NO DOUBTING THOMAS FITS BILL AT SPURS

Dane could be great at Tottenham if he's given time to mould the squad in image of Nicholson's glory boys from the 1960s

- BY KIERAN CUNNNGHAM

CLUB LEGEND Bill Nicholson was Spurs' greatest manager

THE HISTORY of English football might be very different if Alex Ferguson hadn't gone back on his word in 1984.

Ferguson's reputation was high after winning the European Cup Winners' Cup with Aberdeen, and breaking the dominance of Celtic and Rangers in Scotland.

An approach was made by Tottenham and Ferguson agreed to become their new manager.

The Scot never explained why he had a change of heart over succeeding Keith Burkinshaw and, two years later, he was in charge of Manchester United.

We all know how that worked out for him, and we also know that he didn't hold Spurs in high regard during his time managing United.

The story of one brief team talk - 'lads, it's Tottenham - has done the rounds for years.

Ferguson's captain for most of the glory years, Roy Keane, was a Spurs fan as a kid growing up in Cork.

But he seemed to buy into Ferguson's worldview too, once declaring that "you can never trust Tottenham".

It's a club that has chewed up and spat out so many managers that it can be hard to keep count.

Thomas Frank is their 11th full time boss in the last 20 years there have been five caretaker appointments in that period, to boot.

Silverware is a rare sight in Spurs territory but, even though Ange Postecoglou delivered the Europa League - and its ticket to the Champions League - he was pushed out the exit door to make way for Frank.

There was reason to think that things would start slowly under the new German.

After all, in his previous two jobs at Brondby and Brentford - Frank's teams had taken time to get going.