Tottenham Hotspur have parted ways with head coach Igor Tudor by mutual consent after just seven games in charge, the club confirmed on Sunday, as they fight to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
Tudor, 47, oversaw five defeats in a 44-day tenure, leaving Spurs out of the Champions League and just one point above the relegation zone. The Croatian coach did not address the media following last weekend’s 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, having received news of his father’s death shortly after the match ended.
“We can confirm that it has been mutually agreed for head coach Igor Tudor to leave the club with immediate effect,” Tottenham said in a statement. “We also acknowledge the bereavement that Igor has recently suffered and send our support to him and his family at this difficult time. An update on a new head coach will be provided in due course.”
Tottenham will not play again for two weeks, when they travel to Sunderland. Former Brighton and Marseille coach Roberto de Zerbi has been linked to the role, while Sean Dyche’s Premier League experience is also reportedly under consideration for the remaining seven games of the season.
Tudor, brought in with a reputation for making quick impacts during a nomadic coaching career, was unable to arrest Tottenham’s slide. The club, hit hard by injuries, has not won a league match since late December and has already exited all cup competitions.
His only win, a 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, could not overturn a 5-2 first-leg deficit. In the Premier League, Tudor managed just one point from five matches, a 1-1 draw at Liverpool. Losses to Arsenal (4-1), Fulham, Crystal Palace, and Nottingham Forest marked a poor start and rapid decline.
Spurs had won the Europa League last year under Ange Postecoglou, ending a 17-year trophy drought, but Postecoglou was sacked after a 17th-place league finish. Tudor succeeded interim manager Frank, who had briefly steadied the club after a strong start under Brentford.
Tottenham now face a tense relegation battle alongside West Ham, Nottingham Forest, and Leeds. A drop to the Championship would be a seismic blow for one of the Premier League’s “Big Six,” who recently ranked ninth in Deloitte’s Money League for the world’s richest clubs and had been Champions League regulars under Mauricio Pochettino, reaching the final in 2019.
