Jose Mourinho has been sacked as manager of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur on the same day football was thrown into chaos by plans for a European Super League and just six days before they face Manchester City in the League Cup final at Wembley.
The club, which is one of 12 named on Monday as being aligned to the controversial Super League that has been strongly opposed by the sport’s governing bodies, confirmed the decision in a statement.
Jose Mourinho has left Tottenham.Credit: AP
Club sources have said there is “zero link” between the timing of the sacking and the announcement of the Super League plans in response to rumours claiming Mourinho was opposed to the club’s position and refused to train the team. The BBC also reported the rumours were false.
Mourinho has now been sacked by three clubs in England – Chelsea (twice), Manchester United and Spurs, who face a significant payout to a manager who was earning an estimated $A20 million a year.
“The club can today announce that Jose Mourinho and his coaching staff Joao Sacramento, Nuno Santos, Carlos Lalin and Giovanni Cerra have been relieved of their duties,” the club statement read.
It quoted chairman Daniel Levy as saying: “Jose and his coaching staff have been with us through some of our most challenging times as a Club. Jose is a true professional who showed enormous resilience during the pandemic.
“On a personal level I have enjoyed working with him and regret that things have not worked out as we both had envisaged. He will always be welcome here and we should like to thank him and his coaching staff for their contribution.”
A 2-2 draw on Friday against Everton left Tottenham, who were Champions League finalists in 2019, in seventh place in the Premier League and unlikely to reach the top four. Earlier this month they crashed out of the Europa League to Dinamo Zagreb.
Mourinho, 58, took charge in November 2019, 17 months ago, replacing Mauricio Pochettino, who has led Paris Saint-Germain to the Champions League semi-finals this season.
Ryan Mason, 29, a former player and the club’s academy coach who had to retire after suffering a fractured skull while playing for Hull in 2017, will take training this week. He and ex-Charlton and Huddersfield boss Chris Powell will co-manage the team through to the end of the campaign in June, according to reports.
After finishing sixth last season, Mourinho has suffered 10 league defeats in a single campaign for the first time in his managerial career. And no other Premier League side has lost more points from winning positions this season than Spurs, who have dropped 20.
The early bookmakers’ favourite to replace Mourinho is Julian Nagelsmann, the 33-year-old manager of German club RB Leipzig, while Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, manager of Glasgow Rangers, are also considered contenders.
with Reuters