Not Going Back

Now this is a bit rich. The bloke who wrote this article is now going to come here to tell you all why we should take him back. Immediately.

Him being Mauricio Pochettino. The aforementioned article being the difficult realisation that Poch had to leave Spurs.

Yep.

But first, just a reminder of the postscript to that article:

NB: It’s highly possible, even likely that I could write an equally emphatic article of why we must keep the faith with Poch. I guess that means I’m really struggling with this situation and now having just gone through photos of Poch looking for a suitable shot for this piece I feel like a traitor. How can we say goodbye to this man? F*ck it. I don’t know what to do.

I’ve always thought there was more to the story of the end of Poch’s tenure, multiple contributory factors that conspired to create what I thought was an untenable situation. With the passage of time, it’s easier to reflect on what those may have been, but that’s not for now. The purpose of this piece is to consider why reappointing Poch is anything but a retrograde step and does not represent the ill-conceived, cheap, doomed, backwards step that some seem to think it is.

What is the profile of the ideal next coach/manager at Spurs?

It might be easier to say what it isn’t whilst accepting the board’s model (which we are never going to change – more on that later). The appointments of both Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte were always doomed to fail. They were both idiotic vanity appointments by Daniel Levy who misunderstood the situation at the end of the Poch era. It wasn’t a superb squad, that only needed a winning manger to nudge it over the line. The missing piece of Poch was that final step; for whatever reason – maybe a lack of squad depth?

Mourinho and Conte, both (lapsed?) serial winners, only operate in one mode – acquire supreme talent, money no object, put them together (in what I personally consider to be redundant, archaic, anachronistic systems) and watch the trophies come.

Remove the open cheque book, passive chairman and the Mr Conte approach and you have an extremely limited, astonishingly stubborn, one dimensional stroppy teenager who refuses to adapt his approach, tactics or style to make best use of available playing talent. Resulting in some of the worst, most limited, boring, painful football I’ve ever witnessed at Tottenham. Football without passion, ambition, daring or excitement. Rigid, risk averse acid for the eyes. Not only boring but also anti-Tottenham in virtually every facet.

We need a coach who:

• Builds teams.
• Promotes from the academy/reserves.
• Improves players performances (theoretically possible some would say).
• Creates not only buys.
• Rewards application/ability with a first team chance.
• Engenders a collective spirit.
• Exudes positivity.
• Radiates ambition, hope and pride.
• Relishes working with young players.
• Understands the Spurs ethos.
• Respects our tradition and history.
• Doesn’t think he’s doing us a favour turning up for work.
• Adapts to circumstances.
• Produces a team that is more than the sum of its parts.
• Over performs vs expectation.

Whoever the next manager is, it can not be a brief for a Gun for Hire / Serial Winner. Never was, never will be. But I know who does fit that spec – and that person is proven at Tottenham.

But Poch will face the same situation as before!

The above sub-heading doesn’t stand up to any serious analysis or comparison of Spurs November 2019 vs Spurs March 2023:

The Stadium is built and North London’s biggest cash machine is virtually printing money. Selling a billion pints and sausage rolls an hour, or something like that. The (necessary) limitations on player recruitment budget lifted – and on recent evidence, increased. Certainly the MO has changed – no more sell before we buy. We bought players early last summer, and changed the profile by agreeing to the serial winner’s demands regarding Perisic (huge wages and nil resale).

The disruption of playing games at Wembley and the having to acquaint ourselves and the team with settling in to a brand new stadium is over. We’re used to it. It works and we’ve seen a hint of what it can become with a winning team playing with verve, swagger & spirit. Last May’s NLD a particularly high point.

We have a Managing Director/Director of Football/Corrupt Italian (you choose) overseeing player acquisitions and working under a revised and tweaked model. The signings have largely either been excellent to good or have promise (to be exploited by the appropriate coach). Since Poch left we’ve signed (and still remain at the club, loans included):

Hojbjerg
Romero
Kulusevski
Royal
Perisic
Bissouma
Bentancur
Richarlison
Udogie
Spence
Porro
Forster
Gil
Sarr

£295m of new furniture. No more George Nkoudou, Clinton N’Jies and Benjamin Stamboulis…

Given the age profile and position most are in in their careers, I know someone who might want to get his hands on this lot and mould them into something special. He’s done it before.

There’s been plenty of departures of players Poch wanted “renewed and rotated out” too:

Dele
Toby
Jan
Eriksen
Aurier
Lamela
Rose
Walker-Peters

He’ll Fail Again!

Pardon? He failed? That’s an interpretation only someone with a distant appreciation of history, football and emotion could possibly promote. Or a child brought up mainlining Football Manager, xG, heatmaps, double pivots and a subscription to OnlyFans.

Tottenham have won 3 trophies since 1985. Ouch. But that’s the reality. And that’s what you should be measuring the present against. Not some misty rose-tinted wonky specs version of a title winning Tottenham striding down the High Rd. Chances are even your dad wasn’t alive back then.

But Poch took us closer than anyone has for decades. We came 2^nd in the two biggest competitions, had a couple of thrilling title chases, came Top 4 in 4/5 of his full seasons as Manager. Won 17 out of 19 home games in our last season at the Lane. And drew the other 2. Conceding a total of 9 goals in those 19 games. The first time we’d gone unbeaten at home since 1964. Failure? Nah.

The most compelling, exciting, pulse quickening time I’ve had as a Spurs fan. Topped off by the single biggest and best sporting moment of my lifetime at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam. One I would choose to live over and over and over again. A moment that trumps all the cup finals I’ve been to, all the league cup wins, even the 91 FA cup win. Yes, honestly. It defines sport for me, I’ve never felt anything like it. Before or since. To achieve something that we had never achieved before, in that fashion, in that moment of absolute disbelief, ecstasy & an aneurism threatening explosion of joy.

Poch unified the fans, brought us closer to the club, gave us hope like no one has for decades before (or since). He delivered on his mission to make us feel proud. And then some.

He will be a different man than the one who left in November 2019. The club is a different club than it was. The furniture he craved has been bought with more deliveries required to truly make it a home worth living in.

Let’s go round again. Please.