The only doubts that could be raised about interim coach David Hubert concern his age and his lack of experience. Hubert is 36 years old and he has only coached five A team games – all five with Anderlecht. Mason was also T1 ad interim. He took over Tottenham for 13 games, after José Mourinho’s C4 and after the departure of Antonio Conte.
Anderlecht: the youngest coach in the history of the Premier League approaches Sporting
Despite his younger age, Mason therefore has a little more experience than Hubert, but the difference is negligible. And he was the assistant of big names like Mourinho and Conte but also of the current coach Postecoglu. Certainly, Hubert was Guillaume Gillet’s T2 with the Futures in 2023-2024. But Mason has never seen Tottenham win anything.
Blown by Vertonghen
On the other hand, Hubert played for 14 and a half seasons in Belgium and only for a few months abroad, in Israel. He knows our football like the back of his hand and he demonstrated this during his interim period.
Until the start of his flirtation with Sporting, Mason undoubtedly knew as much about the Jupiler Pro League as the Austrian or Swiss championship. He will have to take more than one remedial course to know the underside of the Belgian championship.
His teacher will undoubtedly be Jan Vertonghen, his former teammate at Tottenham between 2014 and 2016. It was obviously not Jesper Fredberg who whispered Mason’s name in Vandenhaute’s ear, but the (still injured) captain of Sporting.
Jan didn’t have Mason as T2 or T1 – he had already moved to Benfica – but he has undoubtedly heard excellent comments about him. And even at 23 and 24, when Mason was playing with Vertonghen at Tottenham, his reading of the game must have impressed Sterke Jan.
On the other hand, Mason would have the difficult task of proving that an English coach is not necessarily a flop when he arrives in Belgium. Nigel Pearson was a disaster at OHL, Paul Clement failed at Cercle Bruges and Steve Bould only finished 4th with Lommel in a very weak Challenger Pro League.
A big financial bet too
But the scariest example is that of Scott Parker. Described as the coming man of English coaches, Parker is considered the worst coach to have played at Club Brugge since the start of this century. Parker spoke of a mentality problem in his dressing room – he did not know Belgian or even continental culture – and was constantly changing his team, as he had seen in the Premier League, where each club can start two valid teams.
We dare to assume that Vandenhaute will have taken his time to analyze Mason’s profile. Because the other British who followed Kompany to Anderlecht – apart from Davies, there was Bellamy and Danks – did not leave a lasting memory at Sporting either.
Vandenhaute has no room for error, because Mason must not be a cheap coach. Salaries in the Premier League are significantly higher than in Belgium. Putting David Hubert back at the head of the team in a few months – at least, if he has not already been poached by another club – would not only be bad for Vandenhaute’s image but also for the club’s coffers.
