This Week’s Manager Watch: Ryan Mason

[Zino]

When will the next manager thread get unlocked?

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

No chance.

Yes very unlikely but do we actually think he could be a good option?
Our own Arteta so to speak?

I don't know of many managers who've had experience at PL level who drop down to lower league and then get these types of opportunities again later on. The lowest he'd drop would be Championship I think similar to experience Lampard, Kompany, Gerrard (SPL) have had I suppose.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

When will the next manager thread get unlocked?

Once we lost 6-0 tomorrow

Joking... "Ryan Mason's Blue & White Army...WE WANT LEVY OUT".

 

[jezz]

I think given what's gone before, those games are free hits. If we give everything, regardless of results, that's progress in my eyes.

Then we'll see how he does against Palace, Leeds and Brentford.

I'd like to think there free hits but they won't be.
A couple of kickings like the Newcastle ones and Mason will be done.

 

[rabbikeane]

Max 2 losses and I wouldn't rule him out if the players want him.
Knowing how we want to play and build a high quality squad for it is far more important than who manage us.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

When will the next manager thread get unlocked?

Probably when there’s some actual news/ITK to talk about

 

[jan1882]

When will the next manager thread get unlocked?

7-10 days

 

[Trix]

It’s absolutely nuts this man wasn’t given the gig as soon as Conte left. He bleeds spurs and will get the team at least playing with pride and effort down the stretch.

He'll certainly try, whether or not they will remains to be seen.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

What did Arteta ever do to get the Arsenal job. Would have been nowhere near if he hadn’t played for them.
worked with Pep you say. So what, McLaren worked with Ferguson, as did Brian Kidd. Didn’t do much for them.
Nagelsmann is just a gobshite who loves himself. Not worth the hassle. It’s Arnie Slot or Ryan.
sometimes things just fall into place.
a number of top coaches have appeared after being injured quite young in their playing careers.
David Pleat
Brendan Rogers
Brian Clough
Eddie Howe
no doubt there are others.
next one off the rank could be Ryan Mason.
COYS

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

What did Arteta ever do to get the Arsenal job. Would have been nowhere near if he hadn’t played for them.
worked with Pep you say. So what, McLaren worked with Ferguson, as did Brian Kidd. Didn’t do much for them.
Nagelsmann is just a gobshite who loves himself. Not worth the hassle. It’s Arnie Slot or Ryan.
sometimes things just fall into place.
a number of top coaches have appeared after being injured quite young in their playing careers.
David Pleat
Brendan Rogers
Brian Clough
Eddie Howe
no doubt there are others.
next one off the rank could be Ryan Mason.
COYS

Nice post apart from the Nagelsmann part, think that's a bit harsh.

But as for the rest all spot on, we shall see... although I think we will have been putting the feelers out for new managers already so just can't see it being Mason no matter how well he may or may not do.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Those that want Mason as our permanent manager need to check their medication

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Good presser, speaks far beyond his years.

Like how he turns everything round to be a positive, we need that at our club to break through the negativity.

I think tomorrow we will see a performance with higher energy and passion and an attempt to keep more of the ball whilst still trying to be solid, however style of play and formation/tacticswise as Ryan says we probably won't see the fruits of his labour until the final 3 games as he's not got enough time on the training pitch to change much between now and the Man.U and Liverpool games.

Lets see how far an arm round the shoulder and a bit of positivity can take us over the next 2 games and then go from there.

 

[Tractorspur]

What did Arteta ever do to get the Arsenal job. Would have been nowhere near if he hadn’t played for them.
worked with Pep you say. So what, McLaren worked with Ferguson, as did Brian Kidd. Didn’t do much for them.
Nagelsmann is just a gobshite who loves himself. Not worth the hassle. It’s Arnie Slot or Ryan.
sometimes things just fall into place.
a number of top coaches have appeared after being injured quite young in their playing careers.
David Pleat
Brendan Rogers
Brian Clough
Eddie Howe
no doubt there are others.
next one off the rank could be Ryan Mason.
COYS

FYI Nigelsmumm’s playing career was also ended early by injury

 

[jezz]

Max 2 losses and I wouldn't rule him out if the players want him.
Knowing how we want to play and build a high quality squad for it is far more important than who manage us.

If the players want him I don't.
The players are paid to train and play not decide if they like the manager.

 

[Russ1201]

I think given the scale of the job we'd be mad to give it to him even if he absolutely smashes the last 6 games of the season.

We're at a really critical juncture as a club and if we don't get this next appointment right we could really screw ourselves long term. Giving the job to Mason based on an absolutely teeny-tiny sample size is too big an ask. Even high risk success stories like Arteta, Zidane and Pep were in their late 30s and had years of working as assistants and B-team coaches under the belts before being given the reigns.

I think he needs to go and learn the ropes and prove himself down in the Championship like Kompany has done, or a few seasons as the direct assistant to a world class coach, before I'd even consider giving him the job.

True but no need to worry because these gutless cowards will have zero will to fight and win. They are already counting the days to end of the season. I can't see us getting more than 6 points with the remaining games.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

I think Mason saying he's ready could (and possibly should) be taken as a signal that he'll be applying for 'lesser' gigs for next season and starting his journey as a manager/coach in his own right.

Or it could be one of the conspiracy theories spouted by one of our resident kinder bar munchers. Fucked if I know.

 

[daveduvet]

Good article on him on the Athletic today. I think he will have to work on getting them up for the game. Can see him going 352.

Some pertinent paragraphs below:

After a month of chaos, Ryan Mason can bring some calm to Tottenham Hotspur

It has been two years since Ryan Mason's last spell as Tottenham's caretaker manager - how much has he learned and changed since then?

theathletic.com

Spurs’ disastrous season so far means Mason takes on the interim job with the team’s confidence on the floor, and after one win in five games facing up to the real possibility of no European football next season. His first two games in charge will be Manchester United at home on Thursday, followed by Liverpoolaway three days later. Winning either will be a massive ask but his target first and foremost will be to try and get the fans believing again and feeling that connection with the players and the club.

As was the case two years ago when Mason oversaw four wins from six league games to salvage a place in the Europa Conference League, he does not need to oversee a revolution. He needs to raise spirits sufficiently to jump-start Tottenham’s season and secure the few wins required to take them over the line.​

Can he do it? Mason, a former Spurs player and lifelong supporter is certainly not lacking for advocates in the game (including among the club’s current playing and coaching staff), and there’s a sense that he has learned lessons from two years ago and will be desperate to apply them. It’s also easy to forget because of how young he is that Mason has been coaching for more than five years.​

He is a very intelligent, tactically astute and extremely positive person, but Mason doesn’t need to be Spurs’ long-term saviour. Maybe one day he could be that, but right now what the players need is a jolt of confidence and adrenaline to pick them up from the canvas after Sunday’s humiliation at Newcastle.​

---

It was a very similar situation in April 2021, and with Tottenham losing at home to Southampton at half-time in his first game in charge, Mason was struck by how low on confidence everyone was. The mood was so flat that he decided his focus should not be on tactics first of all but on giving off the right energy and trying to be as positive as possible. He told the players to lift their chins up and puff their chests out and then went through a few points on the big screen.​

There was no Churchillian speech. There didn’t have to be. It was just about reminding the players that there was still a game to be won, and that rescuing a game when behind was possible. Spurs went on to win 2-1, the first time they had won a game when trailing at half-time in almost 18 months.​

Mason knows he can’t change the culture at Spurs overnight. It’s been a bruising period for everyone at the club, and so at this point it’s about small wins. Lifting the players and making them feel positive about coming into training, a bit more at ease. This was something he managed to do two years ago, and there’s a feeling that it’ll be a little easier for him now given there’s a bit more distance in age between him and most of the players. And this time around, there was already an easing of the tension when Conte left, and so now Mason needs to align that with tactics and training sessions that excite the players.​

The feedback on Mason’s training sessions was very positive in 2021. He was helped by the low bar set by Mourinho’s unpopular coaching staff, but it was said that Mason’s sessions were some of the best since Mauricio Pochettino.​

Since his first period in charge, Mason learned a lot from working with Conte — his attention to detail, his emotional heft when speaking to the players, the ability to spot things in matches. Mason showcased the latter skill himself when he helped devise the shrewd plan to instruct Eric Dier to position himself a few yards further forward and almost man-mark Bernardo Silva in Spurs’ 1-0 win over Manchester City in February. Once in charge against Brighton after Stellini had been sent to the stands, he urged Dier to push on again and sent on Arnaut Danjuma in a switch that helped Spurs nick a 2-1 win. Many observers felt Mason looked more natural as the No 1 than the more reserved Stellini did during his four games in charge.​

The players have generally been very impressed by Mason’s coaching, and maintaining this positive relationship with the squad will be one of Mason’s most important jobs. There are many who feel, as Conte did, that it is the players who are to blame for the constant churn of Tottenham managers, including Sunday’s 6-1 defeat at Newcastle that cost Stellini his job.​

Mason is well-liked by the Spurs players, who find him relatable and have been impressed by the aforementioned attention to detail. He is said to have the full support of the players committee of Lloris, Harry Kane, Dier and Pierre-Emile Hobjerg that met with Levy on Monday.​

“I like him a lot, because you know he was a player there just a couple of years ago,” Dejan Kulusevski said earlier this month. “He knows how it is to be in our shoes. Like today, I spoke to him after training, he was seeing something when I was shooting and trying to correct it, and asked me about what I think when I shoot like that.​

“It’s good when you can speak with someone who knows what they’re talking about because he was in your shoes a couple of years ago. He’s a fantastic guy, honestly.”​

Tactically, it will be interesting to see what Mason does but his hands are largely tied by injuries which means that, in the immediate term, 3-4-3 feels like the most sensible option (especially given what happened on Saturday).​

But even if he sticks with Conte’s system, perhaps one of Mason’s greatest assets in the short term is that for all that he learned from the Italian the two are almost polar opposites. And a change is something fans have been crying out for, especially after Conte was replaced by his assistant Stellini, someone who is inextricably linked to him.​

Where Conte always gave the impression he was above Spurs, Mason has gold-plated Tottenham credentials. He is the lifelong fan, the local lad and academy graduate who has said his dream growing up was to score at White Hart Lane. His passion for the club is evident to everyone who speaks to him.​

Where Conte is all volatility — a trait that cost him his job — Mason is very measured, known for never getting too high or low. A healthy perspective on life partly down to the traumatic events of six years ago. After a period of combustibility, Spurs need a bit of calm.​

And where Conte’s negativity eventually sucked the life out of the club, Mason is renowned for his positivity, a big believer in the importance of giving off the right energy to his players. “If you constantly focus on negative things that will have an effect on you, the people around you, your energy, how you walk into a room,” he said last month on the High Performance Podcast. “As opposed to if I focus on what’s positive or ‘how can we get out of this moment?’ What do we need to do to get to this state of happiness or real positivity?”​

Somehow it’s difficult to imagine those words coming out of Conte’s mouth. Similarly, Mason’s statement on Tuesday that: “It’s a privilege to manage this great club. I’m ready for the challenge and know what it means to represent the club.”​

This kind of rhetoric alone won’t lift the gloom at Spurs, but, aligned with Mason’s positivity and tactical smarts, it should help. He is also humble enough to take advice about things he’s not certain of, and will lean on his staff, which will include academy coaches Matt Wells (acting assistant head coach) and Nigel Gibbs (acting first team coach), with Perry Suckling (goalkeeping coach) and Gianni Vio (set pieces coach) remaining in their existing roles. Mason is under no illusion about the challenge he faces in the next six matches. He also knows that if he impresses, he can put himself in the frame for the top job at Spurs or elsewhere.​

Becoming a head coach is the ultimate aim for Mason, and well-placed sources speak of his “burning desire to succeed”, partly because of the way his playing career was so cruelly ended.​

He will need to show all of that desire in the next few weeks if he’s to emulate or improve on his brief period in charge two years ago.​

That was a good read - would like mason in and around the club despite who comes in next

 

[Russ1201]

Good presser, speaks far beyond his years.

Like how he turns everything round to be a positive, we need that at our club to break through the negativity.

I think tomorrow we will see a performance with higher energy and passion and an attempt to keep more of the ball whilst still trying to be solid, however style of play and formation/tacticswise as Ryan says we probably won't see the fruits of his labour until the final 3 games as he's not got enough time on the training pitch to change much between now and the Man.U and Liverpool games.

Lets see how far an arm round the shoulder and a bit of positivity can take us over the next 2 games and then go from there.

I really like Ryan and can see him being a future manager full time. But i don't want to see him getting into this mess right now needs a lot more experience and someone not attached to the club.
COYS need atleast a good performance even if we lose, need to see some passion from the players.

 

[daveduvet]

Allow be to fantasise a little with dramatic licence - Ryan wins remaining 6 fixtures: players are inspired; Harry & Ryan put their heads together and come up with achievable summer transfer targets; Harry becomes a player-coach and commits to spurs for life; Ryan is given the permanent role. Dof isn’t required as democracy has come to the fore - Daniel is so discombobulated by all the wrongs he’s presented on the footballing, he takes a physical back seat.
Spurs go on to win the league & CL. All of football is impressed by this new model, that teams across the globe take up the example.

Then I woke up

 

[Albertbarich]

Absolutely loved that presser.

Ryan's demeanour was perfect. He wasnt overly happy or friendly just sounded like he has a bee on his bonnet and professional. I have so much faith in his future

I don't think he will get the gig but him saying he wants it is no bad thing as the players know they aren't just playing for a sitting duck.

Lovely to have one of our own fighting for us.