Mauricio Pochettino SACKED

Mauricio Pochettino has left Tottenham Hotspur, the club have announced. After a day rife with speculation over the Argentinian’s coach long term future, Tottenham Hotspurs have released a statement confirming the departure of Mauricio Pochettino.

Embed from Getty Images

‘The Club can today announce that Mauricio Pochettino and his coaching staff Jesus Perez, Miguel D’Agostino and Antoni Jimenez have been relieved of their duties.

Chairman, Daniel Levy, said: “We were extremely reluctant to make this change and it is not a decision the Board has taken lightly, nor in haste.

“Regrettably domestic results at the end of last season and beginning of this season have been extremely disappointing.

‘“It falls to the Board to make the difficult decisions – this one made more so given the many memorable moments we have had with Mauricio and his coaching staff – but we do so in the Club’s best interests.”

“Mauricio and his coaching staff will always be part of our history. I have the utmost admiration for the manner in which he dealt with the difficult times away from a home ground whilst we built the new stadium and for the warmth and positivity he brought to us.

“I should like to thank him and his coaching staff for all they have contributed. They will always be welcome here.

“We have a talented squad. We need to re-energise and look to deliver a positive season for our supporters.”

We shall provide an update on new coaching staff in due course.’

Embed from Getty Images

A project that never got its just result.

Just earlier today I was writing that speculation was growing that Pochettino could be on his way out in the coming weeks. What I didn’t see was it was actually to be hours not weeks.

In all honesty I don’t think this result is a surprise to anyone, least of all the players. Reports all season have talked about a coach that has become more and more distant with players and how his frustration on the sidelines have been visible to all. Pochettino had just never been the same since the defeat in the Champions League final, one had to feel that he was hoping to sign off on a high there and look for a new project, but alas it was not to be.

A poor domestic run and discord in the training room was only pointing to one result. A very sad result at that.

Taking a step back and looking at what Pochettino has been able to achieve over the last 5 years is quite incredible. He has developed a number of young players that the England squad is now built upon, none least than England’s captain Harry Kane. Despite having a fraction of the transfer budgets the other top Premier League teams have, Spurs have been able to cement their place in the top four in recent seasons and beat top clubs around Europe going as far as making the Champions League final last season.

It’s been a joy to watch a manager mold a team of youngsters and get them to play an attractive brand of football that has produced a number of fantastic results. Such was the success of the project that Pochettino had overseen that we are now seeing Manchester United trying to follow suit by building a team around a spine of young British talent and getting them to try and play attractive football.

Embed from Getty Images

While Pochettino will be proud of what he was able to achieve at Spurs he will always look back with regret at the fact that he was never able to win silverware the club was desperate for. Make no mistake I’m sure Pochettino will receive a number of top job offers in the coming months as jobs open up. Manchester United have long been linked the Argentinian, as Sir Alex is a big fan of his, while Real Madrid have also been linked with a move for him in recent seasons.

One would love to see what Pochettino would be capable of if he was backed in the transfer market at a top club and be able to add ready made world class additions instead of having to develop them. The one black dot against his name will be that despite all his success in recent seasons, Pochettino never got over the final hurdle and delivered titles and trophies, something all big clubs look for – proven winners.

Several names have been thrown around as potential replacements with Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann or Carlo Ancelotti, who have respective jobs at Bournemouth, RB Leipzig and Napoli being the front runners for the job.