While most of the pre-season friendlies come without a lot of pressure, today’s historic North London derby came with something a bit more; it carried a personal weight for Tottenham Hotspur’s new head coach, Thomas Frank, given that this was the first time in his managerial career that the Dane head coach found himself preparing to play against a team that featured Christian Norgaard.
Frank speaks about the Norgaard embrace after the NLD
Norgaard is a player that Thomas Frank has coached and mentored over the years, and given the 31-year-old essentially understood the football in Frank’s terms. And we saw after the final whistle how much it meant to both of them, given that the Lilywhites boss did not shy away from what it meant.
And he was very similar in the post-match press conference, where he didn’t shy away a bit from speaking about the embrace to show what it meant to him, where he spoke about how it has been twelve years and over 300 games. This one has been one of those enduring coach-player relationships that goes very deep, at least in my recent memory around the game. And yet, when things kicked off in Hong Kong, both of them stood on opposite sides of each other and that as rivals, given that Frank is now at Tottenham Hotspur stadium while Norgaard freshly signed at Arsenal.
He said:
It was a little emotional. I’ve known him since he was 15. He’s 31 now and I’ve been training him for 12 years so I can say that I’ve known him for a pretty long time.
“This is the first time I’ve played against him. He played for me more than 300 games and it was a bit strange to see him on the other team.
“He’s a top player and I can understand why Arsenal went for him. I’m so happy that he got this great opportunity late in his career.
This shows how Tottenham have got themselves a gem of a person
So after the final whistle we saw the cameras catching up to this warm yet lingering embrace between the two, and it was so much more than your usual full-time handshakes. And as Frank insisted that the hug was not just about respect but something far beyond, far more personal.
And it is beautiful seeing how this small moment of reflection between a manager and the player showed the close, fatherly-like relationship the head coaches have with their players. You also need to remember that this hug happened after a game between North London’s fiercest rivals, which only adds to the emotion running around.
But as we saw, these comments from Thomas Frank showed how some of the most beautiful and powerful stories in this beautiful game are not about the scoreline, but they are about the people. And for the supporters from both sides, it showed how there is such genuine human connection in the game.
For the Lilywhites, this is also a glimpse of the kind of man Thomas Frank is, someone who is loyal and likes to form these connections.