20/07/2025

theSun on Sunday JULY 20, 2025

SPORTS 14 THOMAS FRANK said he wanted to take Tottenham Hotspur to “new heights” during his first press conference yesterday as the club’s manager. The 51-year-old Dane joined from Brentford after Spurs sacked Ange Postecoglou after the Australian guided Spurs to Europa League glory – their first major trophy in 17 years – but also presided over the club’s worst top-flight campaign since 1976/77. But while Frank was generally upbeat about his desire to improve upon Spurs’

‘More risk in my daily life’ Frank aims to take Tottenham to ‘new heights’

never been sacked before. That is one of the reasons why I took the job. I get a little bit more risk in my daily life.” It is now nearly 65 years since Spurs were last crowned champions of England, winning both the old First Division and the FA Cup in the 1960/61 season. “Going into a new season and in football, it’s about dreaming and hoping,” said Frank. “That’s what we do. “I’ll do everything every day to work towards hopefully taking this club to new heights – that’s the ambition.” – AFP

each) tomorrow, Son and Romero will be the two captains, but I haven’t made a final decision.” As for Gibbs-White, Tottenham were thought to have triggered the £60 million (RM342m) release clause in the England midfielder’s contract at Nottingham Forest. But Forest have accused Spurs of contacting Gibbs-White directly before going to the club and his future remains uncertain. “I will not speak about players who are not mine,” said Frank. “I think I have two exceptions and they are getting older – (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi.” Frank joked he only came to Spurs to be sacked. He also guaranteed they will still lose matches, which was followed by a mention of the unbeaten 2003/04 campaign enjoyed by Arsenal, Tottenham’s arch-rivals. “One thing is 100 percent sure, we will lose football matches,” he said. “I haven’t seen a team that is not losing any football matches. There is Arsenal, that we can’t

dismal 17th-placed finish in the Premier League that included 22 defeats in 38 games, he made no guarantees over the future of Son Heung-min and was guarded concerning the club’s pursuit of Morgan Gibbs-White. He did confirm club skipper Son and vice-captain Cristian Romero, who have both been linked with a move away from Tottenham during the transfer window, would feature in Saturday’s friendly at Reading. But Frank added he had yet to decide on the captaincy, despite Son skippering Spurs to their Europa League final win over Manchester United in May. “Two top players, Sonny, been here 10 years, finally got his his well deserved trophy in the summer, so important for the team and the club. Cristian Romero, World Cup winner, Europa League winner, Copa America winner, very, very important for us as well,” said Frank. He added: “I haven’t decided anything on that (captaincy). I have a long list of bullet points I need to get through and I take them in the right order. “He (Son) was the captain last year and when we play two 45s (halves of 45 minutes

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mention, in the Premier League. So I made my first rookie mistake there!” He added: “I have the privilege of I have

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Napoli coach Antonio Conte coach arrives at training. – REUTERSPIC

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‘Napoli must learn from disastrous title defence’ SERIE A champions Napoli must be humble and learn from the mistakes they made during their disastrous title defence in the 2023-24 campaign, manager Antonio Conte has warned. Napoli endured a turbulent 2023/24 campaign, finishing 10th and going through three managers after coach Luciano Spalletti left the club. Spalletti had led them to their first Scudetto title in 33 years in the 2022/23 season. lessons even from negative things. What happened two years ago must be a lesson, especially to the environment. We are on the field and we work, there will never be any flights of fancy. We will be very humble.” Napoli have strengthened their title winning squad with the addition of Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, Dutch winger Noa Lang and Italian centre back Luca Marianucci, among others.

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Conte, who won three Serie A titles as manager of Juventus and one at Inter Milan along with a Premier League trophy with Chelsea, was handed the responsibility of reviving Napoli in June last year and promptly won them the Scudetto in the recently concluded season. “By definition, those who have the Scudetto on their jersey are favourites or among the favourites. We must not shy away or hide out of fear,” Conte told reporters on Friday. “We have worked hard to tailor ourselves. It is inevitable that this year will be very challenging. “But there is a very recent past that we must never forget. We must learn

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De Bruyne, regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history, lifted 19 trophies at Manchester City since his 2015 move from German side VfL Wolfsburg – a haul that includes six Premier League titles and one Champions League crown. Conte hopes the 34-year-old can help Napoli take that extra step. “He comes to us to take on a new challenge, it is a different situation for him too: he has already reached very high levels in his career and has a lot more to give to football,” Conte added. Napoli begin their pre-season with a friendly match against Arezzo on Tuesday. – Reuters

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