Tottenham’s 3-1 loss at Leeds United on Saturday, may well have had a big impact on who the club’s next manager will be.
Spurs really needed a win to stand any chance of qualifying for the Champions League. Now they face another season in the Europa League, or perhaps even the new Europa Conference League.
Without Champions League football, some of the managerial names that Tottenham have been linked with, could become much trickier to land. There has been speculation that Antonio Conte is unhappy at Inter, but is he unhappy enough to leave a club that has just won Serie A and will be playing in the Champions League next season, to move to one that will not?
Sevilla’s Julen Lopetegui is another manager who has been linked with a move to Tottenham, despite the fact that his club have sealed a place in next season’s Champions League. Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers would surely want to test himself in that competition with the Foxes, were they to hang onto their current top four spot and enter UEFA’s elite competition.
With those three out of the equation, Spurs would have to set their sights on an alternative target. An unemployed manager is less likely to quibble about what European competition a new team is in and Maurizio Sarri is currently being linked with the jobs at both Tottenham and Arsenal, with the latter unlikely to qualify for Europe at all. Hansi Flick is another manager who will soon be without a club, though he may prefer to hang on and wait for a vacancy with the German national team.
Perhaps likelier targets are two young English managers with Premier League experience. Scott Parker has been at Spurs as both a player and coach and the Fulham manager has impressed this season, despite being unable to keep his promoted side up.
The current favourite to become the next Tottenham manager in the betting odds is Bright’s Graham Potter. Having made his name in Sweden with Ostersund – who he guided from the fourth flight to the first, before winning the Swedish Cup and taking the club into Europe – Potter moved to Swansea, where his stylish brand of football won admirers.
Brighton poached him after just one season at Swansea and Potter’s reputation has continued to grow on the south coast. Potter has transformed Brighton’s style of play, while keeping them in the Premier League over the past two seasons.
A move to Spurs would be another big step up for the 45-year old, but without the glamour of the Champions League and a major rebuilding job ahead, he might be the best option for the club.
Whatever the level and whoever he might turn out to be,the new coach will not make a semblance of difference as is a cert to fail, at least with the present set up.
Might as well pick someone at random from a dole queue.