Gianni Vio remaining on Ryan Mason’s interim coaching staff

We don’t know a lot about how Tottenham Hotspur acting head coach Ryan Mason will fill his coaching staff until the end of the season — no rush guys, still two days until Manchester United comes — but we know that the dead ball situations are sorted. The Evening Standard is writing that, contrary to past reports by Alasdair Gold and others, set piece coach Gianni Vio is staying at the club and did not depart with Cristian Stellini and the rest of Antonio Conte’s coaching staff.

It is kind of a sad realization that the bar for good news is set so low right that Spurs hanging onto their dead ball specialist coach is cause for celebration, but there we are. Most Spurs fans seem to love Vio as he filled a coaching void that was desperately needed when he was appointed in July. And apparently he’s also a “club signing”!

Beyond Vio, Mason’s coaching staff is anyone’s guess. The Standard suggests that Mason could bring back one or more coaches from his last stint as interim boss, including former Spurs keeper Michel Vorm as goalkeeper’s coach, though it was noted that assistant GK coach Perry Suckling could also step up in that area. Tottenham do have a number of notable names currently working in the academy setup including Chris Powell, Mason’s No. 2 in 2021 and current co-commentator with Arlo White on Ted Lasso, Jermain Defoe, Yaya Toure, and academy assistant head of player development Nigel Gibbs. Mason also undoubtedly has a few contacts as well.

Mason is expected to take charge of training today ahead of Thursday’s home match against United, which isn’t a lot of time and may limit any significant tactical or instructional changes he wants to implement. But again, we just have no idea. The only thing we do know is that the atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is likely to be murderous. The one thing that Mason does have in his favor is that everyone seems to like him, and expectations are so low that he’ll very likely be thanked for whatever he does.