Tottenham chief 'placed on gardening leave' as Daniel Levy commits to huge change

Tottenham's chief football officer Scott Munn has reportedly been placed on gardening leave. The 51-year-old Australian joined Spurs less than two years ago after a delayed move from the City Football Group and was a key ally of sacked manager Ange Postecoglou.

However, following the dismissal of the head coach earlier this month, and with the appointment of new CEO Vinai Venkatesham, it appears Munn's time at the club is drawing to a close. Although no official announcement has been made, it has been claimed that Munn has now been put on gardening leave by the north London club as changes continue to occur at the top level of Spurs. Alongside former Arsenal chief Venkatesham's arrival, Tottenham have appointed a new head coach in Thomas Frank. It was also confirmed that the club's executive director, Donna-Maria Cullen, a long-standing advisor to Daniel Levy, will be stepping down from the board and leaving the club this summer.

According to Football London, club insiders anticipate the return of former managing director of football Fabio Paratici later this year. Paratici, who is closing in on the end of his ban from specific football activities, maintains a consultancy role at Spurs until August. He remains part of a civil trial in Italy, with investigations ongoing into the dealings of several former members of the Juventus hierarchy.

Upon Munn's appointment as Tottenham's chief football officer in 2023, Levy praised his comprehensive expertise: "Scott has a unique and broad experience of running sporting organisations at the highest level and will take responsibility for the leadership and management of our football activities to instil best practice both on and off the pitch."

Meanwhile, Frank, who recently took over the reins as head coach, has engaged with Venkatesham, technical director Johan Lange, and Levy regarding the club's structure and processes. Last week, Frank commended the thorough approach taken by the club's executives: "They've done a very, very good process. I would say Daniel Levy and Vinai and Johan Lange. I've had very good conversations and meetings with them, where we discussed everything in depth, details about club structure, processes, and of course I came with my view on things and how I saw it and my ideas and the way I want to do things and how I try to build a team and the club, and of course it's not, it's not just me.

"I think it's very important to say, yes, the head coach is an important person, but if I don't have good people around me, it's impossible. You can't do anything alone in my opinion. If you want to do something quick, you can go alone, if you want to do something big or achieve something big, you go together. So it's definitely a thing about doing things together. Me, staff and players.

"I think the alignment is key from top to bottom, and of course it starts from Daniel and Vinai and Johan and me, and the more the four of us can be aligned, just like a unit and like unbreakable unit, the stronger we will be, and there will be ups and downs. I think right now it's a fairy tale. Everyone is happy. The sun is shining. It's fantastic, but we haven't played one game yet.

"Hopefully we win a lot. We'll work very hard every single day to make sure we create as many magic moments for the fans, and put them together and hopefully at the end of the season there will be a very good season, but the alignment in terms of structure, processes, transfers, squad, playing style, culture, all that is is key."

A version of this article first appeared on the Football.London website.