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News
The ‘main reason’ Tottenham had to delay announcing Thomas Frank as their new manager
Tottenham have officially announced Thomas Frank as their new manager who joins from Brentford.
The appointment comes following Tottenham’s sacking of Ange Postecoglou, just 16 days after the Australian ended Spurs’ trophy drought by winning the Europa League.
He becomes the third most expensive manager in Premier League history after Levy paid £10m to prise Frank away from Brentford.
The deal was agreed almost a week ago, but the club delayed the announcement. Journalist Tom Barclay has now revealed the reason behind the delay.
Why Thomas Frank’s Tottenham announcement was delayed
Barclay reveals that the reason behind the delay in the confirmation of the Danish manager was down to a situation regarding the backroom staff at Brentford.
Frank is set to bring with him a number of backroom staff, however, the main issue arose with Justin Cochrane.
Brentford rate Cochrane very highly and even shortlisted him as a replacement for Frank at one point. However, eventually, a deal was agreed to let him leave, as he now joins as Tottenham’s assistant manager.
Discussing the appointment of Frank, Barclay said:
“The main reason for (the delay) is that (while) the situation was pretty simple with Frank because he had a release clause of about £10m which Spurs have paid, it was the backroom staff situation.
“So Frank has brought with him a number of backroom staff and I’ll get into it but the main sort of thorny issue was Justin Cochrane who’s coming with him as his assistant effectively.
“But he’s someone that was very highly rated by Brentford. He is 43. He was the head of coaching at Brentford and he’s so highly rated by Brentford that they even were considering him as a potential successor to Thomas Frank which to be honest wouldn’t be unlike Brentford to go for a slightly left-field choice in terms of a manager who hasn’t been a head coach before.
“Thomas Frank himself was that when he became the Brentford head coach – he had managed Bundy before but he was the assistant to Dean Smith before he got promoted back in 2018 and ended up lasting almost seven years which is pretty amazing and very rare in the current footballing climate.”
Justin Cochrane returns to Tottenham
Cochrane was previously an academy manager at Spurs, and is known for his ability to work with young players, helping them develop into top-class players.
He has overseen the development of the likes of Noni Madueke, Kyle Walker-Peters, Japhet Tanganga, Oliver Skipp and Josh Onomah during his time at Spurs and at England youth level.
Tottenham boast a team of promising youngsters, and the likes of Archie Gray, Mikey Moore, Lucas Bergvall among others could really benefit from the presence of Cochrane, who could further improve their games.
The appointment of Cochrane has left Tottenham fans buzzing, and understandably so, given his impressive experience.