Igor Tudor insists he did not mistake his player liason officer Allan Dixon for Arne Slot ahead of Tottenham’s draw with Liverpool - but admitted he may keep the joke up as a good luck charm.
Tudor was seen sharing a joke with Dixon, who bears a certain likeness to Slot, ahead of kick-off at Anfield, leading many fans to wonder whether the Croatian had mistaken one bald coach for another.
Spurs went on to take a deserved, if surprising, 1-1 draw in that match, and Tudor revealed he needed his 20-year-old son to explain why the clip had garnered so much attention, adding that he leaned into the bit by recycling it ahead of kick-off against Atletico Madrid, when he secured his first win as Spurs manager.
The 47-year-old laughed as he told reporters: “This time (against Atletico) we did it on purpose!”
He explained: “What happened was my son, who is 20 years old, said in Croatia everyone is laughing with you because you did this mistake. I said, ‘What mistake?’
Igor Tudor has got confused between Alan Dixon and Arne Slot. 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/LyfHhoPzoN
— Spurs Army (@SpursArmyTweets) March 15, 2026
“I said to him, ‘You do know who is the guy?’. ‘No, I don’t know’. I said, ‘it’s Allan Dixon, I’m spending with him all days together’.
“So I came out and he’s standing in front of my bench. So what other coach can be there in front of it? It’s my training zone.
“He was there, I came to him to make a joke. If you understand, I came from this side (Dixon’s right), I touched him and go to the other side.
“When he turned I was not surprised, I was laughing.”
Dixon is a long-serving member of Spurs’ support staff, and is former chairman Daniel Levy’s brother-in-law.
Tudor went on, saying it was ‘ridiculous’ the clip had gone viral: “I can imagine in Croatia because maybe they don’t know who is Allan Dixon.
“But in England they know that I don’t recognise the guy who I spent every day, ten hours?! So I come out and don’t know he is? It was a little bit ridiculous.
“Now (against Atletico) we did it on purpose to make a joke, because from now on I call him ‘Arne’! It’s not Allan, it’s Arne!
“But this is how it works, this 2026, it’s about news, to have fun. It’s part of the work of today. But sometimes it’s really ridiculous. I don’t understand this.
“But you (journalists) need to invent some news, you know better than me, you are part of this discussion.”
But will he do it again as Spurs chase a crucial three points against Forest on Sunday?
“We will see.”
