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The Tottenham Hotspur head coach has been speaking about transfers and life at the rebuilding north London club right now
Thomas Frank feels like The Running Man right now as he admits it's difficult to enjoy life at Tottenham amid the struggles of rebuilding the club.
The 52-year-old enjoys early morning runs around London's Richmond Park and believes the ups and downs at Spurs require him to power through the problems that are mounting. Frank found himself booed by the travelling Tottenham supporters on New Year's Day as he approached them to applaud their efforts after the drab goalless draw at his old club Brentford.
The fans had sung 'boring, boring Tottenham' and chanted for former players and managers during another performance lacking in creativity and cohesion from the Dane's side. The north London outfit lie 12th in the Premier League table and are going through a huge rebuilding process which has brought 13 new heads of department within the club, including Frank and CEO Vinai Venkatesham.
Ahead of Tottenham's first home game of 2026, against Sunderland on Sunday, when asked whether he was actually enjoying the challenge of stepping out of his comfort zone after nine years at Brentford, Frank could only laugh.
"That’s a good question! I like that question. Let me put it this way. When you need to put in a big, big shift and it’s not smooth and it’s tough, it’s probably difficult to enjoy it," he said.
"If I run hard, I don’t enjoy that moment, but I know I need to keep my head down and run hard to get through it to get my fitness up, or win a race. We are in a situation where you need to run hard, to stay in it, to get through it.
"On the other side, when we look back on this spell or maybe this first year when it was tough, you’ll think what a learning experience, it made us so much better for the future. So the short answer is, no, but the reality is you can't."
He added: "When I take myself out of it and look down, I think what a privilege to be in charge of this fantastic club in a period where it’s a big transition. The transformation of 2025 has never happened as much in 140 years. There’s a lot of changes but the potential is huge."
More changes are coming in the transfer window, with Brennan Johnson having already departed for Crystal Palace in a £35million deal, and Frank wants the club to push hard for signings that improve his starting line-up.
"We are there in the market and will do everything we can to improve the squad, but we should be so aware that short-term impact can’t limit long-term success" he said. "But on the flip-side, can we do something that will really improve us? I think we should go very hard for that."
He added: "It always needs to be both players that can impact the team now, that’s the main priority but at the same time it’s not that we just stop signing teenagers because you need to have players with impact now and players for the long term.
"Sometimes you sign a young player who is good enough to play now, sometimes you sign a young player who comes in and you send him on loan and they are part of the long-term thinking so it will still be a mix of both."
Frank believes it's key the club does not drop too far down their list of favoured targets next month.
"We have lists of players and we have priority numbers one, two, three, four, five and six in every position. And if we go to number six…. it’s probably not as good as you want. Is number six good enough for us to get to where we want to be in the future? Probably not. But it’s a fine balance," he admitted.
"Sometimes you need to take some steps forward before we can get the perfect solution. So, that’s why I’ve said every decision we make needs to be for long-term success but [be] very aware of how impactful it can be now, as well. So that could end with that [no signings]. But of course I hope that we are [active].
"I know that Johan [Lange], Fabio [Paratici], Vinai are working day and night to do everything, together with the recruitment team, the [Lewis] family is backing us with everything. But I think the best clubs take good, sensible decisions."
Joint sporting director Paratici has been tipped to leave Spurs for a Head of Football role at Fiorentina so eyebrows were raised when the struggling Serie A side took Manor Solomon from Tottenham on loan on Friday.
All Frank would say on that move was: "I just think that every transfer is something we agree on as the right decision. So in that case it’s the same."
When asked who Paratici works for right now, the Dane first joked: "Good question, maybe you know." He then said: "Fabio is Tottenham sporting director. I spoke to him twice yesterday. He is working very hard for Tottenham.
"I just know when I speak to Fabio and Johan, who I spoke to this morning, the two of them are working very, very hard."
With Johnson heading out of the door to Palace, a player who contributed 25 goal involvements last season, where will the goals come from this season? Frank is confident that a number of his current squad will step up.
"There’s a lot with potential in that aspect. Richy has done well compared to a lot of other seasons. He is fit and available and still playing without key creators behind him," he said. "I’ve always liked Solanke. I’m convinced he will score a lot of goals for us when he’s fit and available. Wilson and Mathys have very good potential. Mo needs to score more goals and will score more goals."
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