Sports
Again, Tottenham Part Ways With Coach
Igor Tudor has left his role as Tottenham Hotspur interim head coach after just 44 days and seven matches.
Spurs said they have mutually agreed with the Croat to part ways with immediate effect.
The decision comes a week after a damaging 3-0 home defeat by fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest on 22 March, a result that left Spurs 17th in the table and only one point above the relegation places with seven games remaining.
Tottenham have suffered five defeats in seven matches in all competitions since Tudor succeeded the sacked Thomas Frank on 14 February, on a deal until the end of the season.
Spurs said: “An update on a new head coach will be provided in due course.”
Tidesports source understands Spurs will appoint Tudor’s replacement in the next few days to be in place for when most players return from international duty.
Tudor’s assistant Bruno Saltor will oversee training for those at the club.
They confirmed goalkeeping coach Tomislav Rogic and physical coach Riccardo Ragnacci have also departed.
Tudor, 47, did not undertake post-match media duties after the defeat by Forest because of the death of his father.
“We thank Igor, Tomislav and Riccardo for their efforts during the past six weeks, in which they worked tirelessly,” said Spurs 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.”
Tudor lost each of his first four matches as Spurs boss. The opening defeat by north London rivals Arsenal was followed by losses against Fulham and Crystal Palace in the league before a calamitous 5-2 Champions League last 16 first-leg defeat away to Atletico Madrid.
He celebrated his first point after Richarlison scored a 90th-minute equaliser at Liverpool, and then watched his side win their second leg against Atletico, although they failed to overturn their three-goal deficit.
However, the woeful defeat by Forest heightened Spurs’ fears of suffering their first relegation from the top flight since 1977 and proved to be the final game of his brief spell.
The single point which Spurs have collected since Tudor’s appointment is the fewest of any side in the Premier League during that time.
But they have been bottom of the form table since mid-December.
They are without a victory in 13 league matches since a 1-0 triumph over Crystal Palace on 28 December – 88 days ago – while their last win in any competition was over Eintracht Frankfurt on 28 January.
Among their issues this season has been an extensive list of long-term injuries to key players, including the likes of James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.
Tottenham will resume their league campaign after the international break with a trip to 11th-placed Sunderland on 12 April.
They then face Brighton (home), Wolves (away), Aston Villa (away), Leeds (home), Chelsea (away) and Everton (home) as they seek to secure their Premier League status.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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