An Italian coach is being considered as the third manager for the Spurs this season, but his potential appointment faces significant opposition.
Several Tottenham Hotspur fan clubs have publicly opposed the potential hiring of Roberto De Zerbi as the club’s new manager. This comes after the club parted ways with coach Igor Tudor on Sunday, who himself had only taken over from Thomas Frank a month prior.
Even before Tudor’s dismissal, Spurs fans had voiced their opposition to De Zerbi over the weekend. The resistance stems from comments the Italian coach made about his player Mason Greenwood during his previous tenure at Olympique Marseille. De Zerbi himself was dismissed from the French club in mid-February.
Greenwood gained notoriety during his time at Manchester United, having been arrested in January 2022 on suspicion of rape and assault. Although the charges were dropped a year later after key witnesses withdrew their statements and new evidence emerged, Greenwood found no place at United – also due to significant fan backlash. He eventually moved to Marseille in 2024 after a loan spell at Getafe.
In November, then-OM coach De Zerbi described Greenwood as a «nice guy» who «had to atone.» He stated, «What happened to him makes me sad, because I only know a completely different person than the one who was described back then.»
The Spurs’ women’s fan club, ‘Women of the Lane,’ has now released a statement asserting that De Zerbi’s comments raise «serious questions about his judgment.» The fan club declared, «This is an appointment that Tottenham Hotspur should not make.»
Similarly, ‘Proud Lilywhites,’ the Spurs’ LGBTQ+ fan club, shared their concerns and rejection, stating: «When someone in this position publicly defends a player like Mason Greenwood, the severity of what happened is downplayed. This is not only significant in itself but also concerning regarding the signal it sends.»