Potter and Parker backed to 'bring pride back to Tottenham' as next manager

Jamie O'Hara has branded his old club 'pretenders' and insists they should forget about attracting another 'big name' coach to north London.

With first-choice target Julian Nagelsmann snubbing the Premier League side to become the new Bayern Munich boss, and Erik Ten Hag deciding to extend his contract at Ajax, Tottenham are still on the hunt for their next long-term head coach.

A host of experienced and successful coaches have been linked with the role, including Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers, Inter Milan's title-winning manager Antonio Conte, Rafael Benitez and Maurizio Sarri.

O'Hara says he was once a big fan of former Chelsea manager Conte coming to White Hart Lane, amid claims the Italian boss could return to the Premier League despite just leading Inter to their first Serie A title for 11 years.

But now, the former midfielder admits the north London club has to be realistic with their targets, saying appointments like Parker from Fulham or Brighton boss Potter are more likely.

And O'Hara insists both of those managers would be great fits for Tottenham and would help to restore some pride at the club after a nightmare season.

"My wish list has changed," said the talkSPORT pundit.

"I've spoken about Tottenham's next manager before, and said we should be going for Antonio Conte or Brendan Rodgers - but Spurs are living in cuckoo land at the moment…

"But I think we need to be realistic now, and I think being realistic is getting a Scott Parker or a Graham Potter and seeing where that takes us.

"We're pretending we're a big club when we're not. We are pretenders! We haven't won anything, we do not win anything and yet financially we're a top-ten football club in the world - how have we pulled that off?!

"We need to find someone a bit like Pochettino when he first came in. I have genuinely warmed to the idea of Graham Potter.

"The more I watch Brighton play, I think he'd be good for the club. I think his philosophy is great, the way Brighton create chances and the way they want to play.

"Rafa Benitez is being linked now, too, but I honestly would rather Scott Parker as manager. He's young, he's hungry, he's got a forward-thinking attacking style and philosophy of how he wants to play, he knows what the club is about and he'll know some of the young players.

"That's the way we need to go. I would love someone like that to come in and say, 'let's raise some money and build a new team and a new squad the fans can be proud of'.

"That probably means we're going to have to sell Harry Kane, but he's going to go anyway. He can't stay. I'm sick of seeing that poor man run around for this side and get nothing back from these players. He's giving everything he can.

"The fans have had enough of this group of players. They've had enough."

Spurs will surely be looking for a manager they think can help the club finally end their wait for a trophy, after wasting their latest chance for silverware as they lost to Man City in this season's Carabao Cup final.

But O'Hara insists the only thing chairman Daniel Levy cares about is the financial standing of the club, saying instead they need a manager to help build a team supporters can be proud of again.

"At the end of the day, the one person who should be leaving is Daniel Levy," added the former Tottenham midfielder on Monday's talkSPORT Breakfast.

"He's taken the club to the next level, great, but he's not got the best interests of where the fans want the football club to go.

"It's about a business and making Spurs a rich football club financially in the top ten in the world - but WHO CARES? We don't win anything! We don't care if we're the richest club in the world, we want to to win things.

"That's the problem, Daniel Levy has got it wrong. He's forgotten about what's important for Spurs fans, it's become more about the business and fans have had enough of it.

"They want to see a team they can be proud of and that gives everything for the football club. We don't want to be Manchester United, we don't want to be Man City, we just want to be able to go out and be proud of the side and have a philosophy of how we're doing things.

"At the moment we are just a business. Spurs is just a business."