Thomas Frank’s new Tottenham coaching staff contains some key figures as he prepares for life away from Brentford.
The Dane is set to be appointed as Ange Postecoglou’s successor following positive talks over his own switch as well as bringing first team assistant coach Justin Cochrane, head of athletic performance Chris Haslam and first team analyst Joe Newton with him to Spurs from Brentford.
All three will bring with them a very specific skillset. Cochrane is one of the most highly-rated coaches within the game right now and Brentford had been eyeing him up as a potential successor to Frank. The 43-year-old is a strong, trusted voice in the Dane’s coaching set-up and is part of Thomas Tuchel’s England set-up and is expected to remain so on a part-time basis.
On top of all of that, Cochrane will be a key cog for Frank in another way and that is because the former Manchester United development coach spent almost a decade within Spurs’ academy as a coach before becoming England U15s head coach and completing his UEFA Pro Licence.
Cochrane is understood to be friends with Matt Wells following their time together as coaches within Tottenham’s academy and will also know Rob Burch well. Wells was Postecoglou’s number two last season and Burch the Australian’s goalkeeping coach. Both men have remained employed by the club thus far despite Postecoglou’s exit as they were there before his arrival and are both highly regarded within Spurs.
Whether Frank has them on his staff remains to be seen, with it being a potential step down for Wells from his previous position.
There are suggestions that multiple trophy-winning Spurs U18s coach Stuart Lewis could also potentially be involved in the new-look staff. The 37-year-old has been making a big name for himself within the club and outside of it with his development of youngsters who have quickly progressed into the first team set-up as well as winning three trophies in as many seasons with a changing group of players, all while playing an exciting brand of football.
Haslam’s arrival comes at a time when Spurs are set to make further big changes to their sports science staff and medical departments. The head of athletic performance has worked at Brentford for almost 10 years across two spells and was also involved with the Danish national side, including at last summer’s Euros.
Cochrane has described Haslam as “one of the best I have come across in terms of performance” and with the problems in recent seasons with injuries and re-injuries at Spurs and struggles with squad fitness, the new man could play a key role in ensuring the players’ physical performance is top notch as is the sports science around them. Haslam is heavily involved on matchdays and in constant communication with Frank.
When it comes to Newton, the analyst has swiftly become a key component of Frank’s backroom staff over the past six years. The Dane uses plenty of video analysis with his players as well as his coaching staff and has grown to trust Newton to a degree where the analyst often has exactly what Frank is looking for already clipped up for him because he knows what the head coach focuses on in terms of positives and negatives within a performance or training.
Andreas Georgson, who left Manchester United this year, is a set piece coach who has worked with Frank previously before moving on to Arsenal and then United and the Swede has also been mooted as a potential addition to the new Tottenham set-up.
Further appointments are set to be made to Frank’s staff, and it remains to be seen whether others yet follow from Brentford, but the core of something to build upon looks to have been put in place.
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