There will be a particularly Tottenham Hotspur flavour to the UK coverage of this summer’s World Cup, with the club’s former head coaches Thomas Frank and Ange Postecoglou confirmed as leading pundits for the BBC and ITV, respectively.
Frank is among the names adding “global insight and international edge” to the BBC’s coverage of the tournament in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, while his predecessor at Spurs, Postecoglou, will be part of the team at rival ITV.
Frank has not spoken publicly since he was sacked by Spurs in February following a run of eight league games without a win, and his view of the club’s annus horribilis — as well as Brentford’s rise under his successor, Keith Andrews — should be insightful for supporters.
The Dane’s win ratio of 34.2 per cent was the worst of any permanent manager in Tottenham’s history and Roberto De Zerbi, the club’s third permanent coach of the campaign, has quickly made the squad appear more confident and accomplished since replacing Igor Tudor in March.
Frank, 52, is unlikely to be so bold as the lay the blame for Spurs’ struggles at Postecoglou’s door but there is a case that their irreversible slide down the Premier League began on the Australian’s watch during the second half of last season, when he prioritised winning the Europa League — a milestone that came at the cost of a 17th-place league finish.
Postecoglou has already had a say on Spurs, offering a damning assessment of the club during an appearance on The Overlap podcast (which was released on February 12, the day after Frank’s sacking), during which he described them as “not a big club”.
