Former Tottenham star concerned interim boss Igor Tudor ‘knows nothing about the Premier League’

Tottenham’s decision to hand the reins to Igor Tudor for the remainder of the season has drawn immediate scepticism from one of the club’s most respected former strikers, Les Ferdinand, who fears the Croatian’s complete lack of English football experience could prove costly in a relegation dog-fight.

Tudor, 45, was parachuted into the hot-seat last week after the dismissal of Thomas Frank, with Spurs languishing in 16th place and winless in eight Premier League outings. The former Juventus head coach has never worked in England as either player or manager, a deficit Ferdinand believes is a glaring gamble with survival on the line.

“He’s short-term, he’s left-field in terms of what they’re going for,” Ferdinand told the Press Association. “My reservation and my concern would be the fact he knows nothing about the Premier League, he’s not managed there. History tends to tell you a manager needs time to learn the league. I hope I’m wrong, because Tottenham are in a precarious position.”

The north Londoners sit five points above the drop zone and have not tasted top-flight football outside the Premier League since 1978. With West Ham showing signs of life beneath them and Nottingham Forest recalibrating after their own managerial change, Ferdinand warns that comfort is in short supply.

“I’m not sure if they’ll go down, but you’d be concerned about their form,” he added. “Spurs won’t be sitting there feeling comfortable; they’re in a battle.”

Ferdinand, inducted this week into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame, retains sympathy for Frank, whose tenure was undermined by a cascade of injuries to pivotal attackers Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison, while new signing Mohammed Kudus also spent lengthy spells on the sidelines. The sale of Brennan Johnson without an immediate replacement, Ferdinand argues, further weakened a squad that finished 17th in the previous domestic campaign despite lifting the Europa League.

“At some stage you’ve got to look at the players,” he stressed. “This group finished 17th. Winning the Europa League was admirable, but many of those opponents would struggle in the Premier League.”

Tudor’s baptism of fire arrives on Sunday with the north London derby against table-topping Arsenal. Ferdinand concedes the timing is brutal: “That’s straight out of the frying pan into the fire, but there’s not a lot he can do. He has to prepare the team this week for that occasion.”

Tottenham supporters will hope Tudor’s unfamiliarity with the league proves a blessing rather than a curse; Ferdinand, for now, remains unconvinced.