KINSKY BOOTED
If any single moment sums up Igor Tudor’s thus far short but ignominious reign as Tottenham’s interim head coach, it was the sight of the Croatian pointing to his temples as he urged his players to maintain their composure against Atlético Madrid in Madrid on Tuesday. Composure? What composure? Spurs were 3-0 down after 17 minutes and the players in question were watching their goalkeeper trudge disconsolately from the pitch after suffering the public humiliation of being replaced for being rubbish. Studiously ignored by his manager, the crestfallen 22-year-old was followed down the tunnel by a trio of more senior players eager to console their mate. Only Tudor knows why João Palhinha, Conor Gallagher and Dom Solanke weren’t making themselves useful out on the pitch but his decision to leave all three seasoned professionals on the bench for a Bigger Cup tie that always had the potential to become the stuff of nightmares is just one of many inexplicable calls the Croatian has made since replacing Thomas Frank.
Billed far and wide across the media as “a fire-fighter” upon his arrival, Tudor has proved quite the opposite, taking no time at all to torch his own reputation as a coach and leader, along with whatever sort of positive relationship he might have fostered with Tottenham’s players and fans. Rather than extinguish the bin-fire that is Spurs’ season, this agent of chaos has doused it with gallons of petrol, masterminding four defeats in a row while reducing an already maligned rabble of highly paid professionals to the status of international laughing stock. And while that’s all well and good for neutrals who enjoy a spot of rubbernecking, his ice-cold treatment of Antonin Kinsky seemed a step too far. Whether it was those baffled by Tudor’s decision to throw an inexperienced goalkeeper into the Wanda bearpit for his first start since October, or those riled up by his decision to embarrass Kinsky inside 18 minutes, criticism of the Spurs head coach has been widespread and almost unanimous.
“For two [or] three minutes, I feel we were in the game,” he opined, keeping a commendably straight face in a post-match sift through the wreckage of his side’s 5-2 defeat. Doggedly determined to sidestep Tudor’s upbeat delusion of adequacy in favour of focusing on the minutes in which Tottenham emphatically weren’t in the game, the pesky press badgered him on his decision to remove Kinsky from the fray with less than a fifth of it played. “It was a very rare thing,” he parped. “I have never done this in 15 years of coaching. I did it to preserve the guy and to preserve the team. It was an incredible situation.” Considering Tudor felt the heartlessly abrupt removal of an underperforming interim appointment was necessary for the greater short-term good of Spurs, he can have no complaints if his higher-ups follow his lead and boot him towards the door marked Do One before he can inflict any more harm. Unlike the hapless and unfortunate Kinsky, he is likely to find sympathy in short supply.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup. Our children are not safe and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist” – Iran’s sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, says the national team will not be at the World Cup.
double quotation mark Are we looking at the shortest Tudor reign since Lady Jane Grey?” – James Vortkamp-Tong.
double quotation mark I watched Tottenham’s dire game and noticed their current interim manager has the initials ‘IT’ on his jacket. Taking other Stephen King novels into account, wouldn’t MISERY be more appropriate?” – Nigel Sanders.
double quotation mark Imagine a bearded leader who callously throws a young person to the wolves because of their foolhardy desire to radiate power on a Europe-wide stage. This could only be a Tudor regime” – Mark McFadden.
double quotation mark I was shocked on my way to work this morning to see a huge poster for an upcoming London theatrical comedy extravaganza, featuring a tall man in completely inappropriate footwear splayed on the floor while a balding manager type looks on helpless. Apparently it’s called Kinsky Boots?” – James Maltby.
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