USspur
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Thomas Frank today met with a family supported by the Club’s official charity partner, Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice, during a heartwarming encounter at our Training Centre.
Our head coach took time out before training on Tuesday to meet with Iliana, an incredibly courageous young fan, as well as her mum and siblings.
Iliana was born with an underlying condition that affects her organs and nervous systems. Largely unaffected for the first seven years of her life, Iliana suddenly suffered an optic nerve glioma in October 2021. Iliana has since gone through several rounds of chemotherapy, during which time she was referred to Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice. While she still has a fight on her hands, her latest prognosis following the treatment was very positive.
Iliana’s family are passionate Spurs supporters and have been involved in activations the Club has undertaken with the charity, including attending James Maddison’s annual celebrity golf day in 2024, which was dedicated to Noah’s Ark and subsequently raised an incredible £75,000 to support its vital work. Her brother, Nikolas, also walked out with the team as a mascot during a home fixture last season.
A special day for Iliana and her family included watching the first-team train and autograph signing with the players but was topped off by the meeting with our head coach, where they discussed their love of Spurs and the family’s history with Noah’s Ark.
Iliana’s mother, Natasha, said: “We loved meeting Thomas, he was so interested in us and our story and made us feel so welcome. We chatted for a few minutes and he said he wanted us to make the most of our experience at the training ground, which meant a lot to us.
“We have had three amazing experiences with Spurs; Nikolas being a mascot, attending James Maddison’s golf day, and then today – it is just amazing and shows the dedication and strength of relationship between the Club and Noah’s Ark. We are very grateful.”
Thomas Frank said: “It was a real privilege meeting Iliana and her family today and hearing about the amazing work Noah’s Ark does for children, like Iliana, who are going through an incredibly tough time. It is so important that football clubs use their platform to support organisations making such a positive impact in their communities.”
Noah's Ark Children's Hospice has been a proud partner of the Club since 2016. The charity supports babies, children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, and their families, in north and central London, helping them to make the most of every day.
jaxdermot
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Show this to EzeNews | Tottenham Hotspur
Discover all the latest official news, match updates, exclusive videos and insights from Tottenham Hotspur Football Clubwww.tottenhamhotspur.com
Thomas Frank today met with a family supported by the Club’s official charity partner, Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice, during a heartwarming encounter at our Training Centre.
Our head coach took time out before training on Tuesday to meet with Iliana, an incredibly courageous young fan, as well as her mum and siblings.
Iliana was born with an underlying condition that affects her organs and nervous systems. Largely unaffected for the first seven years of her life, Iliana suddenly suffered an optic nerve glioma in October 2021. Iliana has since gone through several rounds of chemotherapy, during which time she was referred to Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice. While she still has a fight on her hands, her latest prognosis following the treatment was very positive.
Iliana’s family are passionate Spurs supporters and have been involved in activations the Club has undertaken with the charity, including attending James Maddison’s annual celebrity golf day in 2024, which was dedicated to Noah’s Ark and subsequently raised an incredible £75,000 to support its vital work. Her brother, Nikolas, also walked out with the team as a mascot during a home fixture last season.
A special day for Iliana and her family included watching the first-team train and autograph signing with the players but was topped off by the meeting with our head coach, where they discussed their love of Spurs and the family’s history with Noah’s Ark.
Iliana’s mother, Natasha, said: “We loved meeting Thomas, he was so interested in us and our story and made us feel so welcome. We chatted for a few minutes and he said he wanted us to make the most of our experience at the training ground, which meant a lot to us.
“We have had three amazing experiences with Spurs; Nikolas being a mascot, attending James Maddison’s golf day, and then today – it is just amazing and shows the dedication and strength of relationship between the Club and Noah’s Ark. We are very grateful.”
Thomas Frank said: “It was a real privilege meeting Iliana and her family today and hearing about the amazing work Noah’s Ark does for children, like Iliana, who are going through an incredibly tough time. It is so important that football clubs use their platform to support organisations making such a positive impact in their communities.”
Noah's Ark Children's Hospice has been a proud partner of the Club since 2016. The charity supports babies, children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, and their families, in north and central London, helping them to make the most of every day.
USspur
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USspur
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USspur
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Tottenham news: How Thomas Frank is tweaking Spurs
Tottenham news: How Thomas Frank is tweaking Spurs
www.bbc.com USspur
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Ted the Yid
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I have absolutely no idea what this means. What is a lower PPDA?
USspur
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Ted the Yid
Moderator
Founding Member
Grok? Isn't that Elon Musk pet AI?
Yid
Moderator
Founding Member
It's basically Skynet.
spurious
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That's what they want you to think!
jaxdermot
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Doesn't stupid rule the world right now
jaxdermot
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Man Embraces AI at Work, Gets Rewarded by Boss Replacing Him With It
Kevin Canretra "willingly embraced AI for work” after he and his colleagues were encouraged to use ChatGPT, according to a new entry in the Washington Post’s work advice column.
His reward for going along with those demands, after being a faithful servant for 17 years at the edutech company? Getting replaced by a large language model, along with a couple dozen of his coworkers.
That’s, of course, after his boss reassured him that he wouldn’t be replaced with AI.
Kevin Canretra "willingly embraced AI for work” after he and his colleagues were encouraged to use ChatGPT, according to a new entry in the Washington Post’s work advice column.
His reward for going along with those demands, after being a faithful servant for 17 years at the edutech company? Getting replaced by a large language model, along with a couple dozen of his coworkers.
That’s, of course, after his boss reassured him that he wouldn’t be replaced with AI.
spurious
Well-Known Member
We're going to start using AI for policy research at my work; maybe I should sneak in a few HR inquiries to test the waters.
A couple of years ago, when ChatGPT first dropped, me and a buddy had several fun evenings messing with Alexa (or whatever the bint's name was) by asking for evidence about the Iran-Contra affair and the JFK assassination, etc., then cross-examining her on her evasions. Got tired pretty quickly, and my buddy (who's an aging Deadhead, hence the line of inquiry) is now looking work to replace the professional writing services he used to freelance.
I used to fight with the missus who sided with Google Maps instead of me, the seasoned navigator; now I fight with the kids who question my absolute authority on all topics by referring to AI search summaries.
USspur
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I appreciate all the informative posts @USspur.
I suspect your doing it while waiting for the freezing to take effect on your patients.
All in a day's work
J.spurs
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Founding Member
Well given Grok's track record I'm surprised it didn't respond to the question by connecting Passes per defensive action to White Replacement Theory.
jaxdermot
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not sure if I should laugh at that.. looking around.... Ha
USspur
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SpiderSpurs
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Spence and VDV blanking Frank after the Chelsea game was quite telling.
USspur
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For someone who knows nothing about football what is it telling?
USspur
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Tottenham's Frank: Van de Ven and Spence said sorry for snub
Thomas Frank has said that Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence have apologised after appearing to ignore him after Tottenham's defeat to Chelsea.
www.espn.com As Frank entered the pitch to do a customary lap of appreciation, Van de Ven and Spence appeared to ignore their manager's request to acknowledge the supporters as they headed straight down the tunnel.
"Micky and Djed came into my office yesterday unprompted and said they want to say sorry for the situation," Frank told a news conference on Monday.
"They didn't want it to look bad or disrespectful and all the kind of perceptions you can get in this media world. So, that was not their intention at all towards me, or the team or the club.
"They were just frustrated with the performance, the loss and the booing during the game.
"We all have a perception and we are very good to have that strongly that, 'ah that is because whatever, because their mum wasn't well or they didn't like the head coach or they were irritated with the performance, or because they lost.' We are very, very good at that but none of us knows.
"That would be my first question to them -- how and why? Of course I am happy, because I knew the question would come today, that they were coming in [already].
"It means they care and I think that is very good. They care about the team, the club and in this case me, so happy with that.
"That is very good and we had a good talk about a lot of things, but like everything we will keep it internally.
"Like I said to the players when I said before, it would be very, very, very unusual if I ever throw a player under the bus. We are all humans but I will always protect them."
Quizzed on if the matter with Van de Ven and Spence was now closed after both apologised, Frank added: "For me? Ah yeah. 100 percent."
J.spurs
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Founding Member
And yet, still very tellingTottenham's Frank: Van de Ven and Spence said sorry for snub
Thomas Frank has said that Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence have apologised after appearing to ignore him after Tottenham's defeat to Chelsea.
As Frank entered the pitch to do a customary lap of appreciation, Van de Ven and Spence appeared to ignore their manager's request to acknowledge the supporters as they headed straight down the tunnel.
"Micky and Djed came into my office yesterday unprompted and said they want to say sorry for the situation," Frank told a news conference on Monday.
"They didn't want it to look bad or disrespectful and all the kind of perceptions you can get in this media world. So, that was not their intention at all towards me, or the team or the club.
"They were just frustrated with the performance, the loss and the booing during the game.
"We all have a perception and we are very good to have that strongly that, 'ah that is because whatever, because their mum wasn't well or they didn't like the head coach or they were irritated with the performance, or because they lost.' We are very, very good at that but none of us knows.
"That would be my first question to them -- how and why? Of course I am happy, because I knew the question would come today, that they were coming in [already].
"It means they care and I think that is very good. They care about the team, the club and in this case me, so happy with that.
"That is very good and we had a good talk about a lot of things, but like everything we will keep it internally.
"Like I said to the players when I said before, it would be very, very, very unusual if I ever throw a player under the bus. We are all humans but I will always protect them."
Quizzed on if the matter with Van de Ven and Spence was now closed after both apologised, Frank added: "For me? Ah yeah. 100 percent."
SpiderSpurs
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That the players are starting to agree with the paying fans - Frank is a cunt.
USspur
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USspur
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Thomas Frank is not Nuno, even if the parallels were there on Saturday for Tottenham
Like Nuno Espirito Santo in 2021, Frank was jeered over a substitution against Manchester United - but the circumstances are very different
www.nytimes.com There was certainly a moment on Saturday, with 11 minutes left, when it all started to feel a bit Nuno Espirito Santo for Thomas Frank.
With Tottenham 1-0 down at home against Manchester United and seemingly running out of ideas, head coach Frank took off Xavi Simons to bring on Mathys Tel. The substitution was loudly booed by the crowd. Simons had been Spurs’ most creative player up to that point. Tel has struggled to make an impact so far this season.
It was impossible not to think in that moment of the game here at the same stadium between these same two clubs on October 30, 2021.
That was Nuno’s 10th and final league match in charge of Spurs. At 1-0 down nine minutes into the second half, he took off fan favourite Lucas Moura for Steven Bergwijn. The crowd were furious and booed so deeply that they effectively made Nuno’s position untenable. He was sacked first thing on the Monday morning and replaced with Antonio Conte.
Hearing those same supporters so unimpressed with the Simons/Tel substitution, and with Tottenham facing the prospect of a fourth home Premier League defeat of the season already, it was only natural to consider parallels between Frank and Nuno.
Some of them are unavoidable.
Both came to Spurs having got a smaller club (Wolves and Brentford respectively) promoted to the Premier League, and then established mid-table stability for them. Both faced questions about whether their style of play would translate to Tottenham, to the higher expectations and higher quality of players compared to their previous role. Both prioritise defensive stability, potentially at the cost of moving the ball forward through midfield and creating chances.
Coaching a brand of football that can make people believe in a stadium like this is a very specific challenge.
Frank’s Tottenham — like Nuno’s — have a perfectly respectable Premier League record. They came into the United game with 17 points from their first 10 matches. Nuno was fired having taken 15 from 10. But in both cases, the performances, struggling to dominate, struggling to create, rarely ever looking like Spurs, often left the fans anxious.
Just as they were for the first half on Saturday, which was too reminiscent of the defeat to Chelsea here a week earlier, when Tottenham made no impression on the game whatsoever.
But so many of those thoughts and those parallels were undermined by what came next.
Spurs did not collapse under the weight of the acrimony, as their predecessors did that day against United just over four years ago, when they eventually lost 3-0.
Instead, Tel, Wilson Odobert and Destiny Udogie — two more second-half substitutions — led a rousing fightback. Five minutes after coming on, Tel turned and slammed in the equaliser from an Udogie cross. Then, in the first minute of stoppage time, Odobert shot from distance, Richarlison flicked it with his head, and Spurs were 2-1 up. The crowd erupted. The booing of Simons’ substitution suddenly felt like ancient history.
It felt, for most of what remained of added time, like this might be the most significant win of Frank’s tenure so far, a turning point not just for the fighting performance but for the fact of doing it at home. Everyone knows how miserable Spurs’ recent record is in their own stadium. And they were two minutes away here from a win that would have profoundly reset the vibes. Fans could have floated on the positivity for the two-week international window.
Of course, it did not end that way.
Even with a man advantage after Benjamin Sesko went off injured when United had made all five changes, Tottenham failed to pick up Matthijs de Ligt from a corner, and he made it 2-2. The buzz that had followed the Richarlison goal was punctured. Spurs had to make do with a point, which is probably fair on the game’s balance of play. Even though it is difficult to simply categorise your emotional response after an ending like this.
What is clear, though, is that Tottenham avoided disaster here. They avoided a repeat of Chelsea last weekend. In fact, their second-half performance, when they had Udogie and Odobert both on, was much better than their recent home displays. Frank also avoided a repeat of Nunogeddon, a devastating 3-0 defeat and mass mutiny that ended his brief tenure.
And while on the surface you can see parallels between Spurs this year under Frank and back then under Nuno, the current Tottenham project is more built for the long-term.
Frank’s record as their head coach is better, his position is stronger, and he is more popular than Nuno was. And he is doing it with lesser players than Spurs had this time in 2021. Moreover, there is no obvious out-of-work upgrade sat on a beach somewhere waiting for the call, as was the case with Conte.
Remember the circumstances in which Nuno got the job that June.
He was only brought in after the club had — for a combination of different reasons — not appointed Hansi Flick, Mauricio Pochettino (for a second spell),Conte (for the first time),Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso. Everyone knew that at the start of the search, Nuno was not just far down the shopping list; he was not even on it. Naturally, that will always impair a manager’s authority in a new job.
His two-year contract meant that people knew right away he would be upgraded upon at some point. This made it difficult for him to build lasting relationships. As soon as Conte decided he wanted to work again after leaving Inter in the days that followed their 2020-21 Serie A title win, Nuno was done.
Frank is a different matter.
He was Spurs’ first choice in the summer. He has been encouraged to put down roots and build a trusted backroom staff. He is well-known as a people person and has very good relationships with staff and players. He is attempting — in a way that Nuno did not — to build a new culture. He is not just trying to keep the seat warm for the next guy. That is why the club are trying, even amid ups and downs, to focus on the long-term plan.
The other point to remember when comparing the two is that Nuno had far more experience and quality to call upon among the squad. He had peak-years versions of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. The previous season, Kane had scored 23 league goals, Son 17. That same campaign — where they sacked Jose Mourinho in the April — Spurs had led the Premier League after 12 games and ultimately finished seventh. The season before that, 2019-20, they came sixth. They were routinely competitive at the top end of the table. And after Conte replaced Nuno, they soon started picking up almost two points per game.
Frank is inheriting a team that lost 22 of the 38 league games last season and finished 17th out of 20. He does not have Kane or Son. He has two world-class centre-backs but not much in terms of experienced attacking quality. He is trying to rebuild the culture and the team simultaneously, while making the most of a squad that has some strengths but plenty of weaknesses too. He is trying to find solutions and develop young players.
Ultimately, there are more discontinuities than continuities between Nuno and Frank, even if it did not feel like it for a few miserable minutes on Saturday. And maybe that second-half fightback proved it, too.
USspur
Well-Known Member
Inside Tottenham’s Tactical Stalemate: Is Thomas Frank’s System Stifling Spurs’ Creativity?
The Lilywhites’ home struggles, Xavi Simons’ slow start, and the data revealing how caution is costing Spurs their cutting edge.
machinefootball.substack.com