Igor Tudor leaves Tottenham after seven games
Tottenham now face their most important decision in a generation as they look to appoint another manager amid the serious danger of relegation
Igor Tudor has left Tottenham by “mutual consent” as the danger of relegation from the Premier League forced another desperate move from the club in their bid to avoid dropping out of the top flight for the first time since 1977. Tudor, a left-field appointment when he replaced Thomas Frank in February, departs after just 44 days , having failed to improve the mood around the club. He is also in mourning after being informed of the death of his father following the defeat to Nottingham Forest last week.
The dismal 3-0 home loss to fellow strugglers Forest left Spurs on the precipice of the relegation zone, only a point above West Ham with seven matches of the season remaining. They are winless in their last 13 Premier League games, their longest run without a top-flight success in 91 years. Igor Tudor has left Tottenham after just 40 days in charge (AFP via Getty Images) While Spurs had performed better in Europe this season than domestically, their dire run of form only got worse with an embarrassing 5-2 capitulation against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League tie, with a futile second-leg success their only win under Tudor.
The Croatian’s man-management was seriously questioned after he replaced first-choice keeper Guglielmo Vicario with deputy Antonin Kinsky in Madrid, despite the Czech having only played twice for Spurs this season and only in the Carabao Cup. Kinsky was handed his Champions League debut away to Atletico but was hooked after a calamitous opening 17 minutes in which he conceded three times, with Tudor criticised further for not acknowledging the 22-year-old as he headed down the tunnel. The decision of who to appoint for the rest of the campaign is perhaps the club’s most important in a generation.
Frank was deeply unpopular, with a toxic atmosphere growing towards the end of his eight months in charge , but the move of turning to Tudor, a manager with no Premier League experience, has backfired. The former Juventus and Lazio boss was seen an experienced short-term solution, with the former Croatia international boasting a record of making an immediate impact at clubs when taking over in mid-season, but it was also an undeniable gamble given Spurs’s position. The home defeat to Crystal Palace saw thousands of Tottenham fans leave before full-time (Reuters) Tudor said he was “100 per cent” confident that Tottenham would avoid relegation but a 4-1 home defeat to Arsenal in his first match was followed by a 2-1 loss at Fulham, where the 47-year-old said his new side were “lacking” in attack, midfield and defence.