Mauricio Pochettino has been tipped for the Newcastle United job, however, this does come with what appears to be a rather large asterisk next to the suggestion. Whilst The Express is running the piece, the actual claim comes from Mick Martin a former Toon captain. Mmmn.
Either way, a revitalized Premier League side will be a great media fit for the Argentine, and one that Daniel Levy will see as an excellent opportunity to foist Mauricio onto someone else’s, anyone else’s payroll.
Now, despite the voracity of this rumour, it’s actually a brilliant fit for Poch himself. Why? Because he genuinely won’t get a better offer in this lifetime. Once we strip away all the selective memory stuff from Tottenham fans, the cold reality is that he’s won nothing since landing in England. All the largely emotional flimflam to one side, under “honours”, the man is wanting.
I feel that no fully-fledged topflight operator like Real Madrid or even a stumbling Manchester United would be prepared to give him a go, which is precisely what it would be.
At Newcastle, Poch would get as close as he’ll ever get to a blank canvas, with a fat enough side serving of autonomy – in an elite division.
Indeed, if Poch cannot command this absolute gift of an opportunity, then he may need to announce that he’s setting up a Llama sanctuary or something, so he can at least give people the impression he’s not sat next to a phone that never rings…
Poch should have focused on winning the League or FA Cup a bit more, losing to Chelsea in 2015 and the semi v Utd in 2018 hurt, particularly the latter. However, Utd had spent hundreds of millions and Chelsea have always been able to spend big when they have needed to. Klopp and Poch were in similar positions in 2016, both had teams that were progressing but always fell at the final hurdle. Klopp was becoming a nearly man after losing in some big finals and some ignorant journalists and pundits were preparing the gallows! Idiots the lot of them. There has been enough discussion as to where both teams went from here and why. Forever, the fact that Poch couldn’t bring in the players he wanted will frustrate the life out of me. Levy let him down. Poch would have won something if he’d been backed like all the other clubs that have consistently won something over the last 100 years. Poch and Levy had reached the end of the road, but the wrong man left. I can see a 5 year project being great for Newcastle. Big clubs around Europe give you 18 months.
I’ve zero faith in him. Moreover, I think he’ll be happy talking about his expertise, rather than proving it.
No team that’s used to winning stuff will employ him. He doesn’t have a winners pedigree. The Toon is ideal because I’m sure the new owners will back him to see if there is a winner in there. The affair won’t last when they realise there isn’t.