No room for King or Mason on new Tottenham coaching staff

Tottenham announced the rest of the new coaching contingent earlier today, which excluded former assistant coach Ledley King and interim manager Ryan Mason. 

King will revert back to his ambassador role with the club while Mason is going to take his former post as head of player development. He will also have a big involvement across the club’s U18 coaching programme next season alongside new U18s coach Stuart Lewis.

The announcement isn’t particularly surprising, as Nuno has brought some former colleagues along for the ride. Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa and Antonio Dias will join Nuno at the club, all of whom have extensive previous experience working alongside the new Tottenham boss.

Cathro, who was Hearts manager from 2016 to 2017, has coached alongside under Nuno at Rio Ave, Wolves and Valencia intermittently over the past decade.

Barbosa has the responsibility of working with the keepers while Dias is Tottenham’s new fitness coach.

It’s unknown whether King and Mason are content with their reassignments. Both have reverted back to former roles they know really well.

Both former Spurs’ players might fight it a bit more difficult to walk away from their posts after getting a taste of senior management. The pair would have expected the forthcoming change, though.

Mason enjoyed a decent spell as Spurs’ interim manager and will have his sight set on finding a permanent post at some point in the near future. If it’s not with Tottenham, Mason might pursue a head coach role elsewhere. For now he’s reportedly happy looking after Tottenham’s academy.

King joined Jose Mourinho’s staff in 2020 and played an integral role on the sidelines during Mourinho’s tenure.