'a headache that needs to be cured as soon as possible'.
Most read in Football
CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS
Frank understandably talked of a 'breach of trust' in his resignation statement.
Nine months later, in December 2016, he joined
England football ace Millie Bright leaves fiancé & falls for married personal trainer 'in a big way'
5
It would be easy to say the rest is
history
but Frank did have a sticky start to his reign.
Without the strong backing of Bees owner Matthew Benham and co-director of
football
Rasmus Ankersen — a fellow Dane — he might not have survived.
Gambling guru Benham believed Frank was a good bet and has been proved right.­
For all Frank's incredible success in leading the club from the Championship to the top half of the Premier League, Levy and Spurs fans are entitled to ask how he would cope with the very different challenge at Tottenham?
The 51-year-old has never taken charge of a Champions League match nor won a major trophy, two things which were on former
Celtic
boss Ange Postecoglou's CV even before he led Spurs to Europa League glory in what turned out to be his final game.
Newcastle
in November 2021.
Yes, Howe had taken Bournemouth through the divisions all the way to ninth place in the top flight but he had also been relegated in 2020 and never managed in
Europe
.
Yet Howe proved his doubters wrong — in 2023 he led the Magpies back into the Champions League, before lifting their first major domestic trophy for 70 years with March's Carabao Cup victory over Liverpool.
Much has been made of Brentford's use of data from Benham's
gambling
business
to give them the edge in recruitment.
But it is one thing to identify hidden gems with the potential to become stars — the art is making them realise that potential.
5
Spurs sacked Ange Postecoglou on Friday
5
And Frank has a brilliant record, particularly with forward players.
Ollie Watkins,
Ivan Toney
, Bryan Mbeumo and
Levy will have also seen how players like Christian Norgaard — soon to become a free agent — have quietly become established Prem stars.
Frank has also proved tactically adaptable in a way Big Ange stubbornly refused to be until that backs-to-the-wall performance in the second half of the Europa League final against
Manchester
United.
Championship
.
But after winning the play-off final in 2021, Frank knew he had to compromise a bit.
He made his side defensively sound and difficult to beat, using marginal gains like set-piece excellence to help preserve their top-flight status.
But last season the Bees were among the Prem's great entertainers.
They were also one of the very few clubs in
Europe
to have three players with more than ten league goals - Mbeumo, Wissa and
If Frank gets the Spurs job, his personality will be quite a change from Postecoglou's gruff Aussie charms.
The genial Dane is the most relatable and likeable Prem boss.
His image of a man who likes to visit his local pub on the Thames is not just for show.
Every managerial appointment is a gamble but for Levy that could be
money
well spent.
Bech Andersen remains at Brondby and is still posting on social media — albeit under his own name now.
At least Frank won't have to cope with Levy doing that if he joins Spurs.