Gennaro Gattuso

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Would you be happy with Gattuso as manager


  • Total voters
    225
Text from the Athletic

Tottenham Hotspur are closing in on the appointment of Gennaro Gattuso as Jose Mourinho’s permanent successor after talks with Paulo Fonseca collapsed after days of negotiations.

Fabio Paratici, Tottenham’s new managing director, had been speaking to Fonseca about the role but this week the club pulled out of negotiations and turned their focus on Gattuso, who surprisingly walked away from Fiorentina this morning before he had even officially started in the job.

Paratici had spoken to Gattuso at the end of last season about coming into the Juventus role after Andrea Pirlo, back when Paratici was still working for the Turin giants.

The move marks yet another dramatic u-turn in an eventful summer for Tottenham. Since Paratici took control of the head coach search at the start of this month, Spurs have tried to appoint Antonio Conte, only for the Italian to pull out after talks, before then speaking to Fonseca after the Portuguese manager was dismissed by Roma.

Fonseca had been the leading candidate for the job over the last week but after lengthy talks between Fonseca and Paratici in Italy, Tottenham decided to walk away. Reports in Italy have attributed this to “fiscal problems” but The Athletic understands it was Tottenham’s decision, and that money was not the decisive factor.

If Tottenham can complete the deal for Gattuso, it will mark the end of a two-month process in which Tottenham have moved between different candidates before finally settling on Gattuso.

At various points Hansi Flick and Erik Ten Hag were leading candidates before Tottenham even re-opened talks with former manager Mauricio Pochettino, currently at PSG, only for the French club to refuse to countenance him going back to north London.

After the Pochettino move collapsed, Levy moved to bring in Paratici from Juventus to be his new managing director, overseeing all football matters at the club. He took control of the head coach search and spoke to Conte and Fonseca before dramatically settling this week on Gattuso, who memorably clashed with Tottenham’s former assistant manager Joe Jordan during the club’s 2010-11 Champions League campaign.

Gattuso was given a four-game suspension for, in UEFA’s words, “assaulting Jordan after the match”.

But Gattuso is a very different coach to who he was a player. While discipline is high on his list of priorities, he is empathetic and built great team spirit at AC Milan and Napoli.

The 43-year-old from Calabria developed those people skills working under Carlo Ancelotti, whose Champions League winning teams have produced numerous managers.

Gattuso did not begin coaching with a silver spoon in his mouth. He started under combustible owners at difficult clubs like Sion, Palermo and OFI Crete before returning to Italy to work in Pisa, who he got promoted to the second tier.

The World Cup winner earned respect for how he kept things together while the club leered from one financial crisis to another and settled on working for Milan’s Under-19s before stepping up to replace Vincenzo Montella upon his dismissal from the first team post.

Gattuso missed out on qualifying for the Champions League by a point but left with his head held high. At Napoli he built on his reputation winning the Coppa Italia and beating Italy’s top sides.

The football this season was stylish and Napoli scored lots of goals, breaking with Gattuso’s reputation as a defensive-minded coach. But a fall-out with the hierarchy at Napoli meant a contract extension went unsigned and he made the switch to Fiorentina only 23 days ago.

For Gattuso to be on the verge of becoming Tottenham’s new boss on the same day as his separation from the Viola is a reminder of how fast things can change in football, particularly given claims that the reason for the split was a difference on opinion on recruitment and the influence of Gattuso’s agent, Jorge Mendes.
 
To be clear I'm not 'happy' about Gattuso but I think Fonseca would have been a shite appointment anyway.

At least we'll be interesting to watch this season if GG is our manager albeit more for his antics on the touchline and interviews than the actual football.

We're screwed either way as long as Levy and ENIC are in charge, in a way Gattuso coming in could finally wake up the fanbase to whom the real enemy is.
I agree with you. Our season’s fucked anyway, so we may as well have a laugh and you never know, Gattuso might chin Arteta in the NLD. 😂😂
 
I was settled on Fonseca. Very underwhelming and nowhere near my first choice but I could at least see some logic behind it and a coherent structure. Looking ahead to the new season with a little bit of quiet optimism.

But this.

Holy mother of fucking God how is Levy/ENIC/Paratici/Lewis or whoever getting these decisions so badly, horrifically and catastrophically wrong? I'm seriously just at a loss here. Aren't these supposed to be intelligent people?
100% agree!
 
Jose was killing the team, more happy with Mason’s football than Jose’s. Surely we can at least get Scott Parker or someone.
But Mason is not staying in charge and we're not going for Parker, We're going for Gattuso, who I'm guessing will be gone very quickly. That will just leave us in turmoil for the rest of the season.
 
Jose was killing the team, more happy with Mason’s football than Jose’s. Surely we can at least get Scott Parker or someone.
It seems to happen to all managers at Spurs . I think they actually lose heart due to dealing with the compulsive liar in the boardroom & that effects the squad.

This will remain the case with however comes in.
 
Well, Gattuso was a defensive player, but his coaching style is rather attacking. So I would hope at least the football will be better to watch in case he is hired.
Gattuso was a brilliant player doesn't mean he's a brilliant manager though and indeed he isnt.
 
It seems to happen to all managers at Spurs . I think they actually lose heart due to dealing with the compulsive liar in the boardroom & that effects the squad.

This will remain the case with however comes in.

At the very least we should get a manager who wants to attack, Poch, Redknapp, Jol. All our defensive coaches like Graham, AVB and Jose have been utter disasters and Levy has yet to learn that very basic lesson.
 
Close this thread.

Press mate called club for comment about Gutuso and the response was 'Of course we fucking haven't talked to him. Some of the names in the press are laughable'
 
At the very least we should get a manager who wants to attack, Poch, Redknapp, Jol. All our defensive coaches like Graham, AVB and Jose have been utter disasters and Levy has yet to learn that very basic lesson.
The thing is , early dec we hammered United, beat City & we’re comfortable against the chavs . That was pre transfer window . Then the slump. I may be adding 2 + 2 and making 5 but it’s a reoccurring pattern.
 
The thing is , early dec we hammered United, beat City & we’re comfortable against the chavs . That was pre transfer window . Then the slump. I may be adding 2 + 2 and making 5 but it’s a reoccurring pattern.

Our slump last season was because of the game at Anfield. The football wasn’t great up to that point but it was getting results and the players believed in it. Losing to Liverpool in the last second (when we wasted countless chances to win) broke the team’s spirit. They didn’t defend with the same relish and it all fell apart.
 
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