Tottenham should look across London to solve their manager crisis… Brentford’s Thomas Frank is the man for the job

It’s just crazy when you look at Tottenham Hotspur’s current situation.

Here is a great club with no manager, no football director and most likely no European football next season.

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Their record goalscorer Harry Kane could be out, and their captain and long-time goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is also definitely on the road this summer.

It’s a mess or, in other words, a perfect storm – a very rare opportunity to blow things up completely and start with a clean slate under the right manager and director of football and with a long-term plan.

Tomorrow is Tottenham’s last home game of the season and the visitors are Brentford.

And I can’t think of a better manager than Brentford’s Thomas Frank to oversee a proper rebuild at Spurs.

In fact – and Brentford fans won’t thank me for saying this – Bees keeper David Raya would also be an excellent replacement for Lloris.

And having served his ban for violating the betting rules, I also believe that Ivan Toney would be the perfect long-term option to replace Kane.

Frank is an outstanding, ambitious and hungry manager.

I know some will say his Brentford side play a lot of football but when they rose from the league under the Dane they were a superb football team.

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He’s an adaptable manager and I think Spurs would play more attractively under him than under Antonio Conte or José Mourinho.

I know Toney has an eight month ban but we are talking a long term plan here and he is definitely top six quality and already a proven goalscorer.

It will be painful for Spurs to part ways with Kane – he has been a key figure for almost a decade – but it would be right for both the player and the club if he moves this summer.

I’ve already written that I think a move to Paris Saint-Germain would suit Kane well and would certainly allow him to win trophies.

I’ve seen him being linked with a possible move to the French champions this week and I’m not surprised.

Manchester United are obviously interested and Bayern Munich have also been mentioned.

All of these clubs would certainly pay upwards of £100m for the England captain – maybe even closer to £150m.

That would go a long way towards funding a major makeover as Tottenham need more quality across their squad.

Kane is a huge influence at Spurs and if they don’t sell him this summer another manager will have to step in and win his blessing.

It will just feel like Spurs are digging through another season rather than doing the complete fresh start the club needs.

I know many Tottenham fans are upset that chairman Daniel Levy has not reappointed Mauricio Pochettino and that the Argentine is now moving to Chelsea.

But I think that’s a decision Levy made right. I played against Pochettino’s top team, Tottenham, and they were a great team – young, dynamic, extremely hardworking and completely attuned to their manager’s methods.

But that was a specific time, with specific players. The Chelsea job suits Poch better and Spurs need a fresh start with a new vision – no rehashing of the past.

Tottenham are almost certainly going to get worse before they get better.

The competition in the Premier League is so fierce that it will be at least two or three years before a return to the Champions League can be considered.

Spurs need to see what Arsenal have achieved with their rebuild under Mikel Arteta, which has seen many older players catch up and at times weakened results, ahead of this season’s title challenge.

The club must make it clear that the fans need patience and that the manager – ideally Frank – will be supported in the long term.

I have a lot of time for Ryan Mason, who’s a great guy and a smart coach, but he shouldn’t be given the job on a permanent basis.

It’s too big a job for a novice.

If Ryan wants to be number 1, and I think he is, he needs to learn that craft elsewhere.

Whoever assumes the position of Spurs manager will be inheriting a club with great support and excellent infrastructure – it has one of the best stadiums and training grounds in world football.

But as my pal Danny Rose – a member of Pochettino’s excellent squad – recently said: “You can have the best house, but if there’s no furniture in it, it’s irrelevant.”

Now it’s time for Tottenham to shop for furniture.