Why are teams always calling Tudor to save them?

Igor Tudor was a solid defender in his time. He played for Juventus for nine seasons and won two Serie A titles, along with Intertoto Cup in 1999. His managerial career is not so successful (so far) as he only won the Croatian Cup with his boyhood club Hajduk Split. So far, he changed 10 clubs in 13 years: Hajduk Split (twice), PAOK, Karabukspor, Galatasaray, Udinese, Hellas Verona, Marseille, Lazio and Juventus and never stayed too long. The reason is simple – his results were not good, or he had problems with the players. But nevertheless, he still got quite a formidable job – an interim role in Tottenham. We are talking about a Premier League team which belongs to the so-called ‘Big six‘ who is financially stable, has no problems with PSR rule and is currently in the Top 8 in the Champions League. Not to mention that Tudor has absolutely no experience in the English league. So, why are Spurs taking another risk?

New Spurs boss in London by Monday

The first obvious reason is that Tottenham‘s new executives don‘t want to make the same mistakes as the previous one (Daniel Levy). Under Levy‘s long-time tenure, Tottenham changed 14 managers, starting with Glen Hoddle way back in 2001. Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, and Ange Postecoglou were most recent hires. So, the new bosses want an interim manager in order to have a clear situation come June 2026, when managers like Mauricio Pochettino, Andoni Iraola, Oliver Glazner (or suddenly somebody else) will become available. But, they are also taking a risk because those managers might refuse Tottenham, as they might get relegated, if Tudor doesn‘t impove the team by than.

The former Marseille boss is perceived in Italy as the savior. When a team is in trouble and in danger of relegation, they call Tudor and so far, he always succeeded. He saved Udinese from dropping from Serie A (twice), he improved Lazio and even got them the Europa League spot, he lifted Verona from the last place to a ninth place. One of his rare jobs which he started from May and not in the middle of the season was Marseille. He was against the players and the fans, but secured the Champions League spot and left on his own terms, as the job in that famous club wore him down. Tottenham job is worse than Udinese or Verona. He will have better players on the pitch, along with those who will come back after injuries and he is (still) not in relegation zone. If he succeeds, he might find some clubs who are willing to take a chance on him in England, while Tottenham will have a commodity to chose some great managers and offer them a new start from June.