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Buena Suerte Mauro

7 min read
by Adam Powley
Following the announcement of our new manager, Adam Powley welcomes him to the club.

maur-poch_2912969bSo hello, Mauricio, welcome to White Hart Lane, the world famous home of the Spurs.

Or is it infamous? The old place has been something of a temple of managerial doom in the last decade or so. It’s like that climactic scene in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, when a succession of whimpering candidates tread gingerly on their quest to find the holy grail, only to have their heads sliced off as they get their answers to various riddles hopelessly wrong. Make one false step at Tottenham and you’ve had it.

Spurs fans will be hoping the new man is clever enough to read the runes and negotiate his way round such treacherous ground. At the time of writing Pochettino is the 10th Spurs manager in 13 years – a truly eye-watering figure.

[linequote]Spurs fans will be hoping the new man is clever enough to read the runes and negotiate his way round such treacherous ground.[/linequote]It’s pointless raking over the bones of all who came before him – who should have got the job, who shouldn’t, who succeeded, who didn’t. We all have our favourites and dislikes but in the final analysis it’s been much of a muchness. Some brief, brave new dawns, a rise of about five league places, one League Cup, and one season in the Champions League. Not a lot for all that money spent, all that hope, all that perpetual material and emotional investment from the fans.

Not excluding the bewildering array of managers and DoFs. Enic have tried just about every permutation going. Experienced British old lags, bright young continental things, man-managers, tactics wonks, bluffers, enigmas, motivators, returning heroes and prodigal sons. Suffice to say the rapid hire-and-fire approach from the owners looks less like a strategy than a case of trading lots of players, and throwing cards up in the air in the hope that one day, some might fall in the right way to knock up a half-decent hand.

It surely can’t go on like that. Some of us have banged on many times before about why Spurs need managerial stability rather than constant churn, but one can only hope rather than expect that this time the incumbent lasts the course. He’s been given a 5-year-deal, which sounds good but as we all know, when it comes to football, contracts means diddly.

So he’s doomed before he’s already started? According to some traditionalists and permanently angry people on social media that’s the case. He’s not wanted, not experienced enough, too much of a yes man, not enough of a big personality, and, that old chestnut, not English. He was beaten twice by Spurs last season, and by his widely-maligned immediate predecessor, so ergo, what exactly is he bringing?

Alternatively there are other views that he’s just what the club doctor ordered: young, ambitious, cerebral and tactically-minded. He apparently likes structured pressing, offers up plenty of supportive stats for those who like that sort of thing, and his Southampton players stacked up well in a ‘comparison matrix’ (I’m not making this stuff up).

For my part, and for what it’s worth isn’t much, he wasn’t my first choice. I was erring towards someone like Rafa Benitez, a combination of many of the aforementioned characteristics and a manager who definitely does have the experience, coaching nous and the trophies to match. And, arguably, the personality, reputation and clout to best manage Enic and their rather particular way of running the club under a defined economic model.

Instead, Spurs have got a bit of a younger, apprentice version. A man with a fair but modest track record. He has experience in the PL but sparingly so; by all accounts he’s an effective man-manager yet one with a promising tactical awareness. It’s a punt – all appointments are – but one invested with faith more than concrete evidence.

I wish him the very best. If you’re a Spurs supporter and you don’t then you perhaps need to reconsider what this football fan lark is about. But I have no idea if he’ll succeed or not – and that’s the way it should be. Here comes another record I keep on scratching, but it doesn’t matter what I, any other fan, twitterer, blogger, pundit, expert, ex-player, manager or DoF thinks. What matters is what the people who make the actual decisions think – and more importantly if they are going to stick by their choice.

In their welcome to Pochettino, the board have made all the right noises about winning mentality, a talented squad and a commitment to attacking football with an emphasis on youth. Fine, that’s good. But we’ve heard very similar all too many times – usually about 18 months before the latest project leader gets the boot. And let’s be clear about this: Pochettino was clearly not the owners’ first choice.

[linequote]Let’s be clear about this: Pochettino was clearly not the owners’ first choice.[/linequote]That’s understandable. A big beast like Louis Van Gaal was an admirable target, but out of reach. It’s hard for Spurs to take on Manchester City, Chelsea, and the other established Champions League sides with wage bills to match. Liverpool are now spectacularly back in the hunt, making that ambition to get in the CL, and make a more important challenge for trophies, much tougher propositions.

In truth, I don’t expect Spurs to actually achieve them. Brutal economics, regrettably, dictate that. But I do expect Spurs to have a better go at it. Wanting to play good, entertaining football that gets results is music to my ears. Bringing through youth gets a firm thumbs up. I’ll even support the club’s persistence with a DoF.

But please, Mr Levy, Mr Lewis: no more of this perennial, debilitating change. Give Pochettino a chance. Give him some proper and less equivocal say over recruitment. Let him have a decent stab at it. Two years at the very least, preferably more. Don’t panic and pull the plug at the first sign of a wobble. If noisy fans like me start moaning, ignore us. Stick with your own programme. You made the decision, after all. Now, back it up.

[linequote]Wanting to play good, entertaining football that gets results is music to my ears.[/linequote]

Spurs fans can help by, as ever, supporting the new man. I’ve never bought this idea the supporters are fickle and responsible for all the turmoil. Sure, the atmosphere’s been poisonous at times, with bizarre armed camps forming online over this manager or that and needlessly fracturing the support. But I haven’t heard too many calls for sackings and wanton disruption where it matters, at the ground. Maybe I’m turning a deaf ear on the few occasions I go it but it’s noticeable that through all those nine previous managerial dismissals, the fans haven’t really turned on the bloke in the dugout. It’s the owners that have done that.

So, its likely Pochettino will get plenty of support from the crowd. He inherits a curate’s egg of a squad. Good in places, not so good in others, and too much of an unknown quantity. Hopefully he can mould the clunky parts into a cohesive, functioning whole. Maybe he’ll even rescue the seemingly lost cause of Lamela.

The pair’s shared nationality can certainly help. In fact, it’s kind of comforting to see Spurs with an Argentinian streak again. It’s regrettable that Tottenham have never exploited that connection as well as they could have done. We should have made more of being the first club to successfully bring Argentinians to these shores in the wake of Ossie and Ricky’s dazzling success. Think of all that talent that headed to Spain and Italy that perhaps should have ended up in North London.

But that’s all in the past. What matters now is how the new ones fare, and already the new coach is making quite an impression. There’s a picture doing the rounds of what seems to be Pochettino looking very pleased with himself in the company of two ladies garbed in Stars and Stripes spandex, with Mauricio himself dressed in a nurse’s uniform and looking like Benicio del Toro. Maybe it is Benicio del Toro. I have no idea what’s going on. I’m not sure I want to.

You can’t quite imagine that first Enic manager, George Graham, being pictured in such a way, so there is some significant difference between the two at least. And there does seem to be a bit of hope engendered in the new guy, which was almost completely absent regarding his predecessor back in 2001. Hopefully, Pochettino fares well. I can’t admit to being that excited about this next instalment in the grand Enic plan. That’s not Pochettino’s fault, just that there have been far too many days like it to really believe otherwise this time. But good luck, Mauricio. You’re going to need it.

Now, how about a ticker tape reception at WHL?

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

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7 Comments

  1. Northern Cockrel
    28/05/2014 @ 1:06 pm

    Great article and very balanced. Regardless of personal opinion, Spurs have made a timely appointment and we now all need to support the club and the new manager. The reality is that Spurs were never going to get LVG or Ancelotti or any top manager. Moyes, Benitez or Mancini weren’t for me and I like the youth and passion of Pocettinho as well as his untested talent at this level. He is a relatively inexperienced Premiership manager but he has the potential to become very, very good. He deserves his chance but Spurs and us fans need to be patient – anything less would be foolhardy and make us a laughing stick (again). His first job is to assess the squad and work out who is up for coming on the ride with him – dissenters need to be shipped out. Looking forward to the new season and good luck to Poch – nothing like the anticipation of a new start !

  2. K rajandeeran
    28/05/2014 @ 1:33 pm

    your article captures the present state of affairs in our club and also warns of the likely dangers of this appointment. true Levy has to back his man and give him time.

    More important the players has to deliver both on the field and off the field. We need leaders in the team and a true captain.

    We lack balls, pardon the mention of the word, but it signify the players attitude and approach this concluded season.

    We need pride whether down to 10 or 9 men. , the rest of the players should have played with gusto and never say die attitude, sadly they played like wimps and fearful to be on the pitch. Especially when as a home team you play without any conviction, it is just so unforgivable !

  3. bill
    28/05/2014 @ 1:43 pm

    Good luck to Pochettino. Get to grips with the squad, buy a few, sell a few, and roll on August 16.

    Now for the second, more difficult perhaps, summer job. Secure that final piece of land for the new stadium. The silence on the appeal is worrying. Spurs may have to pay way over the odds, but if we lose that appeal can’t really see much alternative.

  4. Isaac
    30/05/2014 @ 12:14 am

    Come on. Yes, ENIC have parted ways with all of those managers the chop, but doesn’t that number include caretakers? Plus Santini resigned, wasn’t sacked. The number of permanent mangers sacked is actually more like 7.
    As for the fans – of all of those seven managers than were sacked, all of them had an sizeable element of fans who wanted them gone. Graham no one likes for obvious reasons. Hoddle was a fan choice yet when he left most fans thought it was necessary. Jol left in appalling fashion yet many fans thought he had taken us as far as he could. We thought Ramos would take us to the next level… Ooops! Harry again fell foul of our belief that the grass would be greener with a different manager, a better manager. AVB joins but then ends up with us playing some of the most boring football I can remember us playing for years. Sherwood was dead man walking before he even took over for his first game.

    So for all the hiring and firing, which ones did the fans not agree with at the time the decisions were made?

  5. Paul
    30/05/2014 @ 8:48 am

    Ticker tape and bog roll throwing

  6. Kev
    31/05/2014 @ 5:59 pm

    The 10 managars in 13 years is a bit of a furphy as it includes caretakers (of which Tim was surely one).
    It’s only really 6 appointments as full time managers by ENIC.

    Hoddle, Santini, Jol, Ramos, Redknapp, AVB. It’s not so “eye-watering” in that context

    • Kev
      31/05/2014 @ 6:00 pm

      managErs even

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