The timeline for how Tottenham Hotspur ended up hiring Nuno Espirito Santo
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Timeline of Tottenham’s manager appointment
- Daniel Levy was distracted by the fallout from the Super League fiasco and asked Steve Hitchen to draw up a list of potential managerial candidates after Mourinho’s sacking.
- After Julian Nagelsmann took the Bayern job, Hansi Flick was Tottenham’s top choice, but he eventually turned Spurs down to take the Germany job at the end of May.
- Erik Ten Hag was also very high on Hitchin’s list and Spurs could have had him in May if they had decided to do so. They didn’t, and by the time he circled around again as an option it was too late.
- Mauricio Pochettino was complaining about PSG to his London friends and wanted to come back to Spurs, but the PSG president told Spurs to pound sand in early June.
- The restructuring of the leadership at the club and the hiring of Paratici only happened after Pochettino fell apart.
- Antonio Conte was Paratici’s idea, but it was never a good fit. It’s still not clear why Conte backed away.
- Paratici turned to Paulo Fonseca after Conte, but Fonseca started to have doubts over tactical and defensive priorities as expressed by Fonseca; Paratici walked away in mid-June.
- Paratici immediately turned to Gattuso, whom he wanted to bring from Juventus. It was all arranged and would’ve happened, but #NoToGattuso and personal emails spooked Levy, who personally pulled the plug.
- Ultimately in the last week of June it came down to Graham Potter, who had a release clause in his contract, and Nuno Espirito Santo. Many at Spurs wanted Potter, but Paratici put the hard sell on Levy for Nuno and eventually convinced him of Nuno’s tactical flexibility at Valencia and Porto.
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