As Manchester United scour the market for Erik ten Hag replacements, recent history provides plenty of reasons to be wary.
Not only for the Red Devils themselves, but for the man next to step into a hotseat that would make lava itself feel cool to the touch.
With a shortage of proven, so-called ‘elite’ managers on the market – Thomas Tuchel is now the England boss, Julian Nagelsmann is under contract with Germany, while Zinedine Zidane appears to have little interest in moving to the Premier League – the likelihood is that Erik ten Hag’s successor is a man cut from similar cloth.
A relatively young, ambitious manager.
One who would arrive at Manchester United on the back of some success in charge of A) a sizeable club in a smaller league or B) a smaller club in a sizeable league.
Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim – the man emerging as the clear frontrunner as of Monday evening – falls into the former category. Thomas Frank, meanwhile, the latter.
But, for Premier League icon Ian Wright, the spectre of Graham Potter looms large for any mid-table boss willing to test himself at a club where the expectation is not merely to survive but to fight for football’s biggest honours.
Brentford boss Thomas Frank warned off Manchester United job
Frank, like Potter did at Brighton and Hove Albion, has built his Brentford side in his own image. Overachieving across numerous years while creating a team far greater than the sum of it’s parts.
But there is a reason why so many Man United fans expressed their opposition to the idea of Graham Potter’s arrival when he was linked around the turn of the year. For all of his achievements on the South Coast, all it took was six bad months at Chelsea to destroy his reputation in the minds of many.
And Wright would be loathe to see Thomas Frank suffer a similar fate at another Premier League giant who have fallen hard and fallen fast.
“You look at someone like Graham Potter,” Wright says, speaking to the official Premier League website. “Leaving Brighton, such a well-structured club, and going to Chelsea which at the time was all over the place.
“Seeing someone like Thomas Frank’s name [on Ineos’ list], I wouldn’t want Thomas Frank to leave Brentford and go to Man United in this current climate.”
Wright believes that, while Ineos have made progress instilling a modern, coherent structure while appointing Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, United are still a club in transition.
“Man United haven’t got the structure behind him to focus on being a coach, who gets the best out of the players,” the former Arsenal and Crystal Palace striker adds. “That is what they are going to need to get.
“It’s not stable enough and that is why I worry.”
Frank reacts when asked about taking Old Trafford job
While under contract at Brentford, TBR understands that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is open to the idea of paying a handsome sum should Man United decide that the ideal Ten Hag successor is currently in work elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Frank offered a rather mixed response when quizzed after Ten Hag’s sacking on Monday.
“It is a very delicate question,” says Frank, who hails from Denmark like Christian Eriksen, Rasmus Hojlund and Chido-Obi Martin. “I have a big responsibility to Brentford football club, the fans, Matthew [Benham, owner], the leadership, players, staff.
“I have one focus which is to do the very best to beat Sheffield Wednesday tomorrow in the Carabao Cup and focus on that.
“I have said many, many times I am very happy here. [But] I think [Manchester United] is one of the best clubs in the world. What happens in the future, who knows? But I’m very, very happy here.
“I always try to be as transparent as possible. I would repeat myself. I’m very happy here and I can see myself here for a long, long time. I’ve also said that maybe if something comes up, an opportunity I’d like to try.”
As things stand, however, Frank appears likely to stay at Brentford unless talks with Amorim break down.
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