Thomas Frank has already admitted that he would have done his “due diligence” on Tottenham Hotspur and ask chairman Daniel Levy important questions before he puts pen to paper at the club.
The Dane is expected to make the switch from Brentford in the coming days to succeed Ange Postecoglou after almost seven years in charge of the Bees. Frank will arrive at a very different club to what he has been used to, with higher expectations and very different challenges.
Many Spurs managers have come and gone in recent years with Postecoglou the 13th Levy has sacked in 24 years in charge and the Australian departed despite winning the club’s first trophy in 17 years just a month ago with the Europa League triumph against Manchester United in Bilbao.
During an appearance on the High Performance Podcast earlier this season, Frank was asked about the prospect of moving to a bigger club and the questions that he would ask before doing so, as Graham Potter had previously stated that he found that a learning experience after his time at Chelsea.
“I said a million times, I’m very, very, very happy here. If I ever should go to another club, I think it’s difficult sometimes to be in a position to ask the right questions, you definitely need to do due diligence yourself,” said the 51-year-old. “[Sir Alex] Ferguson was saying wasn’t he that you need to pick your chairman, yeah, that can be difficult because it’s not that often that you’ve got the possibility to choose between three clubs. There’s maybe two or three managers in the world that can do that.
“So more normal managers like Graham and I, if that club comes that we think is interesting enough, then it’s maybe not an option for us to choose the chairman, if we want that challenge.
“But I think this is a general thing I would say now, it’s not for me, I think for any football head coach or manager, of course, the ownership/chairman is important. I think the club you’re going into, can you achieve instant improvement? Is there low hanging fruit or is it difficult to raise the bar?
“And are the finances good? Can you get the players in and out you want to? I think that’s the key.”
Tottenham will play in the Champions League next season and Frank was asked whether that was something that he would like to test himself in.
“I think there’s a part of me that one day maybe, maybe I need to try something different,” he said. “Is that a bigger club, Champions League, different challenge? I don’t know. The flip side of me is thinking, because I think I’m a little bit different, I don’t know all my colleagues, their family life and social life, but I’m a very social person and I love that part of life as well, being together with friends and family and then being able to travel and all that, and I’m working very hard at Brentford.
“I’m in a club where everything is working, everything being part of building all the processes and then we know last year, I’m not saying we were fighting relegation, but it wasn’t going completely the way we thought so then it’s a little bit tougher, but there’s a lot of things in this club where it’s easier, that then you’re going into another club where you need to build the culture, you need to build everything, you need to do all that.
“So that’s probably the two questions I need to ask myself. And plus at Brentford, maybe there are extra layers. I don’t know, who knows what will happen in the future and what we can do, even more. I think that’s probably the two questions I’m asking myself.
“So now, I’m just thinking, what is it I want in life? Is it that constant chasing, which I already do a little bit with my ambition to want to do better and better and better?”
Frank admitted that he has reached a point in his life where he is happy, comfortable in his own skin and he does not fear getting the sack at any club.
“I’ve probably been working 60, 70 hours since I was 20-years-old, not with the ambition to be a Premier League head coach one day, that’s a little bit of coincidence, hopefully hard work, hopefully some skill,” he said. “Hopefully good people help me along the way, and you know, just small aims, goals, and now I’m privileged to sit here, but I always try to get the balance right with family and friends, and I always knew that that was probably more important to me.
“And of course there are stages in your career, of course, when I was in Brondby, I walked out myself after three years. I probably knew it was probably not that good to be sacked after two years. Of course, here I didn’t want to be sacked, but now, no matter where I go in the future, or if I stay in Brentford, I’ll never be afraid of getting sacked.
“Never, never, ever, ever, and I could just go home to be a teacher in Denmark. I know I will miss the football a bit, don’t get me wrong, my ego will be hurt and all that, but the biggest thing in life now, is much more important – family and friends.”
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