Tottenham Hotspur’s chairman, Daniel Levy, demonstrated the ruthlessness that he is famed for on multiple occasions over the weekend of the 19th of April 2021. The 59-year-old chairman has a reputation for being particularly cold-blooded but few could have expected the succession of merciless decisions that were made on a weekend that football will never forget.
One of those decisions was to sack Jose Mourinho as Spurs’ manager but, astonishingly, this is a story that has been confined to the back pages, given that it was announced at the same time as the outlandish idea for Europe’s top clubs to form an exclusive Super League. Levy is one of the six Premier League chairmen to subscribe to the idea that is receiving worldwide condemnation. Thanks to this deafening din of anger that the proposed Super League has caused, the Portuguese manager’s sacking by Spurs has largely been ignored.
Jose Lighthearted Despite Sacking
Indeed, Mourinho quietly slipped out the back door of the training ground at Spurs and returned to his leafy London townhouse with the attention of most of the world’s media firmly fixed elsewhere. Unlike some of the other times Mourinho has arrived back to his London home after being sacked, there was only a skeleton crew of journalists to meet him upon his return and, unusually, they had the honour of being recorded by the 58-year-old, who cheerfully told them all that they would be on his Instagram a bit later. Try as Sky Sports journalist Gary Cotterill might, he couldn’t get Mourinho to bite after repeatedly giving him the invitation to throw Levy under the bus for firing him in a week where they would play in a Carabao Cup final that Mourinho had guided them to. As incessant as the questioning was, you can understand why Cotterill was asking it.
Irrespective of how poor Spurs have been over the last six months, it does seem astounding that Levy would sack a manager who is renowned for being a cup final specialist in a week where anything is possible at Wembley. Glory for the Lilywhites at the home of football does look a long shot all of a sudden, given that, as of the 20th of April, the latest odds on the football betting markets price Spurs at 5/1 to beat Man City.
The Special One’s ‘Special’ Trophyless Season
Instead, Levy has denied Mourinho the chance to win a trophy with Spurs, which ultimately means that the 58-year-old leaves the club trophyless. That’s the first time in his career that he has departed a club without any silverware. However brutal the decision was, this moment had been coming for a while, as things have gone spectacularly wrong at Spurs. The undeniable reality is that Mourinho found it increasingly difficult to replicate the magic that helped him win three Premier League titles.
Additionally, Spurs’ brand of football under Mourinho had their own fans disinterested in watching them play and, in general, the mood around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium had grown toxic, with rumours of dressing room fallout increasingly widespread. Indeed, the squad eventually turned on the self-proclaimed Special One.
Interestingly, it has been reported that only Harry Kane remained loyal to Mourinho at the end, with the rest of the players taking their complaints to Levy.
Spurs End Not Really a Surprise
The truth is, this has all become quite predictable when you consider how often over the last ten years Mourinho has gone to war with the players of the club he has been managing. Indeed, there is a real sense of deja vu with the latest Mourinho sacking and it’s almost impossible to imagine that any other Premier League chairman would trust the 58-year-old to take their club forward into the modern world of football. In reality, supporters have, in all likelihood, seen the last of Mourinho in the English top-flight. The Portuguese manager departs with a Premier League record that reads 217 wins in 363 games, 62 losses, 84 wins, 625 goals for and 305 goals against.
It seems quite surreal that a manager of Mourinho’s global popularity now leaves the game with such little fanfare, 17 months after being appointed as Spurs boss. It was a dignified exit on the day but the last year and a half have left the Special One’s reputation as one of the world’s elite managers in tatters.
If the phone does indeed ring again for Mourinho, you can be certain that none of the chairmen of the world’s top clubs will be on the other end. In essence, it is au revoir, and thank you for the memories to a manager that shook the ground European football stood on for the last 15 years.