'Project manager' Frank oozes 'Scandinavian leadership'
Thomas Frank's "Scandinavian leadership" is a crucial and distinctive trait he can take to Tottenham.That's the view of Teddy Hebo Larsen, the chairman of Hvidovre where Thomas Frank was a youth coach between 1998 and around 2004.Frank, who worked in Denmark's age group teams before moving to Brondby and Brentford in the club game, is nearing a switch to take charge of Spurs.Speaking to BBC Sport, Hebo Larsen said this was a "very important" time in Frank's career and it is his personal skills that have made him "extremely popular" with players.He said: "Thomas is investing heavily in leadership - he is very special in that aspect. I'm not sure I see that in many other head coaches. What we would call Scandinavian leadership is what he has brought to Brentford in my view."It's much more involved in engaging people, listening to people, empathy, authenticity is a key word. Thomas has plenty of that. One of his strengths was being a good supporter and developer for the young guys while still keeping a professional distance to them as a coach. He used a team based approach - making sure that each player knew the common goal for the team. I could see very clear leadership skills."Hebo Larsen explained he first saw Frank coaching youth players in near darkness but that his "energy and his dedication was already at that time very clear".Asked if he would be proud to see him lead Spurs, Hebo Larsen said: "For sure. I think he deserves it very much. If you recall he had a tough start at Brentford but they believed in him, they stayed with him."Thomas is a project manager - he has a clear project with a clear goal and he just continuously follows that goal and tries to develop things around him. Of course we are really proud at what Thomas has achieved - it's really outstanding and if he moves to Tottenham I can only congratulate Spurs as I think they will get a very, very special head coach and I do hope he has the time to blossom."
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