A Pochettino-Spurs reunion would need patience from an impatient club | Tottenham Hotspur
TOttenham Hotspur have tried everything. After sacking Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019 – five months after the club’s first Champions League final, with Spurs 14th in the championship and sleepwalking in second place in a weak UCL group – came two chronic (if temperamental) title winners: José Mourinho and Antonio Conte. They gave a pragmatist (Nuno Espírito Santo) a Big Six test and moved on when performances immediately stagnated. Then came Ange Postecoglou; a convinced tactical ideologue whose principles first excited before becoming a liability.
Thomas Frank, however, seemed to be the appointment most reminiscent of Pochettino’s arrival in 2014. Both brought forward relatively undesirable clubs and established solid operational foundations. Both spoke about the importance of culture as much as the Xs and Os on the field. Neither had been tested at a club of this caliber.
It is worth remembering that Pochettino was not an immediate success. In the November international window of his debut season, Tottenham were in 12th place with more defeats (five) than wins (four) in their first 11 matches. Nevertheless, it is a sequence that the Argentinian clearly remembers with a certain fondness.
“When we arrived we had the opportunity to create something special,” Pochettino told the High Performance podcast earlier this week. “To build the new stadium, to finish the training ground and to create the facilities that are today one of the best clubs in the world in terms of facilities. It takes the trust of the owner, the trust and vision of the one he has, like Daniel (Levy), to create that. And then to support and have patience with us, because in the beginning it was not easy.
Pochettino admitted he and his team had to be “a lot of creative” as there was “not too much money to invest in players” while construction of the Tottenham Hotspur stadium was underway. During Pochettino’s first winter window, two weeks after Manchester City snatched Wilfried Bony from Swansea for £28m to bolster their attacking depth, Tottenham sent £5m to MK Dons to acquire Dele Alli before immediately loaning him out to acquire more seasoning.
Spurs have found stability over time; after losing six of their first 14 league matches under Pochettino, they lost only six more times in the next 24 meetings. Harry Kane established himself as the first-choice striker, Spurs qualified for the Europa League by finishing fifth, and the fans’ favorite streak of the modern era began in earnest.
Frank’s tenure must be remembered as an ill-fitting appointment at a time when the club could not afford to tolerate mediocrity. These days, patience is an expensive virtue. And yet, the Pochettino era that Spurs would like to return to is a story of patience rewarded.
“We had a moment when I was a very young coach, [coming in] “There aren’t many clubs that can do that.”
How the situation has changed. Tottenham are now one of the most turbulent clubs in the world pyramid. Their team is made up of the wish lists of four former coaches. The profile of their next manager (and, with him, their inevitable next sacking) is complicated by Spurs’ current duality: a team once again mired in the bottom quarter of the table, but safely through to the Champions League knockout stages. The next steps for these two positions require completely different approaches, and Tottenham’s choice will tell us that.
Among those in talks to take over is Roberto De Zerbi, a kindred spirit to Mourinho and Conte who would bring their previous success, but with a need to control transfers and a prickly disposition in difficult times. His hiring would indicate that the club is still largely focused on European competition. De Zerbi suffered relegation during his only flirtation with the drop (Benevento, 2017-18). John Heitinga, another reported candidate, is now on the coaching staff and would likely be hired on an interim basis until a permanent hire can be made this summer, when there might be a better set of options. Including… Pochettino.
Even though he has a made public release clause, there is little reason to believe the American coach would abandon his team just months before a home World Cup. He also won’t want to reveal his post-Cup plans too soon – ask Julen Lopetegui how that goes.
But a reunion would not be without risk. Pochettino’s struggles with PSG and Chelsea were well documented, and they are clubs of a standard that Tottenham have been desperate to match since opening a world-class arena. His list of achievements includes more finalists than trophies.
Nonetheless, Pochettino appears keen to take on the challenge. In his public appearances, he always refers to Tottenham as “us” – even in the context of playing for Chelsea, a team he more recently managed. Last summer, the last time rumors of his return to north London circulated, he ended a press conference by saying it was because Tottenham are “my club”.
A decade has seen the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium evolve from an expensive project requiring strict accounting to a high-voltage cathedral. But lately it has hosted a brutal football experience. Fans estimate that out of the 13 unlucky matches Frank played at home, fans booed him nine times.
Frank joins Graham Potter among managers who built their reputations on the basis of perceived overachievers before sullied by short-lived failures at bigger clubs. And Tottenham rise above despair as they continue the successes of yesteryear.
