Tottenham Hotspur parted ways with Antonio Conte on March 26th and five days before that, reports in Germany said the north London club had initiated contact with Eintracht Frankfurt manager Oliver Glasner.
The 48-year-old, who helped the German club win the Europa League last season, is one of the candidates to become Conte’s successor at Spurs.
Earlier this month, Bild stated the Bundesliga coach is on the Tottenham and Chelsea radars. Like Spurs, the Blues are also without a permanent manager after having sacking Graham Potter.
Bild interviewed the Austrian and asked him how he feels to be linked to Tottenham, at a time when more than half of the current Premier League clubs made managerial changes this season.
When responding to that, he insisted the sacking frenzy in England won’t put him off to the Totenham job or other opportunities, because it’s part of life of a top manager.
“I’m too far away. All I can say is that when I was in training as a coach, the first words in a lecture by a UEFA gentleman were: ‘Welcome to the land without sleep’. And the next thing was that the duration of a coaching job is one to two years. And further: ‘26% of all managers can’t find a second job after their first job… Do you want to do that to yourself?’ That was the opening speech,” he said.
“And when you decide to do it, you know what to expect. I try to make myself independent of it. Try to have fun. And always giving my best is the only thing you can ask of me.”
The Eintracht Frankfurt coach has used Mikel Arteta’s tenure at Arsenal as an example to explain what happens when a manager is backed by a club.
“Carlo Ancelotti once said when he was coach at Bayern: ‘The clubs take me because I am the way I am. And eventually they throw me out because I am the way I am. That’s why I stay the way I am.’ I think that’s a great statement,” Glasner explained.
“But there are other examples, like Mikel Arteta at Arsenal – who had a very difficult season but they stuck with him and rebuilt the team the way they had planned. Now they are playing for the Premier League title. I think if you have a common vision, then it takes time to implement it. And if you have confidence in a coach, then you should strengthen him.”
