Next Tottenham manager: Pochettino, De Zerbi and more candidates to replace Thomas Frank at Premier League Spurs

The axe has fallen on Thomas Frank after a dismal run of Premier League form left Tottenham Hotspur looking anxiously at the relegation zone.

It should be infeasible for a club of Tottenham’s means — a member of the fabled ‘big six’, state-of-the-art stadium, holders of a European trophy — to be close to the bottom three. However, a run of no wins in eight and two in 17 in the Premier League means they are at real risk of being dragged into a fight for survival, and the Spurs hierarchy was persuaded that Frank’s position was untenable.

Impressive performances in this season’s Champions League — where Tottenham progressed directly from the league phase to the last 16 — counted in Frank’s favour, but the looming bottom line of the drop zone meant a decision had to be made. The teams around Tottenham have momentum: West Ham, currently third bottom, have taken 10 points from their past five matches, and if fourth-bottom Nottingham Forest can beat effectively condemned basement boys Wolves on Wednesday, they will be level with Spurs on 29 points.

Tuesday’s lacklustre 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United was the end of the road for Frank.

So, where will Spurs turn now? Will they appoint an interim and keep their powder dry until the end of the season – someone like former Tottenham midfielder Michael Carrick, who is giving such a fine account of himself at Manchester United, for example – is the imperative to move opportunistically in a managerial market where there are perhaps an unusual amount of elite mid-season options to explore?

MORE: The huge injury list that left Frank facing an uphill battle at Spurs

Next Tottenham manager: Who will replace Thomas Frank?

Mauricio Pochettino

Amid booing Frank and calling for his head during the loss to Newcastle, Spurs fans were also singing Mauricio Pochettino’s name. The current USMNT head coach is still much loved in north London following a tenure where he finished in the top four of the Premier League for four consecutive seasons between 2015/16 and 2018/19 (for context, Spurs have finished in the top four once since, fourth place under Antonio Conte in 2021/22). Pochettino also masterminded their dramatic run to the 2019 Champions League final.

But the key detail in all of that, all of that romanticism, is the cold, hard fact of “current USMNT head coach”. Pochettino’s career has been relatively underwhelming since leaving Tottenham, which explains the pull of a return. On the other hand, he will surely not want to jeopardise the prospect of leading the United States on a memorable run at a home World Cup. Pochettino is out of contract after the tournament; perhaps Spurs could somehow negotiate a job-share arrangement with US Soccer until then, although that feels incredibly unlikely. If Tottenham really want a second act for Pochettino, it would probably have to come after appointing an interim to stave off relegation.

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Roberto De Zerbi

Influential and combustible Italian coach De Zerbi parted company with Marseille a matter of hours before Frank was relieved of his duties at Tottenham. There are plenty of reasons on both sides not to move in this direction.

De Zerbi operates with a vastly different and intense playing model compared with Frank, and it would be asking a lot of a squad in the grips of an injury crisis. Similarly, there are likely to be more attractive and suitable projects on the table in the summer for De Zerbi if he decides to wait.

However, the initial brief for Spurs is to get the three or four wins needed to guarantee survival from their remaining 12 Premier League matches and reassess in the summer. You would expect De Zerbi to have a suitably galvanising impact to that end, and building for the future with such a well-regarded tactician in the building would be no bad thing.

Oliver Glasner

Glasner has done a superb job at Crystal Palace, leading them to FA Cup and Community Shield glory at Wembley in 2025. However, the sales of key players, including Eberechi Eze and club captain Marc Guehi, have contributed to the Austrian cutting a disgruntled figure. Last month, Glasner announced he would leave Palace at the end of the season.

Spurs might take a punt on trying to move that departure forward a few months. Palace would not welcome such advances, not least because they’re not completely out of the relegation picture themselves. On the other hand, there would be the opportunity to pocket some compensation for a coach who will leave the building for nothing in the summer.

MORE: Why Man City jumped at the chance to sign Marc Guehi in January

Marco Silva

After being the Premier League’s hot young thing a decade ago, Silva grappled with one of those big Premier League jobs that tend to break most promising managers at Everton. Perhaps he now fancies a glug from another of those great poisoned chalices at Tottenham.

The Portuguese coach is in his fifth season at Fulham, where he has done a consistently excellent job. There is a sense that his book at Craven Cottage is close to being closed, but engineering a mid-season departure could be tricky. Also, after the Frank experience, Tottenham might have second thoughts about taking Glasner or Silva on the back of fine work with teams considered to be among the Premier League’s second tier or middle class. It should, of course, be noted that both Palace and Fulham finished above a bedraggled Spurs last time around and are better placed once again this season.

Xabi Alonso

Having been one of the hottest coaching prospects in world football after his incredible achievements at Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso is back on the market after his Real Madrid tenure was mutually curtailed after half a season.

If you squint, Tottenham are perhaps the type of club you could “do a Leverkusen” with. For “Spursy” see the “Neverkusen” label that Alonso tore to pieces. Tottenham would obviously be interested in a coach of his calibre but surely Alonso will have better options in the summer. Liverpool and Manchester City are noted admirers, for example.

MORE: Xabi Alonso sacking highlights Real Madrid’s unsolvable manager problem

Ange Postecoglou

Well, well, well. As he always said he would, Postecoglou won a trophy in his second season at Tottenham. However, finishing 17th outweighed lifting the Europa League, and Australia’s gruff-spoken total-football purveyor paid with his job.

A brief, winless and all-round disastrous stint at Nottingham Forest followed, but that does mean Postecoglou is available, popular with parts of the fanbase and knows most of the squad, plenty of whom seemed to have genuine affection for him. Stranger things have happened.