Igor Tudor Leaves Tottenham (By Mutual Consent) - Who next to try save Spurs?

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0:47When Team USA steps onto the world stage, people aren't just watching, they're cheering together. This winter, everyone is all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA. Whether you bond over streaming binge-worthy videos, watching sports recaps, video gaming, or by unplugging altogether, the 2026 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid helps keep you connected throughout your journey. Learn more at Lincoln.com. Available connectivity features and functionality vary by model. Package pricing, trials, and term lengths vary by model. Video streaming and games are only available while parked. so there we have it Igor Tudor has left Tottenham Hotspur by mutual consent apparently obviously at the very top of this I know he's not going to watch this but you just put out into the ether the good vibes, the things that you know that you'd want to hear him in return if you're in that position.

1:55So before we sort of talk about all of this and what it means for Tottenham Hotspur, obviously what always remains is, you know,

2:08heartfelt, you know, commiserations. I don't know. I'm tying myself in knots here. I feel bad for Igor Tudor and his family. He's just lost his father. in in many respects that's the most important thing here that's the most important thing for him and uh i hope he can find some peace and space to reflect upon what i can imagine is a is a very very painful time for him you can imagine that that would have likely factored into this decision right now but we shouldn't also completely ignore the fact that Spurs have one point under his you know during his tenure we did win the game against Atletico Madrid so that's kind of a curveball but in terms of as a in terms of our Premier League survival we got one point um but still all the best to Igor Tudor and his family.

3:11Again, I'm not, you know, self-aggrandizing enough to think that he is actually listening to this or paying attention, but you send the message out into the universe nonetheless. So is this a surprise? Not really. But what's that little bit of me that was kind of thinking we're all sort of losing our heads after the after the not losing our heads after the forest game but everybody's you know rightly very very frustrated after the forest game it was such a big result in such a you know potentially pivotal fixture a relegation six pointer the the nature of the the defeat um

3:58largely the sort of the tinkering, the lack of settled structure to the team, albeit in the very short time he's had, has led a lot of people to pretty much naturally assume that he would have been gone during this international break.

4:18But there was that little bit of me, do you know, there was that little bit of me that was thinking these are starting to run and it did feel like just, you know, Liverpool and Atletico, it did feel like things were maybe, maybe starting to click a little bit. But at the same time, that was probably a bit of wishful thinking, wasn't it? That was probably a bit of, what is it people call it? Wish casting? Hope casting? Something like that. And I think the other consideration is the other thing that we will find out in the next few days, and we have all been discussing, is who steps in? Fine, we get rid of Igor Tudor, but who comes in?

5:14I'm just thinking about the way to slice this, because there's a few different candidates and they all offer different things, potential candidates or at least rumoured candidates. I would again reiterate upfront for me, really, I feel like the most viable and realistic candidate, if we're talking about a short-term basis, is Ryan Mason. Ryan Mason with whoever else. And every time I say this, I get pelters and I get people say, you're clueless and why would you want Ryan Mason? It's not that I'm standing here, sitting here really, and saying I'm totally in love with Ryan Mason. I think he's the guy that's going to revolutionize the football club.

5:55I'm saying it purely in respect that he's available, knows the club, loves the club. All those things that I continue to go on about on here. And so there's that part of me that thinks like, is it going to be him? Would he come in? now obviously over the past few days there's been a considerable amount of discussion about Roberto Deserbi um it feels like so if we take it down the the level of the less sort of speculative stuff some of the I think Graham Bailey and a few of the other sorts of you know respected journos have said that Spurs have been trying to get Deserbi in on a permanent basis now They don't want the interim boss to the end of the season.

6:41They want somebody that's bought in, that wants to keep Spurs up and will be our gaffer into next season. Roberto Deserbi is somebody that they'd identified and wanted as the gaffer going forwards to be our next permanent manager. And it feels that now that they've been trying to get him to come in the door and take it on from here with, you know, huge pay package. I've seen two things floated. he's going to get extraordinarily high wages or he will get some type of relegation release clause as well which just as a gut instinct feels kind of counterproductive feels kind of silly to to offer a guy a job and say well you can wash your hands of it if if we if we go down um i don't i don't really feel like that makes much sense um Now, there's several different things to consider here with Roberto De Zerbi.

7:41I will say, first and foremost, I don't particularly like him. I didn't like him from... I remember his theatrics on the touchline at the Tottenham Stadium, him booting off with Stellini. It was all very bizarre. I thought it was completely unedifying. Brighton were actually doing really well at that point if memory serves and he just seemed to completely implode it felt like Brighton were suddenly in a position where I honestly I want to say Brighton were actually knocking on the door of maybe maybe scraping into a kind of Champions League argument like not that they were going to qualify but they were actually in the conversation there or thereabouts and they were knocking on the door of maybe finishing in the top four and then he just he completely completely lost his ass at Spurs he got into that big Barney with Stellini and then I think it just was an absolute tailspin from there he seems to me like a very very toxic character he seems to me like the type of person that is very, very quick to kick off and make a toxic situation when things don't go his way.

9:04It seems like the worst possible fit for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, where we're at right now. Like we've done this. We've done this whole kind of, let's bring in the nasty guy to try and make us good. It hasn't worked. It hasn't worked. I also don't think De Zerbe has the credentials to act in that way. I don't think De Zerbe has the credentials to come in and swing his manhood about and demand changes and demand 150 % from a group of players that will be looking at him thinking, who are you? What have you ever achieved? There's not a lot that I've ever seen from him in his career that makes me understand the clamouring for him.

9:53and I know people desperately want Tottenham to stay up and this these kind of characters these authoritative type characters inspire something in some people but for me he's not the guy um I think it's it's also worth noting that what he brings with him and yes I know this is a divisive one and lots of people like to kick off about this and call it woke but his defense of mason greenwoods it was particularly unpalatable um many of us are very quick to point out michael arteta's swift defense of thomas party um and the way in which he's handled that obviously you have to be mindful of how you package this stuff up because you don't want to be libelous on the internet or anything but let's just say it's a it's a very deep and unpleasant and complex issue that Mikel Arteta turned around and decided to treat, you know, Thomas Partey as a victim in all of that, which, you know, I think given the circumstances, if he wanted to just keep quiet about it, you know, that would have probably been more advisable if he, you know, if people are going to say, obviously, he's not going to go out and lambast his own player or whatever.

11:17um uh so on that note you know the the the the the comments attributed to roberta deservey about mason greenwoods make for particularly unpleasant and challenging and difficult reading for a lot of people and i think it is important as always at these points in life where the way the internet that is now the way that so much of discourse is now is that people say something and it gets jumped on and it gets wrapped up and whipped up into a culture war a present culture war so i've seen you know proud lily whites and and and such and women of the lane post out you know a robust statement about Roberta Deserbi and their concerns about what that signals for the club and the inclusive environment that they want to foster and the sort of thing that they hold up has been important to them and obviously that always gets met with this is woke this is silly keep this out of football and look I'm not here to tell people how to feel I'm not here to tell people how to conduct themselves on the internet.

12:36You know, people are free to do what they want, but you've also got to understand that people are free to judge you on the basis of your words and thoughts. You don't get to go out and take a wrecking ball to sensitive issues when people are providing their own sensitive testimony about things that they've encountered in their own lives um the trauma that they faced at the hands of you know abusers and and to call that woke i think it's always important that these times to remember there is a there is a human side to all of this stuff that everything today gets wrapped up in culture wars everything gets wrapped up into these silly binary arguments where we're arguing with straw men over the internet and stuff And I think sometimes just take a breath and understand that people on a human level will have a different perspective on something to you because of their lived experience and because of the different traumas or whatever it is that they faced in their life.

13:38And I know when you use words like that, when you use words like trauma, people roll their eyes and stuff. But, you know, like talk to people, talk to women, you know, like though many of them will have some pretty horrible stories to tell you. So, you know, it's always just worth remembering that. Like I say, take a breath and, you know, whatever. And, you know, you come at me, call me this and that and stuff. But I think most people know, most people who watch me and have watched these streams and these pods will know that, you know, I'm not exactly like a wallflower. You know, I will share my own, you know, gammon opinions or whatever from time to time and everything.

14:22But I just think on stuff like this, sometimes take a backseat. Not everything needs to be a tribal bust up. I think sometimes people will say, I don't like the idea of this. I'm not happy with it because I have a different lived experience to you. And, you know, I think that's sometimes something you need to just sit back and acknowledge and realize, you know, that some people, to some people, the idea of Roberta Deserby being our gaffer, if it keeps us up or not, is really, really unpleasant and really horrible. And it's not up to you to really have a go at them for that. They have a right to, you know, air their grievances with that type of thing.

15:07much in the same way as i'm sure you know many of you will hear your grievances with with other candidates and stuff so look i think that i think it says yeah it's it's a much deeper and wider conversation than i'm probably qualified to have and something that you know is i i'm not best served having this but you know i just you have to you have to you have to shed a light on that I'm not just going to skirt around that because that is definitely a growing issue and something that will be even more of a discussion if we do sure up on that interest and if Roberto Dezerbi is somebody that comes in the door um be here for many reasons not not not my choice not somebody that I would really want a Tottenham Hotspur and not somebody that I think is healthy for where Tottenham find themselves at right now, because really like we're in a, we're in a really existentially dangerous place.

16:10Yeah. It's people are reeling, you know, and we can say this, you know, do you know what? As I said to Gavin on the pod the other day, you know, we're having these big conversations now and it feels all very painful. And I'm not talking about the dessert stuff. I'm just talking about Tottenham in general. I'm talking about the fear of relegation and all that type of thing, right? But you get halfway through the season next year, we're smashing teams about in the championship, and you forget the acute pain of Arsenal winning the Premier League, of Tottenham being relegated, and maybe things are all right again, you know, that the sun does shine tomorrow and you move on and wounds heal to a degree and you just get on with life, you know, like we do with all manner of different things that happen in life put one foot in front of the other and you get on with it and you try and make the best of a situation there's every chance and it is most likely that if spurs do go down that is what happens next year you know but right now at least anyway it feels like the road the the club is at a real crossroads it's a real crossroads where we don't really know who we are anymore The world moves fast.

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18:47Start filing today in the Credit Karma app. Yeah, we have these notions. We are Tottenham Hotspur and all that type of stuff. But what is that anymore? And it's funny. I had a conversation with a very good old friend of mine who's a Chelsea fan as well, who... Look, nobody's going to be shedding any tears for Chelsea or anything like that. But the point he was kind of making is that, like, you know, they'd won all that type of stuff. They'd won all the big things and stuff. But really, the sort of feeling is that Chelsea died a bit after, you know, the big all-conquering team, Lampard, Terry, Drogba, those big Chelsea teams.

19:30They've slowly and slowly been whittled down to this point where he's like, we're just a sports brand now. There's nothing. He doesn't really feel it. Even the fact they won the Champions League just a few years ago. He just didn't feel it anymore. doesn't doesn't get it they're just like a uh like a ponzi scheme for trading footballers and and whatever it is and it kind of feels like tottenham are like a kind of crap version of that you know when when you see the sort of the linkedin brigade doing the whole we're going to do a talk about how we've pivoted past football and the great big huge nfl badge on the stadium and all this type of stuff and yeah i know this is all wrapped up in the trappings of modern football and everything that we talk about, but what are Spurs now?

20:18What do we stand for? As a sporting enterprise, what are we? We love them. We love them because our dads or our mums or our significant kind of guardian or whatever took us to games or we fell in love with a player or we fell in love with the story of Tottenham Hotspur. Whatever it is, whatever it is that drew us to it on a human level, on a supporter level, That isn't going anywhere. The mythos and everything like that of the club. Of course, that's strong and that, you know, that's there within all of us. And it's something that, you know, as much as, you know, pretty much every guest I've had on here down the years, at least in the past few years, we always get to these points where you're like, sometimes I wish I could give this up.

21:09I wish I could not care anymore. I wish I really didn't care. And as much as we kind of find it increasingly hard to care about the sport in general, this football club will always mean something. You can't get rid of it. You can't get rid of it. Once it's in you, it's never going away. It's never, ever going away. Again, I met like a very old friend. It was a mate's 40th birthday a few months ago. and they assembled a load of old faces from secondary school and stuff like that. And there was a lad I hadn't seen in 20 years there, but he was always the other Spurs fan at school. There weren't many Spurs fans where I went to school.

21:58Mostly all sort of Chelsea, loads of Man United at the time and all that type of thing. But a big Chelsea area. So it was most of your Chelsea fans. and um i remember saying to him like you know he used to be a season ticket holder and all that used to go with his old man and everything and i said to him like you know hey you know you know you know all that type of thing and then uh you still got a season ticket and always he's like no no after you know after the champions league final and everything i just i just kind of fell out of love with it all covid was like a bit of a breaker and yeah you know i i guess i'll always sort of be a Spurs fan, but no, I just, you know, I'm not really that bothered anymore.

22:40But then the more we started talking, the more it started picking at it, and the more he started getting into it again and talking about Tottenham and talking about, do you know what I mean? My point is, it's just like, as much as somebody can make this conscious decision to say, I'm not going to renew my season ticket, I'm not going to get as invested in all of this, I'm going to stop listening to the podcast, I'm going to do all that sort of thing, it's still always going to be there within you. This has really gone off on a tangent, but, you know, come on. It's what I do, isn't it? I guess the point I'm sort of driving at is, like, in its current state, where we are right now, what are Spurs?

23:20What are Spurs hoping to achieve? We hear these nebulous things, we want to be one of the best teams in the world. What does that actually mean? Like, do you actually? Like, if you actually want to be one of the best teams in the world, that's£200 million every single summer. I mean, that's the reality of it. That's the reality of it. It's£200 million every single summer. It's smashing the wage structure to sign the promising player in the league. Adam, look at the way, like, Arsenal went out and got Declan Rice, who was the, at least in terms of English, players, the highest profile, biggest kind of player who wasn't at a Champions League club, who's going to get him?

24:16Will it be Liverpool? Will it be City? Will it be Chelsea? Take him back again? It was all sort of swooped in, you know? And I mean, who is it going to be? Elliot Anderson, isn't it, next? Or is Adam Wharton? who will it be that will do that if spurs want to be i'm not saying those two players are going to turn spurs into one of the best teams in the world but but my point is it's those type of players so those type of players who are in vogue who are clearly having a moment who clearly have a lot of positive momentum behind them yeah crystal palace or not in and forest will want £100 million to them.

24:59You've got to pay it. And you've got to give them £250 ,000 a week. That's how you become one of the best teams in the world. But is that what Enoch actually want? Do they actually want that? Or do they continue to, like they tried to do with Mourinho, like they tried to do with Conte, like they've tried to do with pretty much everybody, really, is can we just take, like, the best managers and get them to turn not the best players into the best team? Because Mauricio Pochettino nearly did that. But then again, I think that a lot of that is wrapped up in that lack of understanding as to actually quite how fortunate we were in many respects that a lot of those players went on to be really quite as good as they ended up being.

25:43Harry Kane, Son Hyun Min, obviously at the very top of that, actually, like, I think maybe everybody knew that Sonny especially was going to be a good player. I don't think they thought he was going to be like a Premier League all-time great good harry kane definitely not you know he was the donkey kid in the academy and people have sort of reversed history on all this and said oh no everybody always knew he was going to be great no they didn't no they didn't at all he might have been a promising youngster but in the same way we've got loads of promising youngsters nobody knew that harry kane was going to go on and be literally england's greatest ever player or at least greatest ever goal scorer let's say that um i guess the point is is what does spurs want to be what do they want to be what are we buying into now are we buying into the the memories are we buying into the nostalgia are we buying into the warm feelings of seeing our mates doing the routines listening to the pods and hearing all the voices that we know and going to the boozers and all that type of stuff right it is wrapped up in our supporter experience it's wrapped up in our love of the football club but in terms of as as a as a football team no we're happy to just be a an also ran and i i i personally feel i'm not going to speak for anyone else i personally feel that if there was just a bit more clarity about that if it was just like we're never going to compete if he literally said we're never going to be able to compete with Manchester City we're never going to be able to compete with Chelsea whoever and as a result ticket prices are going to come down or at least if you're buying a ticket you know that we're not going to spend x amount every summer we're going to do what we can we're going to follow on this path where we sign young players and hope that maybe we can come good, maybe have an FA Cup run once in a while.

27:48In a way, I would probably be happier. I'd reconcile it because it's this constant sense of the expression that everybody is using is the jam tomorrow thing. But it's that constant hanging on of like, are we going to do something? Are we going to sign big players? Because every summer, before every single season ticket renewal window, There's always that leaked thing to the press. There's a 150 million pound war chest. There's a 200 million pound war chest for this new manager. They're thought to be doing this. They're thought to be doing that. They're working on these big options behind the scenes.

28:27You know, there'll always be something like, you know, linked to whoever, right?

28:38but like if if if i mean this genuinely if if the club if the director of football or whoever came out and said we are revising what we're doing now we're we're we're resetting our timelines we realize that we're not going to be a team that's in a place to compete with the very top teams in the Premier League for quite some time. We want to harness the quality and the ability in some of the younger players that we've signed and within our academy and make the occasional big signing that we feel can improve our team. What we want to do is have a young energetic coach and then we're going to go for a Kieran McKenna or something like that.

29:25We're going to go for a Kieran McKenna. We're going to see what he can do with the young players and we're going to see where it can take us and obviously there has to be a way to say that there has to be a way to not annoy all of the stakeholders and the sponsors and whoever else right but i think there is a way these people are highly paid communications experts and what have you right there is a way that that message can be proliferated to a fan base that i think would make people happy it would make people buy into something but the way in which it's been handled for years now at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is we want to be the very very best team we're going to charge you loads for tickets we're going to build this great big huge stadium which really seems to be more about non-match day events is becoming increasingly clear and you know we're going to flirt we're going to flirt with buying big players and bringing in a big manager or whatever and you know leaking stuff to the press about whoever we're going to sign or actually signing these big managers and annoying them but what's it what's it achieving it's not achieving anything is achieving total disenfranchisement amongst the fan base.

30:50I think there just needs to be, after this season, whatever happens, there needs to be greater clarity. I mean, this has really gone off on one from the Roberto De Zerbi thing, but for me, again, De Zerbi just feels to me like a continuation of us desperately clamouring for something. With him, I don't get it. Again, I don't understand it. I don't understand the clamour. He's not achieved anything. He doesn't look like he's somebody that's really ever going to achieve anything. It all went tits up at Marseille as well, you know? Like, what are we doing here? You know? And I'd even feel it to a degree if we were like chucking money at Xavi Alonso.

31:35I mean, don't get me wrong, like I'd not be complaining about that. But still, if we were chucking money at Xavi Alonso or something, I'd still be thinking, but where's the structure? What are we doing? What are we building here? I mean, Pochettino has been spoken about. Casey Keller came out and said, you know, quite recently, didn't he, that he feels that he would drop everything for Spurs if they made him a concrete offer. I flip flop on Pochettino all the time. I really, really do. There's a lot of me. There's a lot of the nostalgic part, the love of what Spurs were under him. That gives me that sort of draw to, to get him back at the club.

32:24But there's also that bit of me that's like, that's just, it's a sticking plaster. I do think in many ways Maurizio Pochettino would galvanise something at the club with the supporters. He'd bring a bit of heart and a bit of soul back into things. But the people, again, that run the club would just be tapping into something that they've not earned. They would be tapping into this identity and this sense of unity that was garnered during another time. they'd be hoping that all this pain that people have been feeling for the past couple of years bill bowers side is something that could just be swept under the rug by by bringing pochettino back in and are they going to back him properly

33:20or is it just going to be a case of you know you got kudus coming back you got madison coming back you got kilisevsky coming back you got these young players you did it with danny rose and carl walker and stuff before didn't you do it again go on mauricio that's what it feels like a bit to me

33:44again like like i say i flip-flop on this one so much and if we announce tomorrow Maurizio Pochettino is coming back. He's ditching the United States and he's going to be Tottenham manager. Yeah, I'd be happy. But honestly, honestly, gun to my head right now, if you're asking me, do I want him to be our manager? I don't think I do. I honestly don't think I do. Because I just think it, I think it just ignores. I think it allows them to ignore a lot of the problems that are present right now. I think the club needs to be properly sorted out. We can't have Vinay and Langer deciding who the next gaffer is.