Former Tottenham Hotspur skipper Gary Mabbutt says the club must decide on a new manager as soon as possible if it is not to fall further behind its Premier League rivals.
Tottenham ended the season in seventh place and with interim manager Ryan Mason in charge after Jose Mourinho was sacked in April, days before the League Cup final.
Several names have been linked to the job and Mabbutt, who made more than 600 appearances for the club, winning the FA Cup and UEFA Cup, says the sooner they decide the better.
"There must have been 20 names put forward, all different types of manager, but (chairman) Daniel Levy has stressed that he wants to maintain the DNA of the club," Mabbutt told Reuters after a charity match at Tottenham's stadium in which he and former team mate Ossie Ardiles coached team of NHS staff.
"He will be working very hard with his advisers to get the right person. I hope it's done in the not too distant future as in this game of football you blink and suddenly you are back into the next season."
Ardiles said it was inevitable that Tottenham would find it hard to replace fellow Argentine Mauricio Pochettino who was sacked in Nov. 2019, just months after leading the club to the Champions League final against Liverpool.
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"It always felt like it was going to be hard to replace Mauricio and that has proved the case," Ardiles said. "Tottenham need a manager with a lot of energy and ideas to move the club forward. I hope it happens soon.
"There has been a feeling lately that all the players are not good enough but I think you could see against Leicester City on Sunday that we do have a very good squad."
Mabbutt was in charge of the North Middlesex Hospital team that was beaten by the Whittington Hospital staff managed by Ardiles, himself a former Spurs boss.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tottenham's state-of-the-art new stadium was home to various NHS services, including a vaccination centre, and maternity outpatients department with 41,000 appointments taking place at the ground.
"We owe them a huge debt," Mabbutt said. "The NHS have gone way and beyond the call of duty."
In a statement, Levy added: "It is fitting that the final action we see on the pitch before fans return in greater numbers next season should be a tribute to those that have helped so many of us through this incredibly challenging time."
Mabbutt said that the return of fans, hopefully next season, would be a relief for player and managers.
"Fans create the passion, the excitement, intensity and energy and without them the players have had nothing to bounce off," he said. "I felt sorry for the players and the staff, playing matches in the biggest league in the world in what were training ground conditions."
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