Transfer Notebook: Tottenham chiefs made Thomas Frank decision in ‘half-time huddle’, players not told, assistant coach contender for interim job

The writing was on the wall for Thomas Frank at HALF-TIME of Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat at home to Newcastle on Tuesday night.

Sources in the directors’ box at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium say they detected a change in the mood of chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and chairman Peter Charrington after Frank
and his players were booed off with the team trailing 1-0.

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Venkatesham and Charrington were spotted deep in conversation during the interval in what has been described to talkSPORT as ‘a huddle.’

Even after suffering his 11th defeat in 26 Premier League games in charge, Frank believed he retained the backing of Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange despite the dismal run of domestic form.

Nick Beucher, husband of Joe Lewis’s daughter Vivienne, has become a key figure in the day-to-day running of the club and is was owners ENIC who made the ultimate call to axe Frank after only eight months at the helm.

Third time lucky for De Zerbi hunt?

Roberto de Zerbi is keen to return to the Premier League, talkSPORT understands.

De Zerbi dramatically left Marseille late on Tuesday night in the wake of Sunday’s 5-0 defeat at the hands of PSG.

The hot-headed former Brighton boss was a potential Tottenham target before they appointed Ange Postecoglu, but was not keen under the old boardroom structure.

With Daniel Levy no longer chairman and former sporting director Fabio Paratici also out of the equation, it is though de Zerbi would be interested in replacing the sacked Thomas Frank.

Italian De Zerbi, who guided Brighton into Europe for the first time in their history, is also on Manchester United’s list of summer targets.

Spurs wanted Carrick before United

Tottenham sounded out Michael Carrick about a potential return to his old club before he took over at Manchester United.

Spurs sources say they have been making contingency plans for an inevitable change in the dugout since the turn of the year.

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That included the possibility of Carrick, who played 64 Premier League games for the club, stepping in on an interim basis.

Ironically Carrick helped seal Thomas Frank’s exit by leading United to a 2-0 win over the north Londoners on Saturday live on talkSPORT.

Spurs are now considering putting a Carrick-style interim in charge for the rest of the season when old boss Mauricio Pochettino is likely to be available and open to a return.

At the time of writing Ryan Mason, who has had two previous spells as caretaker, had not been contacted.

Another option is former Ajax boss John Heitinga, who was appointed as assistant first team coach just last month.

Spurs stars not told about Frank decision

Tottenham’s players were not informed in person about Thomas Frank’s departure before it became public knowledge after being given five days off.

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Frank went on record after the Newcastle defeat saying he was ‘convinced’ he would still bein charge for the north London derby at home to Arsenal on Sunday week.

That bullishness followed a lunch meeting with chief executive Vinai Venkatesham earlier this week, who relayed that the club hierarchy wanted to give him time to turn Spurs’ dire form around.

However, sources close to the Lewis family, the club’s majority owners, says results ultimately left them with no choice but to pull the trigger.

The abrupt nature of the decision coupled with the break from training, owing to the fact Tottenham do not play again for another 11 days, meant many senior stars had already jetted off for mini breaks when the news broke.