Spurs urged to appoint talented 40-year-old who could help club return to Pochettino levels

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Tottenham Hotspur have been urged by Michael Dawson to appoint Scott Parker as their new permanent manager.

Spurs parted ways with Jose Mourinho last week and handed the reins to Ryan Mason on an interim basis until the end of the season.

Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs in November 2019, leading the north Londoners to a sixth-placed finish in his debut season in charge.

However, Tottenham struggled under the Portuguese this season, sitting five points adrift of the Champions League places at the time of his departure.

Spurs also suffered an embarrassing Europa League exit to Dinamo Zagreb in March and conceded five goals as they were knocked out of the FA Cup at the hands of Everton in the fifth round.

Former Spurs ace Dawson says Spurs need to go back to a long-term manager with a five-year plan, and thinks Parker would be a good – and realistic – shout.

“I believe they need a project, they need a plan, and they had that with Mauricio Pochettino – for the long distance, you can’t just go ‘right, we want to win a trophy’,” Dawson told talkSPORT.

“When they sacked Mauricio you thought ‘right, we’ll bring Jose Mourinho in, he’s going to win a trophy’, and I was one of the first to say that, he’s a serial winner, whatever trophy it’ll be he can win it.

“But I think, now they’ve sacked Jose, whether it was right or wrong a week before the cup final that’s to be discussed… Brendan Rodgers, I’d love to see him there, but I think you do an incredible job at Leicester, why would they let him go?

“So I think right, you look at Scott Parker at Fulham – yes, it looks like they’re going to get relegated, but he played there as a player, he was there as a coach, he did all his work there.

“I just think look, get a younger manager with the backing of the owners and say ‘right, we have a plan, we have a five-year plan, can we get to where I believe we were under Pochettino?’

“(Spurs) have gone back in that time and they’ve got to rebuild again and try get in the Champions League, because you look at the top four teams now and it looks like a real big ask for Spurs in getting there.”

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Tottenham had something great going on under Pochettino, and while the Mourinho experiment potentially seemed like a good idea at the time – the jump from ambitious side to trophy winners – it’s not gone to plan and Spurs have regressed.

The thing with Parker is, being a former Spurs player could certainly help the cause, but maybe the 40-year-old is a tad inexperienced at this moment in time, not to mention his current club is battling – and look likely to succumb to – relegation.

Wouldn’t Erik ten Hag made more sense given he’s managing a table-topping side that’s regularly competing in the Champions League?