Sacked after 17 months

LONDON • Tottenham yesterday brought Jose Mourinho's unhappy spell as manager to an abrupt end, just six days before they attempt to end a 13-year wait for a trophy in the League Cup final against Manchester City.

The Portuguese was handed the daunting task of replacing Mauricio Pochettino, who had led Tottenham to the club's first Champions League final just months prior to his sacking in November 2019.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy had backed Mourinho's stellar record of winning multiple trophies at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United.

However, Levy sensationally cut his losses ahead of Sunday's Cup in the hope that Mourinho's departure will lift the gloom that has descended upon a talented but underperforming squad of players. The north London side were top of the Premier League in December.

"Jose and his coaching staff have been with us through some of our most challenging times as a club,: he said. "Jose is a true professional who showed enormous resilience during the pandemic.

"On a personal level, I have enjoyed working with him and regret that things have not worked out as we both had envisaged.

"He will always be welcome here and we should like to thank him and his coaching staff for their contribution."

Captain Harry Kane also tweeted it had been "a pleasure to have worked together" and wished him "all the best for your next chapter".

Mourinho leaves with Spurs seventh in the Premier League, five points adrift of the top four. Just seven wins in 21 league games over the past five months has seen them slip down the table, while they have lost 20 points from winning positions in the league alone this season, more than any other club.

A shock Europa League exit to Dinamo Zagreb last month means a top-four finish is Spurs' only route back into next season's Champions League, having already failed to qualify in 2019-20.

As evidenced by Tottenham signing up as one of 12 clubs to the rogue European Super League, they now see themselves as part of the continent's elite and can ill afford the economic consequences of missing out on Champions League revenue.

A state-of-the-art new stadium at a cost of £1 billion (S$1.86 billion) was meant to herald a new era of success for Spurs. Instead, less than a year into their new home, the coronavirus pandemic has forced games behind closed doors and denied Tottenham extra revenue from hosting other sports and entertainment events.

Mourinho was not a favourite of the Spurs supporters even prior to his arrival, having won three league titles in two spells at rivals Chelsea.

His overly defensive, counter-attacking style of play was also not an easy fit with Tottenham's history of having great entertainers such as midfielder Glenn Hoddle.

Having won just 51 per cent of his games in charge in all competitions at Spurs, his second-lowest win ratio at a club after Leiria in Portugal, Mourinho's decline as a manager was also apparent.

Spurs' 10 defeats this campaign is the most he has suffered in a single league season, while only in 2015-16 with Chelsea (0.9) and 2018-19 with United (1.5) has a Mourinho side averaged fewer points per game than Spurs in 2020-21 (1.6).

"He was never the right man for the job. I'm happy that he's gone," said Spurs fan David Buckley outside the club's stadium yesterday.

The scale of decline under Mourinho, once a serial winner, in recent months, on top of reported falling outs with the likes of Gareth Bale and Dele Alli, left Levy no choice but to cut short a lucrative contract that still had over two years left to run.

Mourinho is expected to receive a severance package worth around £16 million, while former Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason will act as interim boss until a permanent appointment is made.

RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann is the bookmakers' favourite to replace Mourinho, although Leicester counterpart Brendan Rodgers is also said to be in the running.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS