Ryan Mason has declared his interest in taking on the permanent role as Tottenham Hotspur manager, admitting that feels “ready” for the job.
The 31-year-old’s playing career was cruelly cut short by a serious head injury picked up in 2017, which forced him into retirement just over a year later. Two months later Mason joined Tottenham’s coaching staff, and since then he has worked his way up from developing the club’s youth players to working as a first team coach.
Mason has been handed interim control at Spurs after Cristian Stellini was relieved of his temporary duties in the wake of Sunday’s 6-1 thrashing at Newcastle – the Italian had only recently been instilled as interim boss himself after Antonio Conte was sacked at the beginning of April.
This isn’t Mason’s first rodeo as interim boss – he also took over following Jose Mourinho’s dismissal in 2021 – and his first assignment is against Champions League qualfication rivals Manchester United.
Speaking ahead of the game, Mason said his focus was on Thursday’s game, but admitted that he feels ready to step in on a permanent basis if afforded the opportunity.
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“Honestly for me I feel ready. I know I am ready,” Mason said. “If that situation happens, it means we’ve done a good job. That is fast forwarding six weeks time. My immediate focus is Thursday.
Nothing surprises me in football,” he added, when asked if taking over again was a surprise. “I have been coaching for the best part of six years and things happen in football and you just have to be ready and prepared.”
“If that situation happens, it means we’ve done a good job. That is fast forwarding six weeks time. My immediate focus is Thursday.”
90min understands that Julian Nagelsmann, who recently ruled himself out of the running to take over Chelsea, is prepared to open talks with Spurs over succeeding Conte and Stellini, with his camp having reached out to express an interest in holding talks with Daniel Levy.
Burnley’s Vincent Kompany, Feyenoord’s Arne Slot and Luis Enrique are all also in contention for the job at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – the latter seen as one of the frontrunners to take over because of his experience managing Barcelona and Spain’s national team.
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