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Rio Ferdinand criticises Spurs over potential Ledley King decision
Rio Ferdinand that he would have considered resigning if he was Ledley King after Tottenham Hotspur appointed someone else as interim boss – unless it was King who decided that he did not want the role.
Ryan Mason has taken charge of Spurs’ last two games, including Sunday’s Carabao Cup final, following Monday’s announcement that Jose Mourinho had been sacked.
Mason became the youngest manager in Premier League history as they beat Southampton. He stepped up from his role as head of player development in North London.
His backroom staff has included the likes of Chris Powell, Michel Vorm and King. The latter, of course, was the one member of first-team staff kept on from Mourinho’s time in charge.
Ferdinand has taken quite a strong view on Spurs’ decision to appoint Mason. He feels that King should feel extremely upset to have been overlooked – unless he was indeed offered the chance to step in for Mourinho.
“If I was Ledley King, and I’ve been coaching the first-team under Jose Mourinho and they made the [head of player development] the replacement manager for Mourinho who I was coaching for, and I’m around the first-team every day, and they bring [Mason] as the interim manager in front of me, I’m handing in my resignation,” . “I’m saying this is disrespectful.
“Unless Ledley is happy in that role and has said, ‘bypass me, this ain’t for me. I don’t want to be the manager, I don’t want to be in the spotlight’. We need to hear that from Ledley.”
TBR View: King not having coaching badges may explain Mason decision
It must be noted that King that he is yet to do his coaching badges.
that that may not necessarily stop someone taking charge of a Premier League side. There have been cases when managers have been given special dispensation.
But Spurs may have decided that King is not yet ready for such a role. Mason has been back coaching at Tottenham for longer.
Having said that, King is the one to have worked with the first-team more recently.
Of course, as Ferdinand notes, King may have been the one to take himself out of the running to be in interim charge. But without that information, it does seem strange that he was not given the role.