Thomas Frank sacked by Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur have sacked manager Thomas Frank after eight months in charge, the Premier League club said on Wednesday, after a woeful run of results left the north London club hovering five points above the relegation zone.

Pressure on Frank had been mounting and Tuesday's 2-1 home defeat by Newcastle United left his team in 16th place with 29 points from 26 matches and looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone.

"Thomas was appointed in June 2025, and we have been determined to give him the time and support needed to build for the future together," Spurs said in a statement.

"However, results and performances have led the Board to conclude that a change at this point in the season is necessary."

Frank, who joined Brentford in 2018 and established them as a top-flight club after gaining promotion, has struggled to replicate those methods at last season's Europa League winners Tottenham.

The writing looked to be on the wall for the 52-year-old after Tuesday's defeat by Newcastle United, their 11th of the league campaign, albeit with a lengthy injury list.

It was also Tottenham's seventh league defeat at home in the Premier League this season and they have won only two of their 13 league games in front of their own fans.

Frank's popularity was not helped in January after he was photographed holding a coffee cup bearing the crest of fierce rivals Arsenal, an incident he later described as a mix-up.

Their current eight-game winless run in the Premier League is their longest since Juande Ramos was sacked in 2008 amid a nine-game winless run.

Despite Tottenham's domestic woes, they have performed impressively in the Champions League, finishing fourth in the 36-team table to qualify easily for the last 16.

The signs were that Frank was still being backed by the club's hierarchy with midfielder Conor Gallagher being signed in January from La Liga side Atletico Madrid and former Liverpool assistant coach John Heitinga joining as his assistant.

But with no end to the club's poor form in sight, Frank becomes yet another Spurs project on the scrap heap.

Spurs will have to dust themselves down quickly as they play a derby against North London rivals, and league leaders, Arsenal on February 22.

Lose that and the club could find themselves battling to avoid relegation for the first time since the 1976-77 season when they finished bottom.