It took months longer than it should have, but Tottenham Hotspur have finally agreed to fire Thomas Frank after back to back losses to Manchester United and Newcastle United in the Premier League, taking Spurs just five points away from the drop zone despite investing more on the transfer market this past summer in him than any of his predecessors.
Granted, there are issues at the club that go far beyond Frank. Injuries have played a role, the winter transfer window was a total bust, and Johan Lange just might be the worst sporting director in the Premier League right now.
But Frank curried no favor with the supporters, players, or staff at Tottenham and had a losing mentality, often giving excuses after the inexcusable, writing off clearly woeful performance as good football, and even telling supporters that they should expect a heavy dose of losing at Tottenham.
Thomas Frank's Arsenal cup lives on
There were other things that grinded the gears of those at Tottenham. Recalling the incident in which Thomas Frank became a household meme by drinking out of an Arsenal cup, it appears Frank's meme'd affinity for Arsenal may have actually been real - and yet another example of Frank nauseating the organization into being sick of him.
According to a report from the Daily Telegraph's Matt Law, Frank was actually obsessed with talking about Arsenal. Instead of taking a page out of the book of common sense, Frank constantly yammered on and on about the Gunners, waxing poetic about the Premier League leaders while bringing them up in team meetings about how Spurs should play.
The result was that even players and staff at Tottenham Hotspur began to lean into the memes of Frank being an Arsenal fan, sharing the posts around social media poking fun at Frank for this (likely such as the ones of Frank wearing Arsenal onesies etc.).
Although Arsenal are the best team in the Premier League and do have positive examples of things all clubs in the league should be following in order to be successful, it's not like they are flawless nor is it as if their style of football under Mikel Arteta is a benchmark Spurs should be striving for.
Spurs should and have always been a club seeking its own identity, and other than an incompetent cowardice that doesn't even deserve the branding "Arsenal lite", Frank had failed to do this. His obsession with Arsenal was one of his many undoings and a perhaps more personal glimpse at his sheer inability to read the room or relate to anybody at Tottenham.