Thomas Frank is undaunted by Tottenham’s history of sacking managers as he gets set to take charge of his first game with the club.

Frank was appointed as the successor for Ange Postecoglou after the Australian was sacked despite guiding Tottenham to Europa League glory, with a 17th-placed finish and 21 defeats in the Premier League leading to his exit.

Postecoglou became the fifth manager to be sacked by Tottenham during Frank’s previous tenure at Brentford. Having taken over in 2018, Frank led the Bees to promotion from the Championship in 2021 and subsequently stabilised them as a Premier League club in impressive fashion.

Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte were also sacked by Spurs during Frank’s time with their London rivals.

But the Dane is undeterred by that troubling recent history.

Frank told a pre-match media conference ahead of Saturday’s friendly with Reading: “I like to challenge myself.

“I’ve been that privileged, I’ve never been sacked before. So that’s one of the reasons why I took the job, so I could get a little bit more risk into my daily life.

“I’m coming to a big club that is precious. We need to perform because it is we. It’s me, it’s the staff, it’s the players, it’s everyone. And we need to do that together.

“So I like the ambitions and everything I do, every decision I’ve made so far, everything is for the long term.

“It’s not about surviving one game or one year or 18 months or what is the average, no, it’s for the long run.

“I will do everything, every day, to work towards taking this club to new heights. That is the ambition.

“If I was not ambitious, I would not sit here. I am looking forward to it.”

Asked about Spurs’ 1-0 win over Manchester United in the Europa League final, Postecoglou added: “It was positive they won. They got the trophy that this club deserved.

“Hopefully we can add to that. The first aim is to be able to compete in all four tournaments.

“That has to be the ambition we build towards. The 2019 Champions League final was the last season the club was able to compete in more than one competition.

“We need to be able to compete in Europe and the cups. If you can compete, there is a chance you can be top.”