Tottenham Hotspur

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

This is not the first time Tottenham have faced major opposition to a managerial appointment.

In June 2021, following the departure of Jose Mourinho, Spurs were linked with Gennaro Gattuso.

Some fans on social media referenced controversial comments the former Italy midfielder had previously made on subjects such as same sex marriage, external, and women in football.

A #NoToGattuso hashtag began trending on Twitter, and the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust raised the issue with the club.

Tottenham backed away and said Gattuso was not being considered as a candidate.

There are parallels with Roberto de Zerbi.

Trust secretary Tristan Foot told BBC Sport that it had taken on board complaints from supporters about the Italian and had been in touch with the club.

"We had an emergency meeting last night," Foot said on Tuesday. "That resulted in us writing to the chief executive and echoing those concerns and inviting them to reflect on the club's values."

Club sources told BBC Sport that De Zerbi's comments on Mason Greenwood had been considered as part of the process to appoint him and had formed part of discussions.

Women of the Lane is one of a number of official Spurs fans' group to have voiced concerns across social media in recent days.

It was joined by Proud Lillywhites - the LGBTQI+ Supporters' Association, and SpursREACH, which promotes the values of fans from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds.

Ali Speechly, who helped to create Women of the Lane two years ago, said the appointment brought into question the values and integrity of the club.

"He hired him [Greenwood] as a player and then continued to publicly back him and support him, sympathise with him," Speechly said.

"For me, that's just unforgivable. I think that speaks to the character of De Zerbi. I don't want him anywhere near my football club.

"This is about how we feel, this is about values, this is about integrity and, ultimately, it's about safety. It's about women feeling that they are safe around other men.

"Actions speak louder than words. In terms of my relationship [with [the club], it's massively impacted it.

"I don't have any intention now of going to the stadium."

The trust issued a statement, external after De Zerbi's appointment, stating his comments were "unnecessary, ill-judged, and deeply offensive to a significant number of supporters".

"It is concerning that the club would put us in this position right when the team needs fans the most," it added.

"The club must reassert its commitment to the values that fans hold dear - chief among them equality, respect and integrity.

"Our preference would have been for a short-term appointment of an individual or individuals who understand the club."

Tottenham Hotspur have been approached for comment.

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Roberto de Zerbi was overwhelmingly Tottenham's number-one choice for the head coach position.

The attraction to the Italian was based on his prior Premier League experience, his tactical acumen and the his reputation for playing attacking football.

Spurs tried to bring him in after Thomas Frank left, but it was deemed too soon given he left Marseille on the same day.

De Zerbi was viewed as the best option for the long term and allows the club to plan for the summer transfer window, and he has time to experience working with the current options.

He was also viewed as the best option for the short term with no other highly credible coach on the market now.

There was also a view taken that it was best for players not to have another interim.

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your views on the appointment of Roberto de Zerbi as Tottenham boss on a five-year contract.

Here are some of your comments:

Mark: We're desperate. It's a gamble based on his starts at previous clubs, but it's last-chance saloon. I can't suggest a better option given the circumstances as to who's available right now.

Tom: It's one blunder after another. I didn't think Thomas Frank or Igor Tudor were good fits, and now we have De Zerbi, who has no connection with the club, never had to avoid the drop, will hate our recruitment strategy and already has negative press coverage. It's mild insanity. I guess I still hope it'll work out...

PrestonSpur: A really disappointing appointment. That firecracker personality is the last thing a club in turmoil needs. Stability, consistency and a club-first mentality were top of the requirements. A talented firebrand is the wrong manager type for this club right now.

Dave: De Zerbi was the best available option to Spurs. I'm surprised he was willing to risk his reputation on this mess of a club. Spurs must have thrown a lot money at him. I doubt he'll last even a year with this board as he's a fiery character. Bit concerned as he lost his first 5 at Brighton, but I'm crossing everything that he can perform a miracle!

Den: Another big mistake by the board. Should have gone with someone who knows the club, the history, the pride. I think he's accepted because he knows he won't last, and will expect a big pay-off.

Max: Putting aside for one second his support for Mason Greenwood, De Zerbi was a bad option before he went to Marseille, and an even worse option than Frank. Now with his manner of exit from Marseille, he's an even worse option still. What the players and fans need is someone relatable and likeable who they can respect. De Zerbi is none of those things.

Henry: I like De Zerbi. I don't get all the criticism. I think he will be the man (hopefully) to keep us up.

Image source, Getty Images

Roberto de Zerbi says climbing away from the relegation zone is "the complete focus" between now and the end of the season after signing five-year contract to become Tottenham's head coach.

"I am delighted to be joining this fantastic football club, which is one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world," De Zerbi told the club's official website., external.

"In all my discussions with the club's leadership, their ambition for the future has been clear – to build a team capable of reaching great achievements, and to do that playing a style of football that excites and inspires our supporters. I am here because I believe in that ambition and have signed a long-term contract to give everything to deliver it.

"Our short-term priority is to climb the Premier League table, which will be the complete focus until the final whistle of the last game of the season. I'm looking forward to getting out on the training pitch and working with these players to achieve that."

Sporting director Johan Lange added: "Roberto was our number-one target for the summer and we are very pleased to be able to bring him in now.

"He is one of the most creative and forward-thinking coaches in world football, and brings with him a wealth of experience at the highest level, including in the Premier League."

Image source, Getty Images

Roberto de Zerbi already has a managerial CV spanning eight different teams, despite being just 46 years of age.

After retiring from playing in 2013, De Zerbi immediately went into management with lower league Italian side Darfo Boario.

From there, he jumped around several Italian clubs before earning his first major move, to Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk.

He won the Ukrainian Super Cup in his first season and led them to the top of the league before leaving the club in July 2022 before the conclusion of the campaign as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In September 2022, he succeed Graham Potter as manager of Brighton and led the club to the FA Cup semi-finals in his first season, along with a sixth-place finish in the Premier League - securing European football for the first time in the club's history.

His most recent managerial spell came in France with Ligue 1 side Marseille. He led the club to a second-place finish in his first season behind champions Paris St-Germain.

De Zerbi left in February following the team's exit from the Champions League. They were fourth in Ligue 1 at the time.

Phil McNulty
Chief football writer

Image source, Getty Images

Roberto de Zerbi will only have one priority when he takes over at Tottenham Hotspur: keeping them in the Premier League.

The peril of Spurs' position was why the highly regarded Italian was initially reluctant to take over so late in the season, with the club's future still uncertain as they contemplate the real possibility of dropping into the Championship.

How would De Zerbi view his future if Spurs do not escape? It would not be down to him, but he certainly does not regard himself as a coach who operates in the second tier.

Given Spurs' status and ambitions, relegation is as unpalatable as it gets. Championship football at the magnificent Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would be nothing short of total humiliation.

De Zerbi's firecracker personality, as well as an ability as a coach that has won him widespread admiration from peers such as Pep Guardiola, must inject life into a squad decimated by injuries and stripped of every vestige of confidence.

He has to turn losers into winners. Instantly.

And he has to start at Sunderland in Spurs' next Premier League game.

De Zerbi is fiercely competitive and must transmit that into his players; easier said than done given the timid, defeatist nature of their performances this season.

He would have preferred to start afresh next season - and maybe somewhere else if Spurs are a Championship club - but he is confident, talented and brimming with self-belief.

Have your say on Spurs' move for De Zerbi here

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So, it looks like Spurs have got their man.

Roberto de Zerbi will join on a five-year deal and succeed Igor Tudor, who lasted just 44 days in the post before his spell was mutually ended.

After sources initially said the former Brighton manager had preferred to wait until the end of the season, he was convinced to take charge immediately.

The Italian has seven games to save the club from relegation to the Championship. If they do go down, he does not have a relegation clause that would allow him to walk away.

However, opposition is growing among official Tottenham supporters' groups to De Zerbi being named manager because of his support of Mason Greenwood during his time at Marseille.

Given the circumstances and options available, do you think De Zerbi is the right move? If not, who would you have gone for? And will he keep Spurs up?

Send us your views here

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BBC Sport senior football correspondent Sami Mokbel discusses how Tottenham have convinced Roberto de Zerbi to take charge immediately rather than waiting until the end of the season.

"Tottenham don't want to make another interim appointment," he told BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club

"With this appointment they want this manager for the next five years, that's why they are offering him a long-term contract. It could be financial, it could be that he backs himself to keep them up and to hit the ground running next season.

"The prospect of De Zerbi managing in the Championship seems strange to me. There would have to be conversations at the end of the season if they go down."

Listen now on BBC Sounds - or watch the video below

Former England captain Steph Houghton and ex-Wales skipper Ashley Williams discuss how quickly Roberto de Zerbi's impact could be seen at Tottenham on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club.

"Results show Spurs are in a mess," said Houghton.

"They should have brought De Zerbi in back in February and given him the time. He's going to be asking the players to do things they are not used to. They probably don't know if they're coming and going after going from [Ange] Postecoglou, to [Thomas] Frank, to [Igor] Tudor and now to something completely new again.

"They have seven games to stay up and they are the team not in form."

Williams added: "He's the type of manager who is very meticulous, very detailed.

"He builds for the future but he's got so little time. I'm not sure how these next seven games will go."

Listen in full on BBC Sounds

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The panel on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club took a detailed look at the timeline of things going wrong for Tottenham, from Maurcio Pochettino to where to club find themselves today.

"They have tried to crowbar managers with these reputations in," said former Premier League striker Chris Sutton.

"None of them have been the right fit and it has led to this situation where it is absolutely desperate for them.

"There's no joined-up thinking which seems to be the biggest problem at Tottenham."

Listen in full on BBC Sounds - and watch the debate below

French football journalist Julien Laurens has broken down Roberto de Zerbi's eventful 18 months as Marseille boss after it was confirmed the Italian is in advanced talks to take over as the new Tottenham boss.

"The environment in Marseille, the passion and craziness for the football team, is probably a little bit different but you know he's very intense," Laurens told BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club.

"A lot of is it chaos - he's not easy to work with or manage. That in itself, considering it's Spurs and everything that's going on, is going to be interesting. I think it was too intense for him in Marseille, there won't be that much at Spurs.

"He's not a Championship manager, he will not stay if they go down. I have been told there is a break clause if they go down."

Laurens analyses De Zerbi's tactical approach and how it could be vulnerable back in the Premier League with Spurs.

"There were players in Marseille who didn't understand what he wanted them to do. It's quite a complicated system and style," he added.

"The other thing is the other Ligue 1 managers did their homework, especially after this first season and began to hit them on transition a lot."

Listen in full on BBC Sounds

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your views on who should be the next person to take charge of Tottenham Hotspur following Igor Tudor's departure on Sunday.

Here are some of your comments:

Eddie: [Glenn] Hoddle and Harry [Redknapp] together just for the next seven games. Spurs means something special to them both, players will respect them, fans will love them. If we can lift the players and get the best from them then we have a chance of staying up and that has to be our focus.

Robert: I would think Ben Davies assisted/mentored by Glenn Hoddle and/or Chris Hughton.

Nikhil: De Zerbi if willing. It's a no-brainer, immediate bounce and a couple of wins would change the confidence levels! If not, Robbie Keane would be a great motivator, akin to Michael Carrick at Manchester United. Read somewhere about Ben Davies... hmmm...

Richard A: The next Tottenham Hotspur manager has to be Mauricio Pochettino, the best Spurs manager since Keith Burkinshaw.

Paul: Why not give Ryan Mason a go, he might 'do a Carrick'.

Richard C: Sean Dyche is the right type of character with his first-class assistants for the job of saving Spurs. If he got the job, the vast majority of real fans would be very happy.

Ray: I'm not really enamoured about any of the names put forward. Poch would be my choice - he would get the fans on board straight away and that's really important and I think the players would respond too. Problem is he isn't available until after the World Cup. Lost valuable time in appointing Tudor - a huge gamble that has misfired. May be too late for us to salvage the situation.

Katharine Sharpe
BBC Sport journalist

When it comes to overall win rate in all competitions, Igor Tudor is bottom of the pile for all managers since 2014 at just 14.3%.

Seven games is not a long period of time for a manager to make his mark, but Ryan Mason was in charge for one spell of seven and another for six games, and achieved win percentages of 57.1% and 33.3% respectively.

Mauricio Pochettino had the best win rate of recent long-term managers, with 54.3%.

Comparing average points won per game in the Premier League again sees Tudor at the bottom and Mason at the top of recent records, with both in charge for similar periods of time.

Tudor's average of 0.2 points per game is 10 times fewer than Mason's average over a similar number of Premier League games in charge.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Brad Friedel, speaking to the BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast about Spurs' position in the Premier League: "I don't think there's any possible way they would be in this situation if [former executive chairman] Daniel Levy was still holding on the purse strings.

"I was at the club, I negotiated my contracts with Daniel and I know how he operates.

"I think the criticism of Daniel was maybe he wouldn't take the risks associated to getting to first or second in the Premier League - but that's tough, it's really difficult to break into the wage structures of Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City.

"He had one foot in the door in that; the revenue brought in, the stadium, the training facility. Looking back, maybe he should have kept Mauricio [Pochettino, in 2019] because they had a really good relationship working together.

"It's really hard to run a football club and get every single decision right. My point is they wouldn't be a point above relegation right now [if Levy was still at the club].

"If they were mid-table, Daniel Levy would be getting screamed at and the fans would be livid, don't get me wrong. But they would not be fighting off relegation."

Listen to a Spurs special of the Football Daily podcast on BBC Sounds

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After 10:00 BST, there will be a special phone-in on BBC Radio 5 Live about the current situation at Tottenham, with former Spurs captain Gary Mabbutt among the guests.

Listen live on BBC Sounds here

Bardi
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

It was not supposed to end like this. The whole rationale behind appointing Igor Tudor was survival.

We were promised a firefighter, someone to implement a simple, reliable system, but instead we got more confusion, more chaos and more fuel on the fire.

Tudor did not extinguish the flames; his every action, word and decision only intensified the blaze. This is not a club that needs more heat.

It needs a calming presence, a steady hand and a formation both players and supporters can believe in.

Our football veered wildly between extremes, from chaotic to passive, from a reckless, man-to-man high line to the baffling sight of left-backs and central midfielders deployed as right wingers.

The death knell came as 63,000 fans inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and millions watching worldwide, struggled to understand what formation the team was even playing.

Pedro Porro was shunted endlessly up and down the right, Souza was moved from left-back to the right and then back again, and Micky van de Ven was hauled off ignominiously at half-time in a must-win game.

Last week, for the first time in my adult life, our fans mobilised behind a common cause.

They lined the streets, united in hope that they could force change.

But Spurs proved too heavy a weight for both the supporters and the Croatian manager to shift.

The brief for Tudor was simple: win three games, secure safety and depart as a hero.

Five games on, Spurs look further from those three victories than ever.

We have lost confidence in our back-up goalkeeper, stumbled at every sign of progress through erratic team selections, and even become a side incapable of dealing with a simple set-piece.

Once again, we turn to the boardroom for answers - the men and women paid vast sums to safeguard this club.

Can they be trusted to make the most important decision in its modern history? I have very little faith left in their judgement.

Our survival now seems to depend less on our own efforts and more on others stumbling toward relegation - and on Richarlison bundling in five or six decisive goals.

Find more from Bardi at The Extra Inch - a Spurs podcast, external

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Tottenham Hotspur supporter Emma Nottage, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast on another managerial change at Spurs: "I don't think Igor Tudor was right for us from the get-go.

"He'd never managed in the Premier League - it's a tough gig anyway and you need someone with Premier League experience.

"The hierarchy has got to take some of the blame. It's been coming for a while - it's gone back to when Mauricio Pochettino was talking about this beautiful house. We need the investment and we don't seem to get that.

"Fair play to Igor for coming in and trying, but it just wasn't the right gig for him. His father has passed away and we send our condolences to him. Moving forward, I hope he gets another job somewhere when the time's right."

On who should be appointed next: "They need a boost and I would maybe call Harry [Redknapp] - I really do think Harry needs to be the man.

"But I also think maybe Pochettino should just come home and we should go and get him now, because then he's got these seven games.

"I know it's the World Cup in the summer but I think to unite the fans and the club, we need to bring him back to finish the job he started all those years ago.

"He's the man and that's who we're all crying out for."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

Phil McNulty
Chief football writer

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Igor Tudor's departure after only 44 days concludes a bizarre and potentially hugely expensive episode that leaves fingers pointing firmly in the direction of chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange.

If Venkatesham and Lange get the next big decision wrong it could conceivably end with Spurs in the Championship, leaving a scar on their record that would be impossible to recover from.

Venkatesham and Lange will know the stakes, with Tottenham one point and one place above the relegation spots.

There must be a measure of sympathy for Tudor, who also had to deal with the death of his father after being parachuted into a role he was clearly unsuited for, while taking over a squad ravaged by injuries and a complete loss of confidence.

Sympathy will be in shorter supply for Venkatesham and Lange as Spurs search for a third coach this season.

Read more analysis from McNulty here

Image source, PA Media

Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Brad Friedel, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast about Igor Tudor's departure: "After the Nottingham Forest game [which Spurs lost 3-0 on 22 March] - although I hate seeing this merry-go-round of managers - I thought it was inevitable."

On what should happen next with the manager's position: "The most important thing is staying in the league. The long-term solution and building can't take place until you know whether you're building from the Championship or the Premier League.

"There aren't a lot of top-quality, long-term, visionary head coaches who would jump into this job right now, unless they had a break clause if they're relegated in the summer. And then is that good for the club, to bring in another manager and then have to release them after seven games?

"You're almost stuck in a position where you have to bring in a short-term replacement."

Listen to the full episode of Football Daily on BBC Sounds

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