Home » Pochettino Cuts A Lonely Figure As Levy Goes All Out For Mourinho

Pochettino Cuts A Lonely Figure As Levy Goes All Out For Mourinho

By The Boy -

Still waiting for the right opportunity, former Tottenham Hotspur supremo Mauricio Pochettino’s timing to tell the world about his thoughts on the All or Nothing documentary probably couldn’t have been worse.

As Spurs are busy swooping some of Real Madrid’s finest players, the Argentinian is found left dwelling upon the collapse of his immediate past and how his time in N17 had been largely left on the cutting room floor by the Amazon producers.

The 48-year-old acknowledged that the club wanted to show themselves in a good light, and that when the cameras showed up at Hotspur Way, it was at a ‘very difficult time’ for him and his coaching staff.

It’s easy to point the finger at Daniel Levy for not backing Poch – largely because he didn’t! – however, in the midst of financially crippling pandemic, Jose Mourinho hasn’t experienced any of the obstacles Mauricio did, and so far has added two Premier League captains and an endlessly qualified goalkeeper to the squad. Not to mention the impending acquisition of Gareth Bale and Sergio Reguilón…

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Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago

Poch’s first season signings included Davies,Dier,DeYedlin,Dele,Fazio,Vorm and Stambouli.

Steve KillerCushion Williams
Steve KillerCushion Williams
3 years ago

That on paper looks a strange bunch 😅

Steve KillerCushion Williams
Steve KillerCushion Williams
3 years ago
Reply to  MrChickenHead

He must have had some sort of say on all the transfers.. He told everyone he did when we bought Sissoko. No player came in without his nod Poch said……. Then towards his end he said he wanted his title changed from manager to coach and said he had no say…So after 5 or 6 years things changed.

Steve KillerCushion Williams
Steve KillerCushion Williams
3 years ago
Reply to  Billy the yid

Stambouli was before of course? The rest Pochs?.. Yes Gio was a loan but he came here on Pochs watch with Ndombelly. You’re right about Gedson and Berg.. I dont think Maureen played a part in that jan transfer window… He hadn’t been with us long and we had injury crisis and loads of games….. It’s clear that Jose has been hands on in this window..

GSB
GSB
3 years ago

I liked Pochettino’s vibe and so far i have to hold my nose for Jose. We had exciting times but didn’t win any trophies. So far Jose is unlikeable and he has time. We will see.

GSB
GSB
3 years ago

Oh how i miss Soldado and Adebayor. lol

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago
Reply to  ministers cat

months ago Southampton told Spurs they wanted £35m then it was £25m final offer or he was staying and only allowed to leave on a free at the end of the season,you at the time said about Hojbjerg”,he is actually good as opposed to all the other meanderings on many other transfers,the player wants to leave stains,Thfc & EFC are the main suitors,the player prefers Spurs,so Stains should issue an ultimatum match Efc offer or you lose him,The price is x pay it or he goes to EFC.Hard bargaining rollocks,good for the club blah,blah,blah.” I told you after the price was down to £25m in another couple of weeks it would be down to £15m or a swap for KWP. Alan Hutton was talking about Levy/Spurs would lose him if they didn’t pay the asking price he would go to Everton.

Willie!
3 years ago

I always knew Harold had a fine sense of humour. He comes through today,

I literally spit my coffee reading this:

“endlessly qualified goalkeeper”

Endlessly qualified to…be third choice at that legendary, powerful club…Burnley. Never rated Hart, ever, not in his supposed “prime”, and certainly not now. Worst backup keeper in the league now that West Ham moved on that chump with the neck tattoo Roberto.

ministers cat
ministers cat
3 years ago

I don’t remember one poster saying that. I do remember several saying that £35m was never attainable and they soon backed down. It really isnt £20m saved we would never have paid anywhere near that.

Billy the yid
Billy the yid
3 years ago

Half those signings werent pochs. They were before. And also to nit pick lo celso was only on loan, he didn’t sign till Jan. And also, just to prove that the manager doesn’t make the signings if jose picked gedson he should also receive abuse. I know jose didn’t pick him as he didn’t even particularly want bergwin

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago

I just meant paying for half his wages,meaning he’s still costing them.Did you know we sold him for £85m but included another £6m to be paid if they won the CL which they did.We got £91m in total.

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago
Reply to  James McKevitt

He came before Poch part of the Seven to arrive with the Bale money.

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago
Reply to  James McKevitt

Generally, I’m happy with the product, but if Sky and Co. do go seeking discounts, I will expect that to be reflected in subscription rates. I do think that the byproduct of signing Bale will be more televised Spurs games in the future.

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago
Reply to  mikey hughes

I did appreciate Poch’s contribution, but ultimately any manager is judged on results, not whether they played the best football. Yes, Levy did hamstring him with some of the transfer antics, but Poch made a HUGE tactical blunder in the CL final by playing an unfit Kane rather than an on fire Moura which did not show either good managerial judgment or the balls to do the right and obvious thing. He was doomed from that point.

James McKevitt
James McKevitt
3 years ago
Reply to  Essex Tony

I’d like to see how Sky and BT Premier League football subscriptions are doing. Apart from Spurs games I can’t say I’d pay to watch Premier League football at the moment. I think Sky et al will be looking for a big discount on the TV deal.

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago
Reply to  James McKevitt

Simon Jordan is normally quite astute. As an ex-owner he has a unique understanding of these matters, but I don’t think Levy would’ve been influenced by that at all. 1 bad game doesn’t spoil the general product as we’ve seen some crackers since the re-introduction of football in a Covid-19 world.

James McKevitt
James McKevitt
3 years ago

You left out Chiriches.

James McKevitt
James McKevitt
3 years ago

Ex Palace chairman Simon Jordan made a good point on TalkSport this morning. He thinks one of the reasons Levy has had to back Mourinho when he didn’t back Poch is that Sky, BT and the rest of the pay TV companies are very unhappy with the fare being offered by the Premier League and with the arrival of Bale it puts Spurs games back in the spotlight and there will be a lot more interest in showing Spurs games.

Honestly who would want to show the garbage football on show against Everton and who would want to pay to watch it. Jordan also says he thinks the Premier League will eventually ditch Sky et al and show their own games and the teams with the star names eg Bale will draw the big crowds and big money.

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago

Don’t think they have a choice here. They know that no-one is prepared to meet the current wages, so if they are that desperate to get rid of him, they have to subsidise them.

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago
Reply to  MrChickenHead

Mourinho has won trophies wherever he has gone, so he has a proven track record of success as opposed to Poch. He’s only been here a short while and has this season to start delivering, so for the life of me, I can’t see what is so strange about it.

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago
Reply to  MrChickenHead

Llorente,Wanyama,Janssen ,Trippier,Wimmer,N’Jie,Vorm,DeYedlin ,Fazio, Stambouli,N’Koudou,Sessegnon,Clarke,Gazzaniga,Foyth,Aurier,Moura, Sissoko,Alderweirld,Son,Davies,Dier,Dele,N’dombele,LoCelso,Sanchez. Two others who must have gone into the under 23 Tracey & Etete. 28 total.

Steve KillerCushion Williams
Steve KillerCushion Williams
3 years ago

Are Madrid still paying for Bale? 😂 I’m still amazed they’re prepared to cover half his wages or more.

Steve KillerCushion Williams
Steve KillerCushion Williams
3 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

Player power. When Madrid or Barca come calling then they go. Baldy tried in vain to keep them both… Modric hates him for it… Bale agreed with him to stay another year before he left, but Madrid said no. You come now or not at all.. As Leslie nails below, even prime United with Sir Alex couldn’t stop Ronaldo going there.. Its a food chain and Madrid is the Lion sitting at the top.

MrChickenHead
MrChickenHead
3 years ago
Reply to  Essex Tony

Was a winner, done nothing here…yet. Levy had nothing to do with
Poch’s failure, Strange way to look at it.

MrChickenHead
MrChickenHead
3 years ago

What Scouts Levy either sacked them or put them on gardening leave. Is there a list of the 35 players anywhere so I can look at it. Five and a half yrs, two windows of no activity and we signed 35 player, oh no 27 wow that’s a lot.

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago

That’s why Mourinho is a winner and Poch wasn’t.

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago

👏

Steve KillerCushion Williams
Steve KillerCushion Williams
3 years ago

Looking at all 27 signings under Pochs watch there was about 5 that was quality. Son, Toby, Dele, Lucas, Dier… Trippier and Davies I would say are good squad players… Then there was so much rubbish, Wimmer, Jansen, Stambouli, Cards, Nocluedo, Yedlin, Lopez, Fazio, Llorente…. It’s ironic that everything went wrong in 2019 when Poch finally did get money to burn. His two marquee signings Lo Celso And Ndom couldn’t play for love or money.. We won’t have such problems with Doherty, Reguilon and Bale thats for sure.

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago
Reply to  MrChickenHead

Guaranteed he didn’t get the top players he wanted to ,but out of the “list” that he &,scouts? and Levy drew up only Toby,Sonny and Dele were any good out of 28 . We can’t always give credit if a players makes it to the manager ,and if they are cr#p to Levy. If we didn’t run the club as a business and Levy had given him his dream signing every time no matter the cost maybe Poch would have won the lot.

ronan1882
ronan1882
3 years ago
Reply to  MrChickenHead

Note the date. It has now been acknowledged Mourinho does not have the obstacles or excuses poch did.

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago

To be fair, literally every club wanted Leicester to win when it was clear it was a 2 horse race. Hazard had played badly for most of the season and then suddenly found his form against us in the 2 – 2 draw. Pulis pretty much told everyone that he wanted Leicester to win the league before our game against West Brom and then proceeded to engineer a draw which pretty much ended our hopes.

ronan1882
ronan1882
3 years ago

“in the midst of financially crippling pandemic, Jose Mourinho hasn’t experienced any of the obstacles Mauricio did” (17.9.20)

So that’s it then. He has not been hamstrung by levy as poch was. There are no excuses. Title challenges and Champions League finals will not be enough. Trophies have to be delivered..

MrChickenHead
MrChickenHead
3 years ago

And Poch wanted everyone of them Bc they were on his list he gave Levy right?

MrChickenHead
MrChickenHead
3 years ago

Just the usual reaming Poch column then. I think you will find the cost of players in the Poch years are way more than in the Jose era. You don’t think the stars or something have aligned or some $hit for this all to happen. You think if Covid hadn’t happen this would be happening(hopefully).

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago
Reply to  mikey hughes

I’ll take that over what we have had over the last 20 years.

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago
Reply to  mikey hughes

You can’t compare what Mourinho is doing with Bergwijn,Fernandes,Doherty,Hojbjerg,Reguilon,Hart and Bale being his only players.Poch had 26 players brought in during his time.Other clubs were in transition during Poch’s best periods.Klopp & Pep have been longer in their roles with bigger investments than Mourinho.We can’t just compare like for like but it won’t stop people doing it.

Spurious
Spurious
3 years ago
Reply to  mikey hughes

There were a few under old Saggy face as well!

mikey hughes
mikey hughes
3 years ago

Yeah then Harry asks Levy for Tevez as we closed in on the title and Levy backed his manager by bringing in ancient Saha and Nielson on frees! Levy is the reason no manager wins trophies at Spurs.

mikey hughes
mikey hughes
3 years ago

No I wouldn’t, in fact I still hope somebody will buy out Lewis and Levy, I don’t care who it is. All I’m saying is backing money can trump a much better manager than at the club with all the funds. That’s why Pochettino was so exceptional, he was the same at Southampton. He was Levy’s dream manager.

mikey hughes
mikey hughes
3 years ago
Reply to  Spursnut d

TBF every club Mourinho has been have handed him millions to spend on the players he wants. He’s not known for improving the players he inherits, but buying new ones.

David Dillenberg
David Dillenberg
3 years ago
Reply to  mikey hughes

Would anybody have complained if we were bank rolled by Abrimovich Sugar Daddy and possibly won stuff? I think not!

mikey hughes
mikey hughes
3 years ago
Reply to  Essex Tony

Yes those funded by oil sheiks and dodgy Russian Oligarchs.

David Dillenberg
David Dillenberg
3 years ago

Plus their sensational home grown talent reaped dividends
– Scholes – Butt – Neville Bros – Giggs
plus revered captain in ~Roy “take no prisoners”Keane!

mikey hughes
mikey hughes
3 years ago
Reply to  Essex Tony

Pochettino had no support from Levy that’s why we always ran out of steam at the end of each season. He could only do so much with what he had. Levy’s antics last summer were the final straw, along with never paying Eriksen what he was worth.
It will be very interesting to see if Mourinho can match Poch’s achievements with a better squad..
Most spurs fans would thank Poch for making us the best team in the land for 2 seasons if you ignore pots.

David Dillenberg
David Dillenberg
3 years ago
Reply to  mikey hughes

Yep. They stood by him during his first barren 4 years before taking off big time.!
Bruce – Pallister – Irwin et al.

mikey hughes
mikey hughes
3 years ago

You can’t compare a club floundering in money with Spurs! Besides Fergie was supported by his board wasn’t he? Massive difference.

David Dillenberg
David Dillenberg
3 years ago
Reply to  Essex Tony

Yep the Foxes in 2016 (nearly not quite. Ouch.That hurt!!)

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago

History remembers the winners

David Dillenberg
David Dillenberg
3 years ago
Reply to  Essex Tony

To put it some kind of perspective Sir Alex Ferguson won 25 or 26 trophies at Man Utd. 13 PL titles!

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

Man Utd,Chelsea,Liverpool and Spurs have little choice in keeping,Ronaldo,Hazard,Continho,Bale,Modric & Kane if the Spanish giants want them. The only thing is Levy makes them break the bank if they want one of ours,Madrid are still paying for Bale! When Southampton demanded at first £35m or they weren’t going to sell him for Hojbjerg some people on here said, Levy just pay it you cheapskate,we then got him for £15m,that £20m saved now pays for Bales loan for a year.Doherty is worth double what we paid for him.If we can shift Rose,Foyth,CCV before the window closes we will be in a lot better shape them we could have imagined.

Essex Tony
Essex Tony
3 years ago
Reply to  mikey hughes

Whilst I am appreciative of what Poch did, history will show that he won nothing and that is the only statistic that counts. Not whether you played good football or nearly won something, it’s whether you DID win something.

Berg
Berg
3 years ago

he won the court case! his dog’s bank account is chokka

David Dillenberg
David Dillenberg
3 years ago
Reply to  mikey hughes

Actually I vividly recall winning nought but playing sexy swagger football during the Arry Redknapp era!!

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago

I’ve already said that I’m pleased we’re bringing players in, very pleased. I’ve also also said that there’s no point in bringing in a new manager without backing him.

The point I’m making is that Levy will only act when forced to, as other people have also posted, it’s funny how money can be suddenly found to do some business.

None of this changes the overall perception of Levy, that if he can deliver the minimum the fans will be happy with with the least amount of spend then that’s what he will do.

Do I think any of this changes that within this 20+ year context? No I don’t. If this is the beginning of a totally different approach then I will praise Levy for it.

I think we will find that predictably the sale of Kane will be the trade off. One step forward and two back, over two decades of it.

We get two players Madrid don’t want and we sell them a player the whole world wants in their team. Bale, Modric and now Kane but the perception is that this is all part of a plan. Modric and Bale went there almost 10 years ago, what did we win as a result?

Real ambition doesn’t look like that or work like that…

Berg
Berg
3 years ago
Reply to  mikey hughes

amen

mikey hughes
mikey hughes
3 years ago

Levy never was one for honour was he? How many players has he tapped up and then when the player gets his head turned, not go through with the deal; Berahino, Schneiderlein, Grealish etc. I will show honour and loyalty and forever be grateful for the miracles Pochettino performed with very little backing, which of course nearly included a title and a CL. The most memorable days and nights under Levy’s reign were all under Pochettino, not Mourinho. Hopefully that can change.

Leslie Crawford
Leslie Crawford
3 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

Are you happy with Regulion,Doherty,Hojbjerg,and Bale irrespective of what they cost? ,never mind if we got them cheap or what our rivals are spending.Bringing the right player,round peg round hole sort of stuff and if they come with experience and not potential is more important now than how good a player could be in years to come.I think deep down you know they are all upgrades on the players we had but find it difficult to say it and still find the negatives.

Spursnut d
Spursnut d
3 years ago
Reply to  Eddie

I think you can add in the factor that poch was not a winner. Every club jose has went to he has won trophies. Levy would not have wanted to be the club to break that. It would not have looked well on him, the board and enic with the fans and the media.

Eddie
Eddie
3 years ago
Reply to  Berg

Far too late to worry over that.

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  Berg

We could have won the league during that period with some backing. Liverpool took on that idea even though they were below us, Levy didn’t have the balls…

Eddie
Eddie
3 years ago

Poch probably left it too late in his tenure to press for reinforcements.Jose has basically just arrived and it would take a reported 45M to pay him off.
You could argue he has Levy over a barrel,but Jose would have impressed on him the seriousness of the problem he faces and the immediate need to try to sort out the problems.Another example of his experience perhaps.
However I would argue that he needs more than’the last piece of the jigsaw’.

Berg
Berg
3 years ago

still wish he had backed him after we ran out of gas chasing leicester

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago

We’ll see if this is actually going ‘all out’ or a bit of window dressing amidst the fear that top 4 might have otherwise further away than even last season. If you compare the business we are doing compared to the teams around us then this isn’t actually very large expenditure at all.

However, we have to be pleased that Levy is at least responding to the dire need for new blood. I wonder if Jose had achieved top 4 last season that very much would have happened at all?

Poch helped Levy do it on the cheap with very little transfer activity over his 5 seasons. Jose needs his own players to stamp his methods on the team, let’s hope the football improves with it. Bale in the team will lift the mood though, even in the short term.

With two Real players in, this looks more and more like the ‘special relationship’ has been rekindled with them and they will yet again take our best player next summer…

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