'Just shut up about Arsenal!' - Thomas Frank angered Tottenham players with 'constant' talk about north London rivals

Tottenham's 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle in the Premier League on Tuesday night proved to be Frank's last game in charge of Spurs. The club confirmed that the Dane had been relieved of his duties in the aftermath of yet another defeat. Spurs are yet to manage a single Premier League win in 2026 and now sit just five points above the relegation zone. To make matters worse for Spurs fans, bitter rivals Arsenal currently sit top of the table, are into the final of the Carabao Cup and also topped the Champions League standings in the league phase.

The change may have come as a shock to Frank, as he said after the Newcastle match he was convinced he would continue. He told Sky Sports: "Yeah, I am convinced I will be. I understand the question. It is easy to point on me but it is never only the head coach, ownership, players or staff. It is everyone. Everyone knows what position we are in and what we need to improve on. That is what we are working hard on."

Frank is said to have angered some of his players by his "constant" references to Arsenal during his time in charge, according to The Telegraph. A source said: "He was constantly going on to the players about Arsenal and they quickly got sick of it. Even before and after the game at the Emirates, he was telling them how good Arsenal were. The feeling among some was very much ‘just shut up about Arsenal'."

Indeed, he spoke about Arsenal in his first press conference as Tottenham boss, telling reporters: "I haven’t seen a team that is not losing any football matches. There is Arsenal, that we can’t mention, in the Premier League. So I made my first rookie mistake there."

It wasn't the only mistake regarding Arsenal that Frank made. He was spotted drinking from an Arsenal-branded cup ahead of Tottenham’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth and was not happy when asked about it after the match. He said: "I definitely did not notice it. It would be completely stupid of me to take it if I knew. It's a little bit sad in football that I need to be asked about it. I would never do something that stupid. I think we're definitely going in the wrong direction if we need to worry about me having a cup with a logo of another club."

There were also clearly problems behind the scenes at Spurs. Defenders Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence were captured giving the Spurs boss the cold shoulder after the club's 1-0 loss to Chelsea in October. Frank refused to criticise the duo at the time but subsequently revealed they had apologised to him. Tensions flared again after defeat to Bournemouth as Van de Ven and Palhinha confronted angry fans, while club captain Cristian Romero hit out at the club's hierarchy for "lies" in a post on Instagram. Frank has since had to deal with the fallout from another rant by Romero on social media, after he called the club "disgraceful" for only having 11 fully fit players available to face Manchester City amid an ongoing injury crisis. Romero was again defended by Frank before subsequently being sent off in another defeat for Spurs against Manchester United.

Tottenham now go on to face Arsenal next in the Premier League but fans will have to wait and see who will take charge of the club for the north London derby. Spurs are down in 16th in the table, just five points above the drop zone.