Tottenham head coach Tim Sherwood has found this week's speculation surrounding Frank de Boer a "strange situation" and warned anyone looking to shunt him out of the hotseat that they have a "hard act to follow".

Life at the White Hart Lane helm has rarely been straightforward for Sherwood and this week was no different, with comments from Ajax boss de Boer fuelling speculation over his future. De Boer said he was open to speaking with Tottenham about taking over as manager and the Barclays Premier League club felt the need to release a statement denying rumours they had contacted the Dutch team about their manager.

Sherwood joked on Wednesday that "somewhere along the line someone is telling porkies" and admitted he was no closer to getting to the bottom of it two days on.

"No, I haven't - it was a strange situation, wasn't it?" he said ahead of Spurs' trip to West Ham. "When a club's coming out and saying they've been spoken to, and the manager, and then the club that I'm associated with is denying it. That's where we are with it. No, I'm no further forward."

Sherwood has had to deal with such scrutiny and speculation since succeeding André Villas-Boas, during which time numerous managers have been linked to his job.

"What am I going to do? I'm not going to roll up and die, I'm just going to get on with my job, which is to try and prepare my team to win football matches and whatever will be will be," he said. "I've just got to carry on with my business, show my personal pride and professionalism and make sure that those lads are prepared to win for the team and for the fans and for this great club.

"It's not only me, I've got two coaches with me, Les Ferdinand and Chris Ramsey, who have given a lot of time to this club over the years. I think possibly 30 years between us. It's a lot of time, a lot of effort and the club's been good to us in that time as well. What will happen at the end of the season, who knows?

"But one thing we can assure the club is that we've always been honest with them and we'll always give 100 per cent maximum to achieve what we need to achieve, whether that's in the development phase or now within the first team."

Sherwood will sit down with chairman Daniel Levy at the end of the campaign to discuss his future, although it appears a matter of when, not if, the 18-month deal he signed in December is ripped up.

De Boer's twin brother Ronald has already been speaking about how the Ajax boss could "build something" at Tottenham - comments that amused Sherwood.

"It is quite similar to what I would do to if I had the job," he said. "I don't think he is too interested in looking at what I am doing already because if he did then he would see he has got a hard act to follow." Sherwood currently boasts a better win percentage than any other Spurs boss in the Premier League era. He was also the only top-flight manager to go through April unbeaten and is looking to continue that fine form at West Ham on Saturday, when Spurs will be without two England internationals.

On Thursday Andros Townsend underwent surgery on an ankle injury sustained at Stoke last weekend, which has ruled the winger out for the rest of the campaign and the World Cup. There are fears right-back Kyle Walker could also miss out on the squad for Brazil, with England manager Roy Hodgson concerned over the progress he is making on a pelvic injury.

"I think the decision is that the England physios and doctor will come and assess Kyle and then make a decision on him," Sherwood said. "At the moment there's been no definite decision from my side whether he'll play for Tottenham before the end of the season and from Roy whether he's on that plane to Brazil."