Anger among fans and coach
Tottenham coach shows himself with the emblem of arch-rival Arsenal
January 8, 2026 – 1:09 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Before a Tottenham Hotspur game, coach Thomas Frank shows himself with a cup from arch-rivals Arsenal. This leads to anger among the fans and the coach.
English football is home to numerous rivalries, and these are particularly intense in north London. Tottenham Hotspur fans and Arsenal fans can’t stand each other there. A picture from Wednesday evening caused trouble, especially in the Spurs camp.
Coach Thomas Frank entered the pitch before the away game at AFC Bournemouth with a cup in his hand that was unmistakably emblazoned with the Arsenal logo. Initial suspicions that this was an AI-generated image were not confirmed. The recording is actually real.
“That’s not acceptable. Get rid of him!” demanded a Tottenham fan on The hashtag “FrankOut”, i.e. the demand for the coach’s expulsion, has since been found in abundance among all of the club’s current Instagram posts.
After the defeat against Bournemouth, Frank himself was not very amused when asked about the Arsenal cup. “I definitely didn’t notice it,” the coach explained. “It would have been completely stupid for me to take it if I had known about it.”
The 52-year-old Dane expressed some displeasure at the uproar among journalists and fans: “It’s a bit sad that I’m being asked about this. I would never do something so stupid. We’re definitely moving in the wrong direction if we’re worried about me having a cup with another club’s logo on it.”
The BBC explains the background to the incident. Frank was presented with the cup by an employee upon arrival at the stadium. The cup was apparently a leftover from Arsenal FC’s visit to Bournemouth four days earlier. The “Gunners” brought their own cup with them.