In a move that caught many pundits and fans off guard, Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur sacked manager Mauricio Pochettino on Tuesday.
The decision has come after to a miserable start to the season for last season’s Champions League finalists.
And to add intrigue to the situation, Jose Mourinho (not so long ago the Manchester United manager and recently linked with the Arsenal job) will replace the Argentine as confirmed by the club early on Wednesay.
The former Chelsea manager was the favourite to take over with Sky Sports reporting that Spurs could close a deal with the Portuguese, who has been out of work since being sacked by United 11 months ago, as soon as Wednesday morning.
Spurs sit 14th in England’s top flight after picking up just three wins from their opening 12 games, and were eliminated from the League Cup in September by fourth-tier Colchester United.
“The club can today announce that Mauricio Pochettino and his coaching staff Jesus Perez, Miguel D’Agostino and Antoni Jimenez have been relieved of their duties,” Tottenham had said in a statement.
“We were extremely reluctant to make this change and it is not a decision the board has taken lightly, nor in haste,” said Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.
“Regrettably domestic results at the end of last season and beginning of this season have been extremely disappointing.
“It falls to the board to make the difficult decisions – this one made more so given the many memorable moments we have had with Mauricio and his coaching staff – but we do so in the club’s best interests.”
Pochettino, 47, transformed Spurs’ fortunes since arriving from Southampton in 2014 despite failing to win a trophy in his five-and-a-half years in charge.
During his five full seasons in charge, Tottenham qualified for the Champions League four times, culminating in a dramatic run to the club’s first ever European Cup final in June, which they lost 2-0 to Liverpool in Madrid.
However, domestically results have been on the decline since February, with Spurs clinging onto a top-four finish last season despite winning just three of their final 12 league games. That form has continued at the start of this season.
While some viewed this a decent decision, most Spurs fans were left gutted by the news on Twitter. And of course, there was humour involving the fact that Unai Emery has outlasted Pochettino at Arsenal.
Here are the reactions to the decision that has got every Premier League fan talking:
Saving the best tweet for the last...
(The introduction to this article has been updated with news of Jose Mourinho succeeding Pochettino at Spurs.)
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