Igor Tudor stood in front of the cameras and told his Tottenham players they could “cry or fight” and that they could “be the victim or change something.” The line was aimed at the dressing room. The real message was for the people above him.
Tudor’s Line About Mentality Is a Coded Critique of the Hierarchy
According to the BBC, Tottenham’s interim boss said on Friday, 13 March 2026: “Like everything in life, you can choose how to see the situation. You can cry or you can fight. You can be the victim or you can change something. This is the message I communicated to the players.” He added that “the bottle is either half empty or half full” but that “here there is nothing full, there are a lot of empty things,” and that difficult moments do not last forever for those who “stand up with the courage to change.” The BBC reported that Tudor had overseen four consecutive defeats since succeeding Thomas Frank on 14 February, with Spurs scoring five and conceding 14 in those four games, and that the club had hit a new low in a 5-2 defeat by Atletico Madrid in which they fell 4-0 down inside 22 minutes. Tudor was hired to change things. His public line is that the squad must choose not to be victims. The subtext is that the board has spent years acting like victims: blaming managers, bad luck, and “the situation” instead of changing how the club is run.
Who Is Really Choosing to Be the Victim?
Tudor also said, as reported by the BBC: “In the last period, a lot of things were said about what is [wrong with] the club, the problems, [that] no one can do [anything] like we were victims. I said this morning to the players totally opposite things. We are the team and we are the staff. It’s all about us.” He was pushing back on a narrative that the club is helpless. But the same week, ENIC said it did not plan to take the decision on Tudor’s future out of the hands of the club’s executive team. So ownership is delegating to CEO Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange while the team sits one point above the relegation zone. Reports have suggested ENIC held urgent meetings and that the board may sack Tudor if a replacement can be found. The hierarchy is not standing up and changing; it is weighing whether to swap the manager again. Tudor’s line about not being the victim applies to them too. They are choosing to treat the manager as the variable and the structure as fixed. The BBC’s senior football correspondent, Sami Mokbel, wrote that Tudor had “come out fighting” and had told his players not to think the world is against them or that they are cursed by “black magic,” with “Don’t act like the victim” as the overriding message. The same logic applies to the board: they can keep sacking managers and acting like victims of circumstance, or they can change how decisions are made and who is held accountable.
The Power Play: Who Gains from “Don’t Be the Victim”
Tudor gains nothing from picking a public fight with the board. He gains from being seen as the one who is demanding change and accountability from the players. By saying “you can be the victim or change,” he is also implying that anyone who hides behind excuses—including those who keep changing the manager instead of the conditions—is choosing to be the victim. The board gains from having a coach who talks about mentality and fight, because it deflects attention from recruitment, injuries, and years of churn. Twelve managerial changes since 2019, as reported in coverage of the club’s crisis, suggest the problem is not mainly who is in the dugout. Tudor also said “It is about all of us” and “We are the team and we are the staff. It’s all about us”—a reminder that the coaching staff and players can only control so much when the hierarchy keeps the same playbook. Tudor’s message, if you read it as aimed at the whole club, is that the hierarchy is refusing to change while demanding it of the squad. That is the power play: he is not asking the board to sack him or back him; he is saying the only way out is for everyone, including the top, to stop acting like victims.
What This Actually Means
Tudor’s “you can be the victim or change” sound bite will be remembered as a message to the players. The real takeaway is that Tottenham’s board is choosing to be the victim. They are not changing the structure, the decision-making, or the narrative; they are once again putting the focus on the manager and the squad. Tudor has called that out in code. Whether the board hears it or simply replaces him will show who is really willing to change.
Who Is Igor Tudor?
Igor Tudor is a Croatian manager and former player who became Tottenham Hotspur’s interim head coach in February 2026. He had previously managed Juventus and other clubs in Italy, France, Turkey, Croatia, and Greece, and is known for an intense, high-pressing style. He was appointed at Spurs after Thomas Frank was dismissed, with the club near the relegation zone. His “you can be the victim or change” line was delivered at a press conference ahead of Spurs’ match at Liverpool on 15 March 2026.