In short
Spurs’ managerial crisis—Thomas Frank not being sacked after West Ham’s win—plus player/club dysfunction, the board’s decision process, and the Mathys Tel Champions League squad call-up. They also discuss Spurs’ morale, sunk-cost thinking, and whether the club can “turn the oil tanker around.”
Guest backgrounds
Two hosts, Jack and Phil (co-host). Phil is a Spurs fan; Jack is a Spurs fan. They reference other football media/podcasts (e.g., The Athletic, Talksport, Totally Football Show) but no additional guests appear in the transcript.
Key claims
Spurs lack a “plan B” and appear detached from relegation risk. Thomas Frank is portrayed as tactically ineffective, unable to motivate players, and dismissive (“media circus”). The club’s board process for replacing Frank is slow and non-football-led, implying interim coaching at best. Players are accused of selective effort and throwing managers under the bus.
Notable examples
West Ham beating Spurs; Callum Wilson scoring off the bench. Frank’s “lunch with Vinay Venkateshin” and “sun is shining” press-train exchange. Mathys Tel withdrawn from the Champions League squad for Dominic Solanke; Solanke described as rushed back and barely mobile. Ben Davies confirmed with a broken ankle. Dortmund upcoming match framed as a likely hostile test.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOWest Ham's Critical Moment
0:34 to 1:09
Analyze West Ham's recent performance and key moments.
“Swept in by Skulls and it's bouncing around.”
Thomas Frank's Future at Spurs
1:45 to 4:25
Discuss the implications of Thomas Frank's lunch with Vinai.
“the house that's burning down around me.”
Assessing the Managerial Situation
4:26 to 6:10
Debate the ongoing manager situation and performance issues.
“Because, you know, you've been lied to enough in football.”
The Arteta Comparison
6:11 to 7:26
Compare Frank's situation to Arteta's journey at Arsenal.
“From my point of view, I don't hate Thomas Frank as a human being, right?”
Concerns about Club Direction
7:27 to 8:22
Explore concerns regarding the club's overall direction and management.
“So, you know, to point to that and, you know, I saw someone on BBC Sport talking about, oh, you've got to give Ferguson time.”
Celtic's Managerial Misfires
8:23 to 10:17
Discuss parallels between Spurs and Celtic's coaching situations.
“And just touching on the manager thing, I am so, you know, like my, one of Charlotte's friends came over, her boyfriend came out with us.”
The Downfall of Thomas Frank
10:18 to 11:39
Evaluate Frank's performance and the challenges he faces.
“and I know that sounds unfair, but the amount of years Spurs have done that to Manchester City, you can't give that to Thomas Frank as much as you can't give it to Andrew Postacoglu the year before.”
The Need for Strong Leadership
11:40 to 14:00
Discuss the need for effective leadership in the club's future.
“I thought it would be horrible football, but I thought we would finish sixth, seventh under him and it would be an improvement on finishing 17th last year.”
Reflections on Team Morale and Management
14:00 to 17:04
Explore the current state of the team and management's impact on morale.
“That is the complete opposite of what our club needed at that time.”
Critique of Player Performance and Accountability
17:04 to 20:38
A discussion on player performances and the need for accountability beyond the manager.
“in terms of the issues at Tottenham, right?”
Show all 26 chapters
Thomas Frank's Future and Club Structure
21:16 to 23:13
Analysis of Thomas Frank's standing and the implications of club management decisions.
“Just while we've been recording, Matt Law has, there's a few quotes from Matt Law.”
Issues with Club Leadership and Player Trust
23:13 to 28:00
Discussion on the leadership at Tottenham and how it affects player trust and performance.
“seems like it's become untenable now so let's talk about well this is what needs to happen if they a recommendation to the board.”
Mathis Tell's Struggles and Managerial Decisions
28:00 to 29:08
Discussion on Mathis Tell's situation and the treatment by the manager.
“that, you know, now that Solanke is fit again, because he was originally registered, he might have to resume his place in the squad.”
Challenges Ahead in Champions League
29:08 to 31:37
Exploring the challenges Spurs face in the Champions League amidst squad issues.
“I think it is if I'm being even-headed and just to kind of rebalance the absolute head loss we've both had on this podcast so far.”
Fan Reactions and Accountability
31:37 to 35:53
Analyzing fan reactions to management decisions and accountability within the club.
“As most of us, who aren't the top, top teams.”
Reflections on Harry Kane's Legacy
35:53 to 37:18
Reflecting on Harry Kane's impact and the current state of the team post his departure.
“Who could have foreseen that this is where we'd be just a few years down the line?”
Speculations on Future Managers
37:18 to 41:48
Discussing potential future managers and their fit for the current squad.
“And I say we, maybe we got kind of swept up in it as well, but certainly the club hierarchy rested on their laurels, thinking that Harry Kane was going to be here forever or that we were better than just him.”
Concerns Over Managerial Styles
41:48 to 42:00
Highlighting concerns over the managerial styles of potential candidates.
Assessing Potential Managerial Changes
42:00 to 43:38
Discussion on potential managerial appointments and their implications for Spurs.
“or whatever that have been posted around him on Spurs Twitter, is he seems to have a bit of that hoddle thing about him.”
Reflections on Ben Davies' Career
43:38 to 46:26
A reflective conversation about Ben Davies' contributions and future prospects
“Frank goes before that, and we get an interim.”
Thomas Frank's Challenges and Media Comments
46:26 to 49:16
Analysis of Thomas Frank's comments about team support and managerial pressure.
“I mean, he had a couple of stinkers, which probably sticks in people's mind, but he's fine and there's definitely room in the squad for someone like that.”
Frank's Lunch with the Club Hierarchy
49:16 to 53:16
Discussion about Thomas Frank's lunch with club leaders and its implications.
“Going on about circuses, you're the ringleader, mate.”
Concerns About Spurs' Future
53:16 to 56:00
Conversations about Spurs' current form and potential relegation fears.
“Then they are normally not coming and being friendly for lunch.”
Exploring Tottenham's Current Misery Cycle
56:00 to 56:41
The hosts discuss the current state of Tottenham and their struggles amidst the transfer window.
Anticipating the Upcoming Burnley Match
56:41 to 57:28
The conversation shifts to the upcoming match against Burnley and the chant associated with it.
“When you're trying to search for what is the when people are saying you have to try and phrase that in a certain way when you're trolling through Reddit.”
Humor and Frustration in Football Talk
57:28 to 58:22
The hosts share light-hearted banter and frustrations while reflecting on Tottenham's situation.
“You'll end up on forums and accidentally sign up to a White Lives Matter protest or something.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Jack:Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks.
0:15Jack:5 a.m. I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink. Running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change, and head to work.
0:22Phil:Meetings, workshops. One more Celsius, no slowing down. Working late, but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius. Live. Fit.
0:32Jack:Go. Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com.
0:49Jack:Can West Ham find a winner? Swept in by Skulls and it's bouncing around. It's in! Callum Wilson! makes his mark off the bench. How big a moment that could be for West Ham United. Oh, the Rule of the Roost podcast has always been noted for its excellence. There is a fellow podcaster called Phil inspired by that same Rule of the Roost excellence. How are you, Phil?
1:26Phil:Cut. Yeah, I'm all right, actually. I'm all right. As I said to you previously, I'm doing absolutely fine. Spurs have not ruined my weekend at all. That's what you told me to say, wasn't it?
1:37Jack:Not in the slightest, eh? This is a negativity-free zone. Everything is fine. I'm sat at the table with my mug of coffee that is, you know, the house that's burning down around me. Right, so basically everyone went to bed last night, and I think we'd been told by one ITK or another that we were going to wake up to Thomas Frank being sacked. That doesn't seem to have happened. If anything, he sat down and had a nice lunch
2:09Phil:with Vinay Venkateshin. What do you make of all that? I mean, I wonder what he'd have got if he'd won that game. If a nice lunch is what you get for losing and being awful, then blimey, I wouldn't like to think, Jack. Do you think he'd have kept his trousers on? They were forcibly removed.
2:31Jack:Yeah, I mean, what sense do you make of all this, mate? Why isn't he not being sacked? Surely he's got to go.
2:39Phil:It's untenable, isn't it? I would say so, Jack, but there seems to be a difference of opinion here. And I'm kind of basing this on, you know, what he said in the press conference, which, all right, you can say that with a pinch of salt, right? um but i mean you know like all the commentary afterwards talk sport podcast whatever all kind of came to the same conclusion that there actually isn't just a viable candidate and you know i was listening to a bit of the athletic pod and jack pitbrook was saying rightly so that it's just a failure from the um hierarchy to have a sort of a plan b you know to think that this is just going to work and um if we got to this stage and we had to make a change then we just haven't even thought about it let alone have someone lined up right so um it's quite mind-boggling isn't it as sensible humans that you and I obviously are do you think there is a mentality
3:40Jack:at Spurs that would dictate Spurs cannot go down do you think do you think they are that detached from what can actually happen in football, these freak events, these outliers? Do you think they're that detached from it and they genuinely think Spurs are not actually in trouble? It might be a bad season. We might have a few knuckle-draggers booing us or whatever, but we'll be okay, really. We'll get in a couple of players and we'll be fine. Do you reckon that could be part of the motivation? I don't know. Motivation is the word I'm looking for, but at least part of the thinking at Spurs.
4:19Phil:at the moment they're probably on the side of caution in the sense that we've still got quite a decent buffer to West Ham who just beat us so that's probably not their kind of pressing concern that's not going to hold forever and dare I say that that buffer certainly becomes less over February so yeah I mean on one hand with like, I don't know, you don't want to be like naive and take it all at face value, right? Because, you know, you've been lied to enough in football. But on one hand, it seems like the kind of the hierarchy of doing the right things, but maybe they're just doing the right things with the quick wins.
5:04Phil:Like, you know, oh, we'll drop ticket prices for this game. We'll listen and we'll respond. We'll try and get a singing section. That's all good and well, mate but you've got to make the big decisions as well and they just i don't know i'm getting a bit
5:18Jack:nervous put it that way is there any part of you at all i'm just trying to try and try to do the devil's avocado thing here is there any part of you whatsoever that feels frank if given enough time could as he said in his own words turn the oil tanker around that we might have this Arteta arc that Vinay Venkateshin has apparently hinted towards behind closed doors. Do you get anything from Thomas Frank whatsoever? Separate the emotion, separate the kind of the anger of being a Spurs fan and watching us be pretty abject in most games this season. Is there any part of you whatsoever that thinks maybe the people above us are being a bit less emotional?
6:04Jack:Maybe in time it will, you know, all will become clear and Spurs actually will start to look quite good under Thomas Frank.
6:11Phil:From my point of view, I don't hate Thomas Frank as a human being, right? He doesn't elicit that much emotion from me. Sherwood, I couldn't stand Sherwood at all. I still can't. Mourinho, Conte, Nuno to a lesser extent, that was all different. Sherwood, I couldn't stand. And with Thomas Frank, it's not an emotional thing for me. That's the problem. If it was emotional, then you could think, oh, maybe I'm being a bit, you know, have a rant after the game and then calm down a bit. As you say, there's nothing there, mate. There's nothing there to see. One of these things where, you know, a lot of the discourse is around, oh, he's got to go.
6:58Phil:I don't even know what he's doing wrong in a way because it's so... I was just so unsure what he's trying to achieve. So yeah, it's, I can't, I can't find it within myself other than to be, I don't hate the guy. I can't find any other reason for him to stick around and to see that there's, you know, this Arteta arc, which is a false equivalency anyway, because for every one Arteta, there's 400 managers that get sacked rightly because they're not up to the job. So, you know, to point to that and, you know, I saw someone on BBC Sport talking about, oh, you've got to give Ferguson time. It's like, what are we talking about, mate?
7:39Phil:We can't just cherry pick examples of where it has worked out to where it clearly is not working out. You know, the fact that there's no one... To my mind, there's no obvious choice for me to pop out, right? There's not even like an obvious potential three out there, really. it's just concerning isn't it it's concerning I've never felt like the club you know even even going back to Sherwood you can kind of be like oh there's still some positives here got some decent players here parts of the club are working well even if they weren't that was the kind of impression you got at the moment it just feels like the club at every level is in a right old state, doesn't it?
8:26Phil:That's what's really concerning.
8:27Jack:It does. And just touching on the manager thing, I am so, you know, like my, one of Charlotte's friends came over, her boyfriend came out with us. He was a, he's a Celtic fan. And we were just sort of talking about Spurs. We were talking about Celtic, the sort of the managerial, you know, misfire they've just recently had. And he said exactly the same thing that we've said to one another, Phil, behind closed doors, which is the sunk cost fallacy. He was saying that, you know, some people are even saying to Celtic, like, you know, what are they doing? That guy is a talented manager. He probably would have come good.
9:03Jack:He just needed to, there's external issues at Celtic. They've not been managed that well, but you could just see that the guy had lost, I think he'd lost something like eight games or something like that already. Eight of like nine games or something mental. Something that you just, is unheard of for a club like Celtic. And I'm not saying, you know, relatively speaking, obviously we're not the same size as, Celtic um in terms of you know because I know people say well you haven't had as much success as them the standards aren't aren't quite the same but I think still you can look at a club like Spurs and I think I don't think it's entitlement I don't think we need to say well we fired x amount of managers in x amount of years I think you can base your decision purely upon what we have in front of us from Thomas Frank the Thomas Frank sample size and it is not it's not good like from the very start of his tenure to this point things have degraded I don't think he I know I know he hasn't improved a single player he hasn't really had a single performance where we have looked really really good okay maybe that's unfair maybe I think West Ham away I think we I seem I seem to recall us doing quite well there and looking quite good in that game the Man City game is always going to be an outlier so I'm not going to give him that one and I know that sounds unfair, but the amount of years Spurs have done that to Manchester City, you can't give that to Thomas Frank as much as you can't give it to Andrew Postacoglu the year before.
10:29Jack:It's just one of those things that Spurs happen to do. Every single thing about Thomas Frank's tenure has been the wrong answer to every single question that has been asked of him. And I can't remember if it was you that said it or if it was on one of the other pods, I can't remember, but that has been ringing around my head. And I don't even think it's in a confirmation bias way. It just is the, even on such a trivial level, did you see today when, you know, they had open training obviously for the Champions League and he's walking out and one of the cameramen says to him, how are you doing, Thomas?
11:07Jack:And he says, yeah, it's all good. The sun is shining. We're here to play football. The sun isn't shining. It's all cloudy in the sky. You know, it's just even on that micro, silly, stupid level. like with the Arsenal Cup he just gets it wrong and I don't know if it's one of these like Frank Grimes type things where it just kind of goes wrong for him he's just in a he's in a horrible vein of form just in general this this Tottenham career of his that were he given a reset button to go back to the start of the season things might just go a bit differently for him obviously life doesn't work in that way but I just find that like we have spiraled to such a point now that But I think crucially, and I think this is the crucial factor about Thomas Frank, and I think this is the, I guess, the eyebrow-raising part of him being hired, is that I don't think he is, at least from what we see, I don't think he is the type of character that can climb out of the hole that he is in now.
12:11Jack:I don't think that he is the type of character in the first place anyway that kind of dug Tottenham out of the hole that they've been digging for the past five six years since Maurizio Pochettino went so Thomas Frank may well be a good coach he may be much better than what he's showing during his tenure at Tottenham Hotspur you can you can you can you can just imagine you know you can just imagine if Iriola goes in summer or if you know when Glasner goes he steps into a book he steps into the Bournemouth job or he steps into the Palace job and probably does all right you know probably does all right much like Nuno did at Nottingham Forest but I think we have seen enough already and I don't I really don't think it's knee-jerk to say that he is just not right for this job he's not right for this club he's not right for this job it's and it's it's actually quite it's actually quite startlingly so I I I honestly didn't think it would be anywhere close to this bad.
13:11Jack:I thought it would be boring. I thought it would be horrible football, but I thought we would finish sixth, seventh under him and it would be an improvement on finishing 17th last year. I mean, it's worse than last year, isn't it?
13:28Phil:It is because we don't have the distraction or we can't weigh up the fact that, oh, you know, at least if we win the Europa League, then this is probably going to be all right, which it turned out not to be. I think in a microcosm, and this might be a bit of hindsight as well, if you think back to what this club needed after winning a trophy in one hand but finishing 17th, Frank's first press conference, and again, this is hindsight talking, when he said, I guarantee one thing, 100 % we're going to lose games immediately. That is the complete opposite of what our club needed at that time. It should have been blowing smoke up the club's ass, right?
14:10Phil:Talking about their European champions and that, even if that is nonsense, right? That's the kind of energy that we needed. But coming out with that, you know, and again, it's ringing really true now, isn't it? But that should have been massive alarm bells at the time. And, you know, we all kind of turned our noses up and we kind of went, yeah, I don't really like hearing that, but take your point. But yeah, that just, that's writ large now, isn't it? Because not only have we lost loads of games, it just seems like the morale of the team has plummeted and they now think that they are 17th place are the 17th place side as opposed to being a team that's just won a European trophy regardless of how you know straightforward that was that lots of people kind of um pick holes in that achievement um so yeah so as you say and it's he just doesn't answer the question right at all the sort of thing right that when that cameraman said to him oh um yeah good good day today and he was like yeah sun's shining you half expect him to start banging on about how good the moon is isn't it that just how contrary and contradictory he is about talking about like you know how good other teams are all the time rather than kind of focusing on the positives with us um so yeah he's he's done press conference today and he seemed very sort of jove i didn't watch it i just kind of had to read the um the readout from it um i sort of understand that if there's no sort of option as to why they're just kind of being like well we can't make a change it's tuesday you know the game is tomorrow we can't necessarily make a change but i mean you I said to you kind of jokingly earlier that I was thinking about going to the game tomorrow, not because I want to go and see the team play, just because I've got a morbid curiosity about how bad the atmosphere is going to be.
16:07Phil:Not to say that I'd bring that atmosphere myself, but I've just got this... It's just fascinating in a horrible, horrible way at the moment, isn't it? And on the other hand, let's just for balance, If he gets a result in that game and, you know, that takes the pressure off a little bit, then maybe we get a result against Burnley and things look slightly better than they did. But I don't know, mate. It's not looking good.
16:32Jack:I want to talk about the Mathis-Tel decision in a moment. But before I do that, the Totally Football show, so it was posited on there that, this is a quote from it, it's a dressing room full of players who think they're much better than they are. and they know that the manager and the ownership will always cop the blame. In and amongst all of this, you know, us digging out Thomas Frank and us saying that Thomas Frank is, and I do think he is, and I've said this all along, the tip of a much larger iceberg in terms of the issues at Tottenham, right? But aside for digging him out, we're talking about, let's say, a core group of players.
17:12Jack:Yep, there's been some new additions and stuff, but still a core group of players who were horrible last year. horrible absolutely hopeless regardless of injury problems all that type of thing were clearly very selective as to when they wanted to make an effort and when not to who seemed to have rolled that over into this season as well now I guess my question is do you think there's anybody that can step in here and we don't need to sort of name names and we can talk about like Xavi Hernandez and stuff sort of later on in the pod but do you think there is anybody that can come in here and say whip a few of these lot into shape do they need to be whipped into shape or do you think that we just need to say mickey van der ven you're doing interviews with sky you don't seem particularly happy let's cash in while we can get a bit of money pedro porro you seem to be now distracted by the crowd constantly like it's almost like you're more intent on policing what the crowd do than you are on actually performing well on the football pitch anymore he just it just seems to be totally in his own head now I guess my point is do you think we need to gut I don't think all these players are terrible I think these players are much better than the manager is currently getting out of them and I felt the same last year in Ange Postacoglu's second season regardless of winning the trophy and everything like that but I think there's only so much you can blame the man in the dugout if you like and give these players a complete pass at all times do you think that's fair absolutely yeah I mean you know I've talked about before
18:46Phil:about kind of you know the focus is on the manager but I still always kind of reserve a bit of time to kind of have a go at the players as well because I think regardless of kind of you know the instruction or the training or the method or whatever there is a professional pride there and And we're not seeing that as well. You know, the amount of times it seems like our players, regardless of the actual personnel there, the playing squad has kind of thrown a manager under the bus because it's not been going the way they want it to. It's just, it points to a bigger problem with Spurs, right? And again, I'm going to bring him back into it.
19:21Phil:This is Levy's legacy, right? Never gave us a squad strong enough to compete both with other teams, but within itself as well. There was never, ever a decent player in a certain position with someone snapping at their heels, right? And that just breeds complacency. And that's what we're seeing again. So, yes, you know, again, the point about the kind of the players, would I be upset if we gutted this squad in summer? No, because I don't recognise any of them. So I haven't got any attachment to them anyway. Yeah, Mickey, yeah, you know, that's literally just it. A doggy, yeah, fine. Romero, yeah, fine.
20:00Phil:I do wonder whether, you know, the kind of getting used to losing last season and the kind of inability for them to pull themselves out of it regardless is a bad sign or a sign that just needs, you know, we just need to gut the whole thing and start again. I don't think that's an overly kind of dramatic point, right? Let's be completely honest. Are you happy with your job? The fact is a huge number of people can't say yes to that. Too many of us are stuck in a job we've outgrown or one we never really wanted in the first place. But we stick it out and we give reasons like, what if the next move is worse?
20:37Phil:And I've put years into this place. And maybe the most common one. Isn't everyone miserable at work? But there's a difference between reasons for staying and excuses for not leaving. It's time to get unstuck. It's time for strawberry.me. They match you with a certified career coach who helps you get from where you are to where you want to be. either at your existing job or by helping you find a new one. Your coach helps clarify your goals, creates a plan, and keeps you accountable along the way. Go to strawberry.me slash career and get 50 % off your first coaching session. That's strawberry.me slash career.
21:16Jack:Just while we've been recording, Matt Law has, there's a few quotes from Matt Law. I'm not sure if it's a piece he's written or it's something he said in the podcast, but Lily White Rose has shared them. So it says, while the Lewis family will have the final say on Frank's future and potential successor, a recommendation has to come from the club's board that is made up of Peter Charrington, Matthew Collicott, Jonathan Turner, and Eric Hinson. The opinion of Johan Langer will also be considered. Should Thomas Frank fail to fight his way back from the brink, the current expectation is that Spurs will appoint and interim head coach until the end of the season before appointing a permanent replacement in the summer.
22:00I mean, that's quite staggering in a way, isn't it?
22:08Jack:That's a sort of, if anything, that's quite a veiled vote of confidence in Thomas Frank, isn't it? And it seems to hint to, as we're saying, that expectation that Spurs will somehow magically turn this around. I think that also suggests if it is in their thinking, because I'm certain Matt Law will have been briefed on this to give such specifics, you might also suggest that we're probably not going to make any significant signings this January now, are we?
22:41Phil:No, it doesn't. I don't really know what him fighting back from the brink looks like, to be honest. what amount of games does he have to go on a winning run what what do we need to see changes in you know the way that we set up or play football matches it's it's too i just can't i can't see what that looks like and this is going back to your point in the start it just seems like it's become untenable now so let's talk about well this is what needs to happen if they a recommendation to the board. None of those guys seem to be football people. I didn't recognize their names, their suits. That's a bit concerning.
23:28Phil:So the recommendation from Langer, who recommended Frank, is the football side of thing, putting a name forward. That seems like a very long process, Jack. And that can be done quite quickly. But it again talks to your point that maybe they're not quite appreciating the trouble we're in right now. that's concerning.
23:51Jack:We've spoken about this off air, if you like. This is one of those things that's going to get wrapped up into, don't be so stupid, Spurs fans, blah, blah, blah. But do you think it is actually an actual problem that there are so many gooners in powerful positions at the club? You know, our good friend, Charlie, put out a tweet to the effect, that Spurs have so few actual Tottenham people at the club, people that probably really emotionally care how the club performs. Do you think that's an issue or do you think that is just a problem that the fans face? Because let me put it to you this way. There was a part of me that thought, right, if we go down, right, that's going to be a depreciation on the asset that Enoch have right now, surely.
Read the full transcript
24:47Jack:However, the cold, hard business sense will probably crunch the numbers, if you like. The boffins will crunch the numbers. And they will say, well, actually, it might actually end up costing you more in outlay to keep Tottenham up than you'd lose if they went down. Do you know what I mean? And I know that's like a really horrible way and probably a bit of a Spurs fan worrying too much way of looking at it. but I think just back to the original point you would like to think if there were more close to chest beating Spurs people in positions of power at the club we might not be in this kind of ennui, right?
25:31Phil:Yeah, yeah, we just don't again, it's all strangers, right? It goes back to that point that we just don't recognise anyone we don't trust that any of these people have our best interests at heart as a football club as opposed to this investment opportunity. And that is kind of, again, that's just another one of these elements that is causing such strife in the fan base at the minute. I really didn't like that concept that you just said about that it'd be cheaper to go down than it would invest to keep Tottenham up. I didn't like that at all. And I didn't like that because I can see the truth in it.
26:06Phil:Well, not the truth, but I can see that being a sort of thing someone would think up and put forward. Yeah, but again, those people aren't anywhere in football, it seems, right? Jan Vertonga's name keeps coming up because he's the only sort of, I don't know, sensible ex-player that is not, you know, I don't know, we just got this sense that maybe he can come back and save us in some regard. I don't know. Maybe that's just me and again, my fanfic. But same thing in the media, there's no one backing up Spurs. And, you know, again, this is down to Daniel Levy. He hasn't bred enough of this confidence over the last 20 years that we have this kind of, you know, players or whomever going into positions of power, even in the media or management or whatever, that can come and help us out.
26:53Phil:I'll always blame Daniel Levy, as you can probably tell. I will not let him off the hook. And I don't like the fact that this is getting worse just because he's gone as if this isn't part of his problem, as if he wasn't part of, if not the architect of the problem.
27:07Jack:I hate to say it, though, there is that little bit of me that thinks this wouldn't have happened on his watch. No, it did happen on his watch. Happened last season. Get that out of your head. No, I agree with you. All roads lead back to him. And like you say, that smug interview he did just before he did kind of get the boot that I think in a couple of years' time, everybody will look back on me very favourably. Yeah, good luck with that, mate.
27:30Phil:Or did he say favourably? I can't remember what it was. Or did he say it would take a couple of years for people to really kind of reflect on? And buddy, I'm reflecting on it now. and it ain't good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. It's, oh, mate.
27:44Jack:So if your head hadn't fallen off enough as it, you know, as it had, Mathis Tell has been kicked out of the Champions League squad again for Dominic Solanke. There was some discussion that it might have been a compulsory thing that, you know, now that Solanke is fit again, because he was originally registered, he might have to resume his place in the squad. Apparently not true. I mean, Dominic Salenke has definitely been rushed back, I think it's fair to say. Considering how long he's been out, to say anything about his comeback from injuries being rushed is quite farcical, really. But still, he looks like he can barely move, whereas to me Mathis Tell has been one of our better players, I think in the few times that we've seen him, it's a pretty low bar.
28:37Jack:Let's be honest, but still I do think he's been one of our better players. I can only imagine that his confidence now is through the floor. I can imagine that he is probably saying to his agent, get me out of this club right now. And I couldn't blame him. I really, I really feel for the lad. And I think it is, I honestly think it's pretty grotesque treatment from the manager. Am I, Is that too dramatic? Is it just a pragmatic footballing decision?
29:08Phil:I think it is if I'm being even-headed and just to kind of rebalance the absolute head loss we've both had on this podcast so far. Because I think in February, they can change the squad again, right? Whether there's no space for Mathis Tell because of homegrown or whatever, I don't know. On the face of it, Solanke is a better player and more useful to us than Tell, I think. but as you say he's really unfit at the moment I don't really know what to kind of make of it to be honest and I think when that sort of news came out today and there was the big discussion about it I just realized I don't think I had any capacity to kind of care about it that much which again not to kind of completely stop this conversation dead in its tracks but yeah I mean I think there was a tweet from Fabrizio Romano about you know that he was very unhappy with it not Romano was very unhappy with this, but Tell and his people were very unhappy with it.
30:06Phil:And they were looking at their options, which came out, you know, I mean, think about 20 minutes after that, that news broke. So that, you know, gives credence to your opinion that he's not too happy with that. Yeah, it's just another, I mean, look, yeah, again, I can't see him just for the sake of it, pretend to be kind of wound up about this because maybe we play Salanghi in these Champions League games to get him back to fitness. I don't know. What sort of a state are we in, Jack? I don't know. It's so hard to feel like what the right way forward is at the moment because everything just seems wrong.
30:46Jack:Lily White Rose has also tweeted a squad update and there's a large amount of youth team being added into the Champions League squad now. because we're low on numbers. We're low on players, really, for the competition, which, and I hate to say this because I adore the Champions League. I do. I think it is, as Pochettino always said, a magical competition. It's, you know, I think it really is the pinnacle of club football, if I'm brutally honest. And, you know, as I've sort of, you know, gotten all bleary-eyed about on him many a time, always dreamed of seeing Spurs in the Champions League. So it gives me a heavy heart to say, it just seems to be a distraction for us now um and you know let's just get it out of the way let's get these games like you know this Dortmund game has probably the the capacity to be a a horrible horrible evening um Dortmund are I think they've lost one game in the legal season which I'm guessing was to buy in um so they've been having a very good season themselves say you You know, Dortmund are one of those cyclical teams, aren't they?
31:57Jack:As most of us, who aren't the top, top teams. And it seems that Dortmund are back in a good place again now, playing really good football, a good energised squad. And we are, you would say, the antithesis of that. Yeah, it's just a shame. It's a shame to see this because, you know, who knows how long it'll be until we're back in the competition again. which is a shame to say, but I guess if we're not, if we don't have the, you know, if we don't have the wherewithal to qualify for it, then, you know, that's the least important thing. You know, it's definitely a nice to have. I'd rather see Spurs being a functioning football team before, you know, we can talk about glamour evenings again in the Champions League, because I think one of the things, as opposed to just scraping by getting into the Champions League, like, you know, you don't want to call winning the Europa League scraping into the Champions League, but I think given the full context of the season, you could probably say that.
32:58Jack:It's not as fun, is it, as when you've smashed your way through a league season and then think, I want to see how this team performs against the best teams in the world. Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, you know, or the Kane Alley sort of team, all that. We know we're close to that now. You know, it's, I don't know.
33:16Phil:I've seen how Spurs performs against the worst teams. I don't need to see how we perform against the best team. So, yeah, and it's ridiculous for us to kind of say that because it's so defeating, isn't it? That we've just been like, oh, let's just bin the Champions League off because, again, that is honestly where we are, right? We can't, you know, so if we get into the kind of, I think we're, it's very, very unlikely that regardless of what happens over the next two games, that we avoid the playoff games. I don't think we're dropping out of the, what is it, the top 18 or whatever it is. So I think we're going to be playing those two playoff games anyway, which fall right in February, I think.
33:55Phil:Right slap bang in the kind of awful period that we've got with like, you know, the teams everyone's talked about. So I mean, yeah, it's rough.
34:10Jack:did you you've seen a video of the bloke going after viv lewis right in the in the corporate bit i'm assuming well i'm assuming he was in a probably fairly exclusive corporate box type area do you think something like that gives someone like viv lewis pause a thought where she's you know thinking actually if now if even the corporate lot are staggering after me with a pint in their hand telling me i'm crap or whatever is that going to make them think more than just hearing you know people singing enoch out of our club the you know the protest on the high road
34:45Phil:yeah i mean it's without kind of knowing viv lewis's mind there but what i will say is if she was surprised that that happened and i'm not saying you know like some drunk idiot like harassing a woman is not a good look regardless of the circumstances obviously but on the other side of it if she you know if she's like oh we lost the game against west ham i just oh that's a shame um let's have a little wander around and to not expect there to be sort of anger because of it is my point again that's not to say that being harangued like like he did is was the right thing to do at all but i don't know yeah again without no without knowing the kind of mind it does it you'd hope it would kind of give pause for thought not to say that again um abusing people is the right way to get results but this is the reality this is this is a football club it's not just some swanky corporate money-making machine regardless of who's there and wherever they are they're still passionate about the football club and you know that's the thing that means everything not not not boxes not peronies at halftime not whatever so i don't know i mean again i don't want to kind of assume too much about that based on the what was a 16 second
35:56Jack:clip or whatever i'm not and the thing is like maybe maybe i'm just being too woke phil but there is that little bit of me that's like i don't not just a little bit quite a big bit of me to be fair that thinks it's probably not the best look to see just even if she represents power to be staggering after a woman and like shouting at her it just it is and maybe that's patronizing i don't know but that's i just sort of thought it's i don't know it just made me a bit uncomfortable that's all yeah but you know if someone's had a few beers and they're angry and they see the opportunity to speak to somebody that's in charge of the football club maybe it's only as deep as
36:34Phil:that you know i don't know yeah but maybe he was like well i would have had a go at daniel levy in this instance so i should have a go i don't know but again yeah it didn't it didn't it didn't look right to me so we should probably move off this shouldn't we oh mate why are we here why
36:53Jack:why is it just a few years ago we're talking about spurs being in the champions league lamenting oh we didn't win the Champions League. Woe is us. Who could have foreseen that this is where we'd be just a few years down the line? Do you know what I mean?
37:06Phil:If anyone had any doubt as to how good Harry Kane is as a player, then this proves it. Because this is just pointing to the fact that, yeah, right, we had other decent players at the time, but he carried us for that period. And I say we, maybe we got kind of swept up in it as well, but certainly the club hierarchy rested on their laurels, thinking that Harry Kane was going to be here forever or that we were better than just him. Pep Guardiola called us the Harry Kane team. That's aged pretty well, isn't it? Yeah, we were well-triggered, weren't we? No, no, no, we've got loads of players. What, Harry Winks, what about him?
37:47Phil:Yeah, nice one. Now look, as soon as he goes, we've absolutely plummeted.
37:52Jack:And, oh, God, I think he's what people would call a baller, isn't he, really? He is.
37:59Phil:He is. I really don't think, yeah, he's underrated still somehow.
38:04Jack:So we're talking about potential new managers, potential interims, yada, yada, yada, yada. I mean, it's quite strange, isn't it, that we've literally just brought in Johnny Heitinger, a man that Thomas Frank apparently really wanted as an assistant. If Thomas Frank is on the brink, I mean, he might not be on the brink. He's literally gone for lunch and everything today with the owners and says it's all good. But still, do you think that's strange or do you think they maybe are future-proofing with somebody like Heitinger thinking he could be the interim?
38:39Phil:Occam's razor, unfortunately, points to the fact that this is just laughable timing and because we haven't had a kind of a long-term idea in place regards to this. The fact that Matt Wells has gone, the fact that Paratici is gone or going because he wanted Frank sacked in October. We could see it, you know, they said it on The Athletic earlier, we could see Frank being sacked a week before Paratici goes because they weren't going to sack Frank. So the Heitinger thing, I don't know what to make of it. You know, yeah, you could say that as a vote of confidence in a normal structure. I just don't think we're that.
39:18Phil:So I just think Johnny Heitiger could have the shortest job in football at this rate.
39:27Jack:Joey Hernandez, a name that has been pretty, I would say pretty strongly linked with Spurs. I'm not really sure if there is any substance to it or not, or if it's just fanfic, like we keep saying. um where where were you at on on the idea on on the idea of him potentially being being our manager
39:51Phil:um I'm not overly convinced from what I was kind of read and seen about it however I wasn't convinced about by Luis Enrique either and so I'm trying to kind of you know take that into account with him the fact that you know you and I and Charlie were talking about this earlier and I think it was him or one of you two shared the picture of him and Busquets saying Busquets would come with him. And I was like, well, hang on about. Actually, I quite like the sound of that. Because I do think that partly that's what we need as well from the playing perspective. We need someone who's going to come in and these players are going to look up to and actually listen to.
40:26Phil:I don't think that's Thomas Frank.
40:28Jack:Somebody that can say to him, you're crap and I can call you crap kind of thing, really, isn't it?
40:33Phil:And I can point to this body of work, which suggests I know what I'm talking about, as opposed to, you know, bless him, Thomas Frank bringing Brentford up from the championship, as much as that's a good footballing, you know, philosophy and tactics and structure and approach. I don't think that really washes with absolute egomaniac footballers like we've got.
40:51Jack:I think one of the so I'm yeah I will say that the idea of it worries me a bit I think that the main sort of flag for me was more of vibes based flag in in the respect to you know it's a few years ago now since he was Barcelona manager I haven't really seen any significant links with him to anybody else at all during all that time it doesn't really seem to be an awful lot of buzz around him um i know he did win the liga with barcelona but it seemed to be a pretty chaotic tenure not not entirely of his making or anything like that um by any stretch of the imagination um i've seen some people liking it to kind of how it was with pochettino at chelsea somebody who inherited a bit of a mess and actually kind of left it in a more stable position even if people from the outside would say, well, they didn't actually do a very good job there.
41:47Jack:Can I make everything about Pochettino? Oh, yes, I can. I think one of the bits I have sort of garnered, I would say, between the sort of different threads I've read and sort of random articles or whatever that have been posted around him on Spurs Twitter, is he seems to have a bit of that hoddle thing about him. I don't know if you recall back in sort of 98, a lot of people always used to say hoddle and i think thierry henry had a similar thing as well when he went into management that these players who were exceptional players will kind of their their frame of reference is their own exceptional ability so when they're telling players to do x y and z a lot of the players that they're instructing simply are not on the same level as they were as individuals so when they're being told to do something it's easy why aren't you able to do that they almost neglect their own you know astonishing ability as a player it sounds like chevy might have a bit of that about him which i think looking at our squad right now kind of
42:51Phil:terrifies me you know yeah yeah um yeah i had read that as well i mean you just stumbled upon another name there for a potential entering manager complete the set of ex-gooners get Thierry Henry in. Shall we?
43:04Jack:Yeah, that'd be good, wouldn't it? That'd be good, why not? Vinay would love that, wouldn't he? Get an autograph off him. That'll probably get him to build a statue, won't it? They'll build the knee slide of him outside White Hart Lane as well. Paint the gaff red and just be done with it. Right. Yeah, but so he's not, no, not really. Would you be, I mean, would you be, let's put it this way, would you be happy he comes in at the end of the season. If we're not looking at appointing a permanent manager now, it's only going to be in summer. We get to the summer, Frank goes, or whatever, Frank goes before that, and we get an interim.
43:43Jack:Are you going to be buzzing for the season ahead if it's Xavi Hernandez? I really don't want to piss on it before it happens, but... No, not really, to be honest.
43:54Phil:And I think that his name's only being mentioned because he's the only one who fits that profile that we were just talking about. having sort of a big name with that aura that draws people in and people can kind of look up to. I just don't – I think he's just the one that's left over out of all of that. So, you know, don't know if it'll work. I could – yeah, I mean, it's all kind of hypothetical, isn't it? So I think unless we're going to get someone in like that now as interim, then that's my kind of pressing concern. and I can't even think about the summer because I just don't really know what it looks like and what league we're going to be in.
44:35Jack:That's mental. Don't say that. I just got that sinking feeling in my stomach, like when you're in year eight and you're told there's injections next week. Do you know what I mean? Oh, no. That's really grim. I mean, Javi Alonso, it's nice to think that we might be able to hire him, but I don't think that's very likely either.
45:00Phil:Do you? It doesn't know. Again, timing is really bad for a lot of this stuff because like it's often been said, that there seems to be a lot of potential managerial changes in the summer with big clubs, bigger clubs than us that would offer him a better, a more attractive proposition. So yeah, unless we could somehow manage to kind of convince him, Conte style, to kind of, you know, cut short his six-month holiday, then can't see that happening
45:34Jack:Some I guess sort of unpleasant sad news Ben Davis has been confirmed to have a broken ankle he's got to have surgery on it it's probably fair to say that he's played his last game for the club well I mean who knows with Spurs but you would imagine that signals the end of his career as a player maybe Probably, yeah.
45:58Phil:How old is he now? 32, 33? Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah, a really sad kind of way for it to end, if that is the case.
46:12Jack:It's probably... I've always thought he's a very committed servant, Ben Davis. I think he's always been... I think he's been quite unfairly maligned at times. It tends to come from people saying he's crap when really it's just that he's not exceptional. He's fine, isn't he? He's always been fine.
46:32Phil:I mean, he had a couple of stinkers, which probably sticks in people's mind, but he's fine and there's definitely room in the squad for someone like that. Was he upgradable, Pon, even as that fine level player that kind of comes in three, four games a season here and there? Probably, but again, we've always had bigger problems than Ben Davies, right?
46:54Jack:he also had that nice that nice quote didn't he I think his wife relayed it essentially saying that you know his kids are just really happy to say my dad plays for Tottenham you know and it's that type of thing you know that I think he we're very quick to hound out these sort of players that we think don't meet our exacting standards and then wonder why we've got players like Randa Kalamwani seemingly couldn't give less of a crap about playing for Spurs. I think there's probably a bit of balance we need to find there in our critiques of certain players and their overall value to the club, maybe.
47:34Jack:And that's kind of what I base him being quite unfairly maligned stuff upon. So, yeah, I mean, thanks for the memories, Ben. And, you know, he'll probably become a coach or something, won't he, at some point, you'd imagine. Him part of the...
47:49Phil:Maybe a training manager if he's got his coaches.
47:54Jack:so Thomas Frank obviously we do have Barista Dortmund tomorrow a few key lines from Thomas Frank ahead of that one he said that we're a little bit limited in who we can play because of the long injury list Xavi Siemens has a swollen ankle didn't train today he will play through the pain because of a lack of other options he said we have three players that need to push massively to get through 90 minutes uh obviously there was there was talk about his place at the squad uh with the team and he said there's backing and support i had lunch with them today and it is all good this is part of a media circus i mean it's it does have that funny dismissive way about him doesn't he which is really quite irksome this is the thing when he
48:46Phil:talks about like and don't get me wrong there's plenty wrong with social media but when he talks about people on social media it's like you realize some of it a lot of it is people being like we're terrible and we keep losing games so he's just like that's just social media it's just the media circus it's not it's because we're losing so many games that's because you're crap mate
49:08Jack:because you can't coach a meaningful attack you haven't coached one meaningful passage of play in your entire tenure, you floppy-haired twat. Do you know what I mean?
49:18Phil:Going on about circuses, you're the ringleader, mate.
49:21Jack:Going on about how clever you are. If you're that clever, mate, clever as up some goals. Poindexter. What's your spreadsheet say about that, eh?
49:30Phil:Attacking tab, open that up, see what that says. I haven't populated it, have you? I've got no formulas.
49:36Jack:Egghead.
49:37Phil:Egghead.
49:43Jack:Oh, here we go. Here we go, of course. The Dane has said the players need the support of the fans on Tuesday against a very good German side, because if the fans keep supporting us, then magic can happen. He was asked about...
49:58Phil:It needs to be magic, doesn't it, at this point?
50:00Jack:He was asking about them not backing him. He said, it's not about me. It's about supporting the team and supporting the players. I'm happy to take the blame. Me, evidently not, but still keep going on about it all the time, mate. But I'm happy to take the blame. It's fight. What is it? That's just as well, isn't it, mate? Nine million quid a year or whatever it is he's paid. Absolute charlatan.
50:20Phil:Third most highest paid manager in the league, I heard.
50:24Jack:Disgusting. Disgusting. Anyway, I'm happy to take the blame as long as everyone supports the players. If your back's against the wall, then you fight, and that's what I do. Because you're like, come on, then. No, isn't. Put them up. No, isn't. Put them up. You there. we need to win football matches what do you think do you think we need to win football matches and we need to win together oh god he winds me up so much honestly I know you said you didn't hate him but
51:00Phil:if you you just riled me up all the time I was just depressed earlier that's fine
51:05Jack:just prodding you in the side go on mate look at this
51:08Phil:have you seen what he said about you personally What?
51:11Jack:Your cortisol receptors just like squirting it out into your subconscious. Cortisol dripping from my eyes.
51:22Jack:Just pissing out cortisol. I'm dehydrated. It's just cortisol.
51:31Jack:Good time. He said his best players haven't been available enough. All right. Okay. this season has been more difficult but we still need to find a way to get results yep again I mean that's that intellect shining through on what they're doing he said there's lots of signs that it's going the right way oh yeah we are much closer than we think so we just need to keep going this is nonsense oh god Frank confirmed Dominic Solanke is part of the Champions League named squad and Mathis Tell has been withdrawn he said on dropping telling how the supporters are going to take it he said I don't know I hope people understand that it's not a straightforward decision it's him or Dom in the team tomorrow that's the decision I believe I've gone with the right one
52:24Jack:I mean I don't think he's gone with the right one to be honest at all I know you don't care I know you say you don't care I'm going to try and mate you, Canna.
52:36Phil:Just leave me be, Jack. The one thing I'm not annoyed about. Leave me alone.
52:44Jack:I can't wait till after this because I'm going to get a WhatsApp about one minute past midnight being like, oh, I'm actually wound up about Mathis Del.
52:58Jack:He did say so on this. He said he's feeling the trust of the club's hierarchy despite a disappointing season so far. He said, you know, they went for lunch, blah, blah, blah. We had a good conversation about life, about football, the future of the club. This is an extremely good sign because normally people run away if there's bad news or bad weather coming. Then they are normally not coming and being friendly for lunch. He's just such a weird man.
53:28Phil:That has happened plenty of times in history by the way Just had a nice lunch with them and then they sleep with my wife
53:39Jack:They took him to just maybe they took him to one of those food halls at the top of a shopping centre They haven't taken him to Galvin
53:47Phil:Galvin at Topham Hotspur Did you put the poison in his salad? I thought you did
53:52Jack:Now what do you want here Thomas in your builder burrito Do you want chocolate?
53:58Phil:Can I have cheese? No. Just beans.
54:01Jack:That's a pound extra. You cheeky sod. You're the third highest paid manager in the league. Pay for your own cheese. Oh, God. Do you think we're going to go down, Phil?
54:17Phil:I don't think so. But I don't think it's completely off the table, put it that way. it just, again, it depends on, it depends on how the clubs below us do that, regardless of, you know, what we do, which won't be much. So best case scenario, I think we could finish 10th. Worst case scenario, 16th. It was, at your recommendation,
54:47Jack:and, you know, I've seen lots of people talk about how amazing it is. I wanted to sort of cheer myself up, you know, Sunday scaries, you've got work the next day, spurs have just been horrible again on the weekend so sunday evening i want to put on like a nice film that would just be a bit of a comfort watch so i slept on train dreams um beautifully shot very well acted incredibly written lovely score um and you sort of seen that sort of the the dynamic between like felicity felicity jones is it so yeah felicity jones and um joel edgerton um sort of unfold on screen and it's it's it's really really nice and then you know i don't really think this is a spoiler alert because it's it's it's quite clear from the from the tone of the film from the offset um that everything just falls to pieces and obviously the moral of the story is that even though you can go through hard times there's still beauty to be had in this world there are still always things that you can look to and say it's not all bad because i saw the sunrise and i heard the birds chirping um so there's you know there are pockets of beauty even in amongst all of the misery where are the pockets of beauty for spurs what's going on
56:03Phil:has our house even burnt down yet jack well i don't know where we are in the in the misery cycle
56:09Jack:i think we're close to it i think i think the i think the the the what is it the touch paper's
56:15Phil:been lit let's put it that way where are the green shoots of positivity where are where's the sunrise
56:27Phil:it's still the transfer window it's not like they're being distracted by a manager
56:35Phil:arguably deserving the sack or their one of their sporting directors leaving we got Burnley on the weekend they're not very good
56:43Jack:I don't even want to think about that at the moment yeah then we get to hear for 60 minutes of the match just that indecipherable draw that they chant every time we play there
57:02Phil:you love that don't you
57:03Jack:I think they're saying something like we're the West and Burnley or something. I went down like a rabbit hole. When you're trying to search for what is the when people are saying you have to try and phrase that in a certain way when you're trolling through Reddit. I think I found it as something like it's the West Bank Burnley or something like that. It just sounds like
57:26Phil:Stay away from Burnley internet rabbit holes. You'll end up on forums and accidentally sign up to a White Lives Matter protest or something.
57:35Jack:Accidentally.
57:38Phil
57:40Jack:it's always a pleasure maybe you are my green shoot in and amongst all of this Tottenham misery there's some food for thought
57:48Phil:yeah I mean I feel depleted now so I'm glad I've helped you out I've siphoned one of those vines that strangled me
58:00Jack:I've wrung the last of your juices out into a cup like some smug do you know what I mean? Renaissance vampire I want to suck your joy yeah I don't really want to talk about sucking your anything Phil so I might end this one there see you later mate goodbye
From the publisher
Jack is joined by Phil to discuss the seemingly inevitable exit of Thomas Frank that is... still yet to happen.
Despite an awful 2-1 loss at home to West Ham and intense gossip suggesting he would be sacked on Monday, the manager has apparently received a vote of confidence from the board, citing a "good lunch" with Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange. We ask how on earth they have come to this decision when Frank simply doesn't look fit for the role.
We also turn the spotlight on the squad. Do certain players need to take a long, hard look at themselves? Is there a culture at Tottenham that allows this group to constantly hide behind the manager or the board when things go wrong?
We discuss the rumours linking Xavi Hernandez to the job. Is he really the right man, or are there flags present already?
Finally, attention turns to the Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund. We question Frank's controversial decision to remove Mathys Tel from the European squad to reinstate Dominic Solanke, and pick through the key quotes from a defiant pre-match press conference.
Theme is Ghost Cat by Gillen
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