Pochettino’s exit from Spurs felt inevitable, as we fell into a cycle of Groundhog Day press conferences, chronic under investment and uneasy performances.
A source close to the club tells The Boy Hotspur that they believe the demise was a long time coming – and infers that perhaps Mauricio Pochettino read the tea-leaves a long way before we arrived in the Champions League final.
Over a year before the sacking, Poch had been acting increasingly erratic in press conferences (blaming all of his peculiar pronouncements on a language barrier, when he didn’t talk the same way earlier in his tenure, is a fantasy mitigation), players he said he wanted then when the deals were almost done would suddenly change his mind about, and was telling people close to him that he was burned out. Someone who was pro-DL or anti-MP could describe that he had “quit on Spurs”.
I adore Poch, and wish I didn’t know some things I’ve been told by sources close to him, to the club and to the players. He was my favourite Spurs manager in almost 40 years, but in my opinion, Poch and Levy share the blame for the unravelling of his tenure.
Source
There were several points in the process where some flexibility from either/both Levy and Poch could have pulled things back from the brink. They both chose not to take those opportunities.
Spurs fans are paying the price for that intransigence.
Dybala has come clean mate his words ‘I did not speak directly with any of them, but there were conversations with clubs’ man united, spurs, psg. But after wanting to leave he quickly chose to stay…… There were no personal terms or fees agreed that was all fake news….. Personal terms with Bruno were agreed. That one he definitely bunged.
Maybe it was Fernandes as you say mate. But we were close to signing Dybala. We had agreed personal terms with his people, it was all over the news on deadline day. We didn’t sign him because of image rights which were adding on an extra £10-14m onto the price of £60m we had agreed with Juve. The exact same thing that prevented us from getting Moutinho a few years back. Levy pulled a fast one again.
The manager and players finally knew Levys jig was up…. They all wanted fresh faces in and to kick on. Two years neglect was enough to make heads turn, more players wanting out, hope diminishes when nothing changes or happens, and then when it finally did happen the players were rubbish.. Tanguy, Gio and Gedson were never taking us to the next level. Poch knew this because he said they had ‘potential’. None of them were good enough, or fit enough for the firsts.. If I was Poch I would have been in despair.
The failure to secure Bruno was the final straw. Poch had been talking to him personally and terms were agreed. Personal was agreed but the clubs never agreed on a fee. Reports were a fee with sporting was agreed, but then Levy either tried dropping the price (like he did with Grealish), or he wanted to pay in instalments… Pochs whole persona changed when this fell through…. Dybala has said himself he was in ‘brief talks’ with one english club and that was Man United, but he quickly chose to stay with the Old Lady. Dybala was never in talks with us. He’s on 400k a week,and wins trophies and he’s in his prime.
Levy has vanished now we dont see him at games anymore do we… When we got to the CL final Levy was out on the pitch celebrating with Poch and the team 🙈 what a muppet. You wouldnt catch abromivich or any chairman doing that. Arm around him, lapping it up for the cameras.
If it wasnt for the two years neglect then I would blame Botch.. But that was too much, on top of losing our formiddable fortress. Those two reasons were the main factors……. Before that we were unbeaten at home all season…… I blame poch for throwing games like dortmend in the ropey, but even then I wonder if Levy ordered him to prioritise certain competitions…. After all he did the club never once backed him either financially nor verbally when the going got tough…. Sir Alex was nearly sacked by united on the 6th or 7th year mark when it got rough they stuck by him… After the loyalty Poch gave us he deserved some back.
Spot on. The manager lost his enthusiasm – beaten out of him by countless disappointments from above no doubt. The players knew it and the results followed. The same happened at the end of Redknapp’s reign, albeit in a different scenario.
He had enough of having his hands tied behind his back and eventually let it slide. You could see he wasn’t all there at the start of the season. Maybe the failure to secure Dybala was the nail in the cofin?
When he said he’d have left if Spurs won the Champions Leagues was a bit of a giveaway. That secret thingy, its either he was a boyhood Arsenal fan or maybe something to do with women’s underwear.
Yeah Spurs fans are paying the price for Poch and Levy’s intransigence, paying for it literally in higher prices for season tickets and shirts and pints and pies and everything else.
Poch bowed to the inevitable. He realised that he had taken that particular team as far as he could and eventually realised that he would never be backed by Levy to take the club to the next level. As the post below writes, it will only be when Lewis realises that Levy is harming the club financially, will he take the step to relieve him of his duties. Levy will still have 29% of Enic but will have nothing to do with the football club. Lewis is a hard headed businessman and I do not believe that he is unaware of the problems. Perhaps it is merely wishful thinking, but the club will go nowhere with Levy in charge.
a poster elsewhere put this up before Poch left and the response he got was unbelievable. They read the heading “Poch sacks himself” as an attack on their hero while in reality it was just the end of a very good era for Spurs. You can’t win a battle of wills against Tight Purse unfortunately, well not until Uncle Joe sees what a muckwit he is.
No doubt all will be revealed in the Amazon documentary.
You have to ask – was it broken promises one too many times?
MP – “Dan, when can i spend money for top players?”
DL – “If you get the Champions League, then we can make funds for you”
MP (Season 2) – “I made it, how much extra do I have?”
DL – “Well, we need to look at the numbers and budget, will see, maybe when we get more revenue in we can talk”
MP (Season 3 – Wembley) – “Ok, still in CL, almost won the league, now in a bigger stadium making loads more in ticket sales, can I PLEASE spend on who I want”
DL – “We have a stadium to build, once that is built, lets see what you can do with what I can get you, if you do well then for sure!!”
MP (season 4) – “Well the stadium was delayed and late, but we are there, so I know we didnt spend a penny last year, can I please go out and fill all the gaps like Liverpool have done?”
DL – “Maybe next year…”
Poch then rides the tide of the work he has already done knowing full well he is leaving.
I think Poch was burnt out and who could blame him? He had overachieved on a much lower budget than our rivals. He warned the board to be brave and they ignored him, and then he probably knew the writing was on the wall and that he had taken the team as far as he could. He realised that he would never be given the players he wanted, similar to every Spurs manager before him under Levy. He lasted longer than most, and achieved more than most, but ultimately, reality sank in. I can imagine that working for Levy for any lengthy period of time is exhausting and professionally unrewarding. My sympathies are with Poch on this one.
The suspense is worse than waiting for the second wave hurry up
The players were definitely portraying Poch’s apathy over that time. If Poch had given up the players knew it and behaved like it. We haven’t played free flowing football for quite some time, so I’m not blaming Jose for that. Are we going to find out these ‘things you wish you didn’t know’? Are they to be serialised and drip fed, this could be the footballing highlight of my Summer.