There existed a hardcore tranche of Tottenham Hotspur fans that were so opposed to José Mourinho’s appointment that they were prepared to throw all reason out the window and instead funnel everything that appeared before them down the “Didn’t Want Him Here In The First Place” shute.
The Portuguese was a perfect pantomime villain when it came to Gareth Bale. Despite the Welshman being ‘injured’ the very existence of José meant there was room for a grudge to exist. We had leaked audio from Hotspur Way with Mourinho virtually pleading with someone, asking if they wanted to “…stay here or go to Madrid and play no football?”
Then we had the correction of the Instagram post where Bale effectively misled fans about who his day had gone. Mourinho threw the truth into the public domain.
Yeah, but it was really all José’s fault though, eh?
Now, Bale’s agent Mr. Barnett has – not for the first time – played the sympathy card. The quotes via Eurosport are extraordinary.
So Bale, a man lifting £325,000 a week has a rough ride? I’ve officially heard it all.
Some fans will delight at the notion that Bale has been hard done by – by Mourinho. Presumably, these are the same people who think that Real Madrid also treated the 31-year-old poorly?
There’s a pattern emerging, eh.
And elderly
Barnett is a (well i wont put it up here so I will say chump).
I think it’s fanciful to suggest that Jose knew before he got the job that the monies he’d previously had at other clubs would not be available to him at Spurs. I’m sure he said as much at the press conferences where he praised the quality of the squad. In hindsight perhaps he overestimated their ability.
Blaming the players for the miserable tenure of his time at Spurs is unfair and absolves and ignores the same fractured and underperforming sides he left at RM Chelsea and Man Utd. His man management skills leave much to be desired and his treatment of Luke Shaw at Man Utd and Eva Canero at Chelsea was demeaning and disgusting. It’s no surprise to me that players won’t play for him.
Yes we were 14th when he arrived but 3 points off 5th. When he left we were in a cup final but actually 7th and we didn’t make the 1/4 finals of the Europa.
I agree the football was dire but that was more to do with the way he set the team up. In his last game at Everton he played 8 defensive players.
Bale.
Was.
Unfit.
Big.
Difference.
Wholeheartedly agree with you on why Levy recruited Mourinho. I was pleased with the appointment but it was very much a case of strange bedfellows. Fair point about the money spent but he did deliver and that is what counts. No manager will win anything significant with the Gollum of North London at the helm unless he suddenly has a spectacular change of heart which we all know is incredibly unlikely.
Appointing Mourinho turned out like it did because and not least of which were/ are the players he had to work with. The fact that he has a reputation of being a cheque book manager beggars belief that you appoint someone with that reputation and then close said cheque book.
Mourinho when he came in was in a no win situation. The players knew it, and for those like Dele who continued to under perform always knew they could hide behind that it was Mourinho’s reputation of bad man management. It’s not me guv it’s him.
We were 14th when he arrived. In a cup final and 6th in the league when he left. Not forgetting 1/4 finalists in the EL. Yes the football was dire. But be under no illusion. The players were responsible for that.
It’s indisputable that in his spells at Chelsea, the second time, and Man Utd he won trophy’s although his rate of trophy delivery has shown diminishing rates of return since his spell at Inter. He also spent over 170 million at Chelsea and got through 360 million at Man Utd so there would have been reasonable expectations that he would win stuff. That money was never going to be available at Spurs which in essence makes Levy’s decision to recruit him even stranger.
From a purely pragmatic point of view I too would have accepted the boom then bust Mourinho experience of his two previous clubs, sadly we got just the end game.
Bale is indeed a vanity project, a sticking plaster to cover the lack of proper investment. No one quite seems to know how much or little we are contributing to his salary but his goals for us must have had some value, I respect others will see him as an expensive folly
Whatever we are paying Bale is rather dwarfed by the £15million a year we reputedly paid , an out of work, Jose which has rather been put into context by the diminished renumeration he will receive at Roma which appears to be around a third of what he was earning at Spurs.
Not sure that’s true he may not have played that much under Jose but he was on the bench plenty of times. Jose didn’t fancy him which was his prerogative.
However when the teams not winning your selections or non selections will inevitably come into question.
It was no coincidence he made the Bale training incident comment on the same night we got beat at Everton. Classic Mourinho diversion tactic to divert attention from bad result. Same thing happened when we lost at Arsenal, no penalty, and Man Utd where he implied OGS was a bad father.
Bale.
Was.
Injured.
Until.
March.
Modern footballers and their entourage and totally detached from the realities of the average fan. Kane is one of the few that many can still connect with. Most of the rest it’s just another job.
Not a fan of his but he made a difficult situation – p*** poor Chairman who meddles – worse with questionable man management. Bottom line is Spurs are in chaos and it’s difficult to see anyone who can turn it around if Levy continues to run the club in the same vein.
He was a busted flush coupled with a rotten Chairman in Levy. It was a disaster waiting to happen but he definitely didn’t get a lift in performance during his tenure. He’s a dinosaur and we can watch his latest effort in Roma as proof when it inevitably unravels.
I see a player in Bale that wants to play and is showing he retains a lot of ability now he is playing, whatever reasons Mourinho had for rejecting a number of players is only known to him.
Therefore of what purpose did it serve to justify treating players in the manner he showed, nobody including him or the team benefited from his treatment of them that’s for sure.
I’ve discovered you cannot debate with Mourinho haters. A pointless waste of time. Their mind was made up from day one. Save yourself the time and energy.
Stats win sod all in this context.
One crucial detail you left at about Mourinho is that at Chelsea and Man Utd he still won trophies regardless. If he’d been here long enough, won the trophies and pissed off a few in the meantime I don’t think many would complain.
Bale was a publicity stunt by Levy to appease the fans, nothing more. In my opinion Alli simply doesn’t want to put in the hard yards and both have shown that they don’t have it at a high level any more, but Bale could prove me wrong if he starts to produce performances against the bigger clubs such as the last one at Sheffield Utd.
There existed a hardcore tranche of Tottenham Hotspur fans that were so opposed to Gareth Bale’s return on loan that they were prepared to throw all reason out the window and instead funnel everything that appeared before them down the “Didn’t Want Him Here In The First Place” shute.
I’d say despite the above, his stats are more favourable than the special one’s…
Don’t forget he hasn’t played in the PL for a mighty long time so is bound to be a bit off the place. If he was a foreign star we’d all be saying give him time, like we did with Eriksen for example. We’ll see the best of him next season imo. We didn’t talk about reducing Eriksen’s wages in year one did we? I know he’s on a lot more but he can do a lot more too.
I don’t think the club was big enough for the both of their massive ego’s. Given the choice we’ve still got the right one, at least he doesn’t talk all the time or play up to the camera like some celeb pop star. Bale lets his feet do the talking.
I do have a suspicion that Mourinho is not the best man manager (at least these days, for all players). At the same time I’ve gotta say ‘boo hoo’ for poor Bale. I reckon I’d turn off too if Mourinho treated me a bit rough… but then I don’t earn in a year what what Bale earns in a week so I feel entitled to have a manager that gives me some rope.
The Bale situation is not black and white really. He is a club legend. He DID some great stuff. He can still really help to break down those tough little bottom of the table clubs that you might struggle to get a goal against. However, he is no longer a TOP player. He probably won’t turn the game against a TOP side (and he hasn’t this season). He’s not worth the pay he is on. If he drops down to maybe 60k a week… I’d sign him for an extra 2 years at the drop of a hat.
When you say Spurs fans ignored all reason on the appointment of Mourinho I don’t quite follow.
This was a man who had presided over fractured dressing rooms in his previous three employments RM, Chelsea and Man Utd, and as a result had left their employment early. If it had happened there why wouldn’t it happen at Spurs? As you say a pattern is emerging
Gareth Bale and it appears on here Dele are two of the latest players to have been recipients of his tough love. Both have hardly played for the team this season under him and can hardly be blamed for the season the club has had both in terms of results and team style. In the case of Bale you can argue he is massively overpaid, not his fault, but if he’d not come we’d be £10million better off but 9 goals short and below mid table. I believe you get £3 million for every league place the higher you finish so I’ll leave it others to determine his net gain or loss to the club.
Bale and Dele join an increasingly long list of players who have fallen foul of the chosen one. Many of these players will long be remembered as legends at the clubs they have represented as long as football is played.
Many on here will applaud his brand of man management though I don’t see it being copied by the current elite band of managers. Even Sir Alex who was a tough task master never criticised his players in public only in the confines of the dressing room and woe betide any journalist who tried to criticise his players
This has the makings of Levy extending the current deal.Anyone else would have learned their lesson,but not Levy.It’s for the fans because he loves Spurs.
Barnett is a toad in the classic football agent style, always has been. Living in a fantasy football based bubble. Taking home a quarter mill per week to turn up and have a kick about with your mates for a couple of hours a day doesn’t exactly sound like cause to not “enjoy your life”.
Bale has steadfastly decreed his “happiness” at being at Spurs to anyone that will listen for the last 9 months, and we have still only managed half a dozen consistent performances. Are we to believe that he’s EVEN HAPPIER now???
I guess the next 5 games will tell us.
Friends of my mother’s started a food bank service in a small area…after a week or so there’s nearly 200 people signed up to it…..
People are really in bother, dickheads like Barnett should really sew his chops up.
He had the opportunity to earn his money in the most important match.:Arsenal away.
He wasn’t anonymous cos he was conspicuous for leaving massive gaps for Arsenal by not helping out his full back….ok maybe if you do something the other way. There was nothing.