Tottenham confirm appointment of Thomas Frank as new manager

Tottenham have confirmed the appointment of Thomas Frank as their new manager. The 51-year-old Dane joins from Brentford on a contract that runs until 2028 and succeeds Ange Postecoglou, who delivered Europa League glory to end Spurs’ 17-year trophy drought but was sacked because of dismal results in the Premier League.

Spurs moved to line up Frank before dismissing Postecoglou last Friday, holding talks via intermediaries and plainly keen to avoid a protracted search for the person to lead them forward after a season in which they finished 17th with 38 points. Only once in club history have they had a worse league record: in 1914-15.

When Frank, who has impressed with his work in charge at Brentford during a near seven-year period, gave the green light, Spurs knew he was within their grasp because of a £10m release clause in his contract. They have spent the past few days negotiating the finer details, plus the transfer of some of Frank’s coaches from Brentford.

The writing had been on the wall for Postecoglou, with the expectation being he would depart even if he led Spurs past Manchester United in the Europa League final on 21 May. The club said they could not “base our decision on emotions aligned to this triumph” when they announced Postecoglou’s departure.

The move for Frank has been pushed by Spurs’ technical director, Johan Lange, a Dane who has a longstanding relationship with his compatriot. Lange gave Frank his first full-time position in the game as a youth coach at B93 in 2004, although they did not spend much time together at the club as Lange soon left.

The pair were reunited not long after at Lyngby where Frank would come to the attention of the Danish Football Association, who hired him as the coach of their under-16s, under-17s and later the under-19s. From there Frank got his break in senior management at Brondby in 2013, taking charge of them for almost three seasons before going to Brentford, where he worked initially as the assistant to Dean Smith. He succeeded him as the manager in October 2018.

Spurs have been impressed by more than the headline items of Frank’s Brentford tenure: the promotion from the Championship via the playoffs in 2021 and how he has established them in the Premier League, finishing 13th, ninth, 16th and 10th. Frank consistently overachieved in relation to his financial means at Brentford; they have one of the smallest budgets in the division. An excellent communicator and noted developer of young talent, he has also shown himself to be tactically flexible.

Frank prioritised possession-based attacking football in the Championship but adapted in the Premier League, becoming more solid and direct while retaining a powerful threat on set-pieces and long throws. That said, Brentford could still build through the thirds and they were the joint-fifth highest scorers in the league during this past season. Frank’s preference is for a back three and wing-backs, which could suit Spurs’s current full-backs Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie and Djed Spence.

Frank has yet to win silverware or manage in European competition beyond Europa League qualifying stages; Spurs are back in the Champions League after the Europa League triumph. But he is not short of high-profile backers. Pep Guardiola predicted last September that Frank would one day join an elite-level club. “It is just a question of time,” said Manchester City’s manager. “I’m good in a few things, one of which is reading when the manager is good. It is going to happen. Thomas is one of the best. What his team does always makes sense. Every corner is a headache. They are compact. This season they have a high press.”

Jürgen Klopp described Frank as “a cool guy” who he respected a lot in November 2023. “He plays against possession teams one way and plays against other teams when all of a sudden they are a possession team themselves,” the then Liverpool manager said. “It’s really interesting.”