Ryan Mason refusing to shift focus from next Spurs challenge amid uncertainty
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Tottenham acting head coach Ryan Mason is refusing to look beyond Saturday’s visit of Brentford despite uncertainty over his own future.
Spurs remain without a permanent manager and doubts remain over where Mason will be around next season after spending the last 18 months as first-team coach at the club.
Mason, 31, has made clear of his desire to take the top job at Tottenham and signalled his intention that he is ready to be a manager, but that looks unlikely to be with the Premier League outfit after they produced another stuttering display in defeat at Aston Villa last weekend.
It means the former Spurs midfielder could move on in the summer with Feyenoord boss Arne Slot the new bookmakers’ favourite to replace Antonio Conte, but the current acting head coach is fully focused on the club’s last home match of the season against Brentford.
Mason insisted: “I’m really not thinking about next season. If my attention goes to six or seven weeks’ time, I’d be very stupid to take my eye off the ball now.
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“I’m aware of the situation now. I know me and my team are doing the best we can, we’re doing good. Whatever happens in the summer or next season, there is definitely decisions to be made but at this moment in time we don’t know what they’ll be.
“I believe in the way I work, me and my team. I have more belief now than I’ve ever had in my life that what we’re doing, for this football club, the environment, the feeling we’re trying to create here.
“I believe in it so much. That’s probably where it (my positivity) is coming from.”
There is less optimism among the Spurs fanbase, who saw Julian Nagelsmann ruled out of the managerial running last week.
That development saw the away support at Aston Villa last Saturday chant for chairman Daniel Levy to leave the club during the opening minute of a 2-1 loss.
A poor result against Brentford could result in more chants against Levy this Saturday and Mason is eager to give the supporters plenty to shout about.
“I mean it is important they see and feel a team that is trying to transfer energy to them,” Mason admitted.
“That is probably one of the most important messages we’ve been trying to give to the players this week. We want energy, we want to feel that energy inside the stadium because our fans have been fantastic this season.
“They’ve stuck with us and have been with us the whole time. Yeah, we want to give them something to feel good about.”
Mason was more forthcoming about Clement Lenglet’s future; the Frenchman is on loan from Barcelona.
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He added: “Right now it’s not on my mind but I would say about Clem is that he is the type of character we want around the training ground, he is professional, he does it right.
“He’s vocal and the more people we can keep hold of and get in the more beneficial it is.”
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