Journo speculates why John Heitinga left just 33 days after his appointment as Tottenham assistant manager

John Heitinga was a part of Thomas Frank’s backroom staff.

Tottenham Hotspur’s new interim boss, Igor Tudor, has quickly put his stamp on the backroom staff in North London. That has included showing John Heitinga the door after only arriving in mid-January.

Thomas Frank, who was sacked by Spurs last week after overseeing just two wins in the last 17 Premier League games, was excited at the prospect of working with John Heitinga. The Dutchman, who played for Everton and Fulham in the Premier League, was appointed to assist Frank. However, he has followed the Danish tactician out of the club after only 33 days.

Before coming to Spurs, John Heitinga enjoyed assistant manager roles at West Ham and Liverpool. The 42-year-old was part of Arne Slot’s coaching setup at Liverpool that won the Premier League title last season. He left Liverpool last summer to take up a position as Ajax manager, but lasted only five months in Amsterdam. Following a poor run of form, he was sacked in November by Ajax.

Dutch journalist dishes out the reason behind John Heitinga’s exit from Tottenham

Prior to Tudor’s appointment, Heitinga was linked with the interim job at Tottenham. Reports suggested that the Dutchman was the ‘favourite’ for the role, as the North London club saw him as someone capable of stabilising the situation until the end of the season. However, that did not happen, and the Lilywhites moved on a different route.

Now, Dutch journalist Valentijn Driessen has revealed that Heitinga didn’t fancy working under Tudor. He states that the 42-year-old hoped to lead Spurs for the rest of the campaign following Frank’s dismissal, but decided to quit after finding out he has no future at White Hart Lane following Tudor’s appointment.

“If you read the statement: he could have stayed, and of course, he was still there,” Valentijn Driessen revealed on the Kick-Off podcast (h/t Voetbal Primeur) after meeting with Heitinga.

“That coach had been fired last week, and John could have stayed, but he had hoped to become the interim coach for the rest of the season. Then he heard that Tudor was coming.

 “Then they sat down together, and he thought: ‘I don’t see any future here, because next season there will be a whole new staff and a new coach. He’ll bring his own people with him’.

“And he probably didn’t want to work under that Tudor, after which he said: ‘I’m closing the door behind me’.”

Heitinga lasted only 33 days on Frank’s backroom staff. Whatever his input was to the boss during their time together didn’t work out, and the pair have exited N17, leaving the club just five points above the drop zone.

At 42 and highly rated, the former Netherlands international has an entire managerial career ahead of him. Knowing the Lilywhites have hired Tudor and are moving in a different direction, he made a prompt decision to follow Frank out of the club. Following his short stint with Spurs, it will be interesting to see where Heitinga goes next to showcase his managerial skills.