Spurs could make worse hires than Frank & Tudor

It’s been a hellish season for Tottenham Hotspur on the pitch, off the pitch and in the boardroom, with a series of decisions that have left the club on the brink of relegation.

The focus is no longer on the polarizing Daniel Levy, but rather the ENIC regime that has overseen such a precipitous decline in north London in recent years has been put under the microscope.

The sacking of manager Ange Postecoglou following last season’s 17th place in the Premier League was understandable even after the club won the Europa League, but what happened next was simply a headache.

Vinay Venkatesham, Johan Lange and others have made one mistake after another when it comes to recruitment and managerial appointments, and even more costly decisions may be on the table for N17.

The main reason for Tottenham’s slump this season

It would be foolish to overlook what has become an unprecedented injury crisis, with key players like Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison having not played at all this season after previously missing the night in Bilbao.

Changes in the medical department over the past year or so didn’t seem to have helped matters, leaving new manager Roberto de Zerbi with a depleted and poor squad heading into this crucial final stretch.

It also has to do with the club’s questionable recruitment record over the years, dating back to the decision not to immediately sign a replacement for Harry Kane in the summer of 2023.

A year later, at a time when Spurs could have launched under Postecoglou, the club hierarchy took a youth-focused approach, betting on long-term targets like Lukas Bergvall and Archie Gray, rather than giving the Australian a ready-made solution.

As reported by BBC Sport, Desiree Douai also visited the club’s training ground that summer and was close to joining, but the Frenchman instead moved to Paris Saint-Germain, setting the stage for further opportunities to be missed last summer, alongside the likes of Eberechi Eze, Morgan Gibbs-White, Antoine Semenyo and Brian Mboumo.

In the dugout, the pendulum swung sharply from Postecoglou’s kamikaze style to Thomas Frank’s pragmatism, and the atmosphere deteriorated further with the appointment of disciplinary commissioner Igor Tudor.

In defense of Tudor and Frank, there is a sense that no manager can truly thrive in the current system, and the choice of the next sporting director must be correct.

Spurs could make another mistake with their next sporting director

As the turmoil of the past seven years has highlighted, Mauricio Pochettino has achieved wonders in north London on a shoestring budget.

Spurs have tried everything in the managerial department, from the back-to-back winners of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, to the proven options of Franck and Nuno Espirito Santo in the Premier League.

Nothing has really worked so far and you have to point the finger at those above you, whether it’s Fabio Paratici who left this season or the aforementioned Lange.

No matter how you look at it, Lange could be joined by former Borussia Dortmund player Sebastian Kehl, with reports in Germany saying he is the frontrunner to become Tottenham’s new sporting director.

At first glance, this may seem like an exciting move. It is worth noting that Kele has been working on selling Jude Bellingham in 2023 after taking over as manager at Dortmund a year ago.

But behind the scenes, the club’s recruiting record under his stewardship is less than impressive. Indeed, this is not the Dortmund that once plucked Bellingham, Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland from across Europe.

Last summer, for example, Kehl oversaw Wolverhampton Wanderers’ disastrous £20m signing of Fabio Silva, but the Portuguese only scored five goals in total at Molineux, his only goal in the Bundesliga this season.

As the Bellingham story showed, the German can sell high-profile players for a big fee, but that shouldn’t be too much of a concern for Spurs. Despite the club’s current woes, they have plenty of options that would be attractive to other clubs, whether it’s Micky van de Ven or Cristian Romero.

Where Spurs need an upgrade is in terms of new players, and while Kehl doesn’t necessarily jump out in that regard, he, like Tudor, represents another important new addition without Premier League experience.

Similarly, over the past four years at Dortmund, the club has endured management turmoil under the 46-year-old’s leadership, even as they reached the 2024 Champions League final. After coach Marco Rose was sacked in 2022, Edin Terzic, Nuri Sahin and now Niko Kovac have all held the job.

The club are likely to finish second in the Bundesliga, as they did in 2022-23, but they have also finished fourth or fifth in that time, not the most fruitful campaign for a team that usually rivals Bayern Munich at the top.

As mentioned, any manager, whether it’s Postecoglou, Frank or Tudor, is likely to struggle under the wrong regime, and choosing the right next sporting director is essential if Spurs are to look to a brighter future.

With a complicated period at Dortmund, a lack of experience in England and a reported falling out with boss Lars Ricken, Kele may not be the solution Tottenham need.