Introducing Igor Tudor's new-look Tottenham Hotspur coaching staff

Tottenham Hotspur’s managerial merry-go-round has taken another spin, and this time it has delivered Igor Tudor and a hastily re-engineered backroom team into the eye of a north-London storm. With the dust still settling on Thomas Frank’s abrupt departure, the 47-year-old Croatian was unveiled as interim head coach on Saturday night, charged with keeping 16th-placed Spurs above the relegation line over the final 12 Premier League fixtures.

Tudor’s first task was to assemble a staff capable of delivering an instant bounce. After days of talks, the club agreed to release Justin Cochrane, Chris Haslam, Joe Newton and January arrival John Heitinga—Heitinga’s exit coming only 33 days into his tenure—clearing the way for a trio the Croatian has long trusted.

Ivan Javorcic, who followed Tudor from Lazio to Juventus last year, steps in as assistant coach. Riccardo Ragnacci, reunited with the head coach after their Verona and Juve collaborations, becomes physical coach. Between the posts, Tomislav Rogic—first hired by Tudor at Hajduk Split in 2014 and later seen at Shakhtar, Zenit, Club Brugge and Shanghai Port—takes over goalkeeping duties.

The appointments leave Fabian Otte, retained from Frank’s regime, working alongside Rogic and academy graduate Dean Brill for just three senior keepers, a dynamic that could test squad harmony should methodologies clash. Otte’s CV—USMNT, Burnley, Gladbach and Liverpool—suggests Spurs view him as a long-term piece, yet the immediate priority is cohesion.

Cohesion is hardly guaranteed elsewhere. Matt Wells, the lone survivor from Ange Postecoglou’s tenure, left in December for the Colorado Rapids head-coach role, while Stuart Lewis and Brill remain from the academy pipeline. The result is a patchwork staff: part-Tudor loyalists, part-Frank recommendations, part-club holdovers. The head coach must weld them together before Sunday’s north-London derby against league-leading Arsenal, a fixture for which he will have minimal preparation time.

Tactical upheaval adds to the strain. Tudor historically favours a 3-4-2-1, but captain Cristian Romero begins a four-match ban and first-choice wing-backs Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro are injured. Research indicates injury risk spikes after managerial changes; balancing fresh intensity with player welfare will be critical.

Twelve games remain, starting with Arsenal’s visit. Survival, not style points, is the mandate for a squad adapting to its third head coach in under a year. Tudor’s ability to meld old and new faces into a unified dugout may determine whether Spurs stage a great escape or slide toward the Championship.