Arsenal legend questions Spurs’ ‘huge gamble’ on Igor Tudor who’s ‘like a plumber’ | Football

Igor Tudor has been put accountable for Tottenham until the top of the season, a move Martin Keown reckons is a large gamble on a manager who has had a profession ‘like a plumber.’

The 47-year-old is taking up in north London after the dismissal of Thomas Frank last week.

The Dane only took over in the summertime but his reign has come to an abrupt halt with Spurs languishing in sixteenth within the Premier League table, with just seven wins from 26 league games.

The Champions League has been going a lot better, with Tottenham already into the last 16 of the competition, which suggests Tudor takes on a club in an unusual situation of facing relegation fears and European hopes.

The Croatian arrives for his first job in English football with a fame as a short-term fixer, having been appointed as manager 12 times within the last 13 years and usually hitting the targets set out for him.

Keown will not be on board with this kind of short-term appointment, though, comparing the job to a plumber and warning Tottenham of the ‘huge gamble’ they’re making.

‘I don’t understand how it’s that this guy’s ended up being this trouble-shooter manager that we talk of,’ Keown told talkSPORT. ‘Marseille, Lazio, Juventus, he hasn’t done a calendar 12 months at any of those club.

‘I just didn’t think it will every grow to be a thing that we’d have a manager – like a plumber – he just goes in, quick fix and off and gone again.

‘I just find it quite remarkable that we now have this example inside a football club. It’s an enormous gamble.’

‘I used to be hearing rumours…’

Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan is certain that Tudor will not be a long-term answer for Spurs, but feels Tudor may perhaps do the job Spurs are asking him to do.

‘Football guys understand the business of football, they understand what they should do and in the event that they’re good communicators within the short-term [it could work],’ said Jordan.

‘It’s the longer-term that you simply have a look at the Igor Tudors of the world and go, does it work? Clearly he doesn’t work. He’s had 13 jobs in 12 years.

‘He’s not a long-term fix. Spurs have never said he’s a long-term fix. He’s a fix for now.

‘I used to be hearing rumours it was going to be Ryan Mason and Ledley King stepping in, that was a number of the pondering that was apparently happening. So possibly we be thankful for this one.’

On Tudor’s appointment, Spurs sporting firector Johan Lange said: ‘Igor brings clarity, intensity and experience of entering into difficult moments and producing impact.

‘Our objective is easy – to stabilise performances, maximise the standard inside the squad and compete strongly within the Premier League and Champions League.’

The Croat, who won two Serie A title with Juventus in his playing days, said: ‘It’s an honour to affix this club at a crucial moment.

‘I understand the responsibility I actually have been handed and my focus is obvious. To bring greater consistency to our performances and compete with conviction in every match.

‘There is powerful quality on this playing squad, and my job is to organise it, energise it and improve our results quickly.’

‘There’s not enough time to do a job’

Former Spurs boss Tim Sherwood has questioned why Tudor would even wish to do the job, saying there is sort of no upside to taking the interim role.

Sherwood reckons there is sort of no likelihood Tudor can get the job permanently, he’ll get no credit for just steadying the ship and if it goes badly then his fame shall be in tatters.

‘For him, little or no upside,’ Sherwood told Sky Sports. ‘Managing an exquisite football club in Tottenham Hotspur, I feel he said he’s proud to get the chance to try this.

‘But he has to win the Champions League and win 90 per cent of the games within the Premier League for him to have any likelihood of taking that job within the long-term. That job goes to Mauricio Pochettino if he wants it.

‘The downside is so catastrophic, it’s not even value occupied with. Tottenham Hotspur being within the Championship next season. I get shivers occupied with it.

‘There’s not enough time to do a job. There’s injuries to the squad. If he has an excellent run and finishes twelfth within the Premier League, he’s not going to get any credit for that. I consider he should, but nobody’s giving him any credit for Tottenham Hotspur ending twelfth. But when he was to get them relegated then we’d all know his name for a protracted, very long time.’

Tudor starts his Spurs stint with a tricky test as Arsenal arrive to tackle their local rivals within the Premier League on Sunday.

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