John Heitinga’s decision to join Tottenham raised eyebrows with Thomas Frank already under pressure, and it has now emerged he had eyes on Frank’s job.
Heitinga spent just 33 days as assistant coach at Tottenham before choosing to depart soon after Frank was dismissed from his role as head coach earlier this month.
The London club have since appointed Igor Tudor on a short-term deal, with Heitinga not considered one of the options to take the leading role.
But that had been the former Liverpool coach’s plan all along, according to agent Rob Jansen, who revealed on the KieftJansenEgmondGijp podcast that succeeding Frank had been “in the back of our minds” when joining Tottenham.
“When he arrived, the suitcase remained closed for a while,” Jansen said when put to him that Frank’s bags were already packed when Heitinga chose to join.
“But that’s the risk he took. There was a chance, we had in the back of our minds, that he would take over.
“The club didn’t. After three weeks, they thought it was a bit fast. They said ‘well, taking over now seems really fast to us’.
“Then there’s a break and what does management do then? Or an owner, the Lewis family in this case, who rely on a kind of security because it saves their image?
“So they hire someone the public thinks ‘yeah, they had to hire him because he has a track record of stepping in at struggling clubs for a few months’.”
What next for former Liverpool assistant John Heitinga?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, March 8, 2025: Liverpool's assistant coach John Heitinga during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Southampton FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Heitinga had already held the role of head coach at Ajax this season but lasted just 15 games in the job before being dismissed in November.
It remains to be seen where he will go next, with a return to Liverpool not on the cards at this stage, and Jansen explained his decision to turn down an extended stay at Tottenham.
“They even requested that he stay [after] all the coaches left,” he continued.
“Which was quite an achievement after three weeks if you work there: ‘Please stay and see out your contract here’.
“He had two-and-a-half years. Then he thought about it, we talked about it, then he said ‘yes, but now Igor Tudor is coming, he’s a Croatian man with a whole staff’.
“Yes, for five months, that man is always hired for emergency jobs. Yes, it almost never works. So why they did that is a mystery.
“And then a new manager comes. So you could go twice, because that new manager also comes with 45 people. So [John is] like: ‘This is pointless, I have to leave now’.”