PROJECT POCH CATCHES ACOLD
A FUTURE that not so long ago looked so bright doesn’t seem quite so rosy for Tottenham right now.
After a season that once promised so much, there are big doubts about Spurs.
About boss Mauricio Pochettino’s future at the club.
About their top-four chances with Chelsea now pressurising them.
About their ability to keep the squad together on a tight wages budget.
And about the impact the new stadium will have on their spending power.
Tottenham’s move into their new 62,000-seater home early next season marks the start of what should be an exciting new era. Pochettino will, or should, be central to it and a smooth transition. But after last week’s deflating FA Cup semi-final defeat against Manchester United dashed their hopes of a first trophy under Pochettino, the Argentinian raised doubts about his future for the first time.
It was a day that gave the impression that Spurs are approaching a crossroads.
When quizzed further ahead of Tottenham’s return to action against Watford tonight, Pochettino said many of the right things.
He spoke about having three years left on his contract, and about how giving up on the Spurs project would be the “easy” option.
Yet swerving talk about whether he will be in charge next season will surely get tongues wagging.
Privately, Pochettino is as frustrated as anyone at Spurs about their failure to land silverware after nearmisses in the league (twice), League Cup and now FA Cup. He also harbours concerns about how far he can take them while being hamstrung by the club’s wage policy.
Pochettino has overachieved on the Premier League’s sixth-biggest wage budget but that wasn’t enough to keep Kyle Walker last term. It looks like it won’t persuade Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose or Mousa Dembele to stay this summer either.
It is testament to the job he has done in four years at Spurs that finishing above Arsenal this season has hardly been in doubt and clinching a top-four spot is now increasingly expected.
But resurgent Chelsea have cut Spurs’s cushion in fourth place to just two points in the last fortnight. Poch though, said Spurs are still ahead of schedule.
“We are victims of our own success because we are ahead in our project,” he said. “In my first meeting with Daniel Levy (above) and (Spurs owner) Joe Lewis the target was to arrive in the new stadium in four years and create a team with the possibility to fight for the top four and in the second year of the new stadium to play Champions League.”
Securing it for next season will see Spurs competing with the elite on the pitch at their new stadium. But Pochettino tempered talk they will rival the biggest clubs in the transfer market too.
He said: “We are not suddenly going to see millions of pounds rain from the sky.
“It’s important to set the principles again and how it will be with the team once we move. We are brave, and maybe we need to be more brave in our future decisions to try to win.” JOEY BARTON is to name former QPR team-mate Clint Hill as his deputy at Fleetwood.
Barton, who takes charge of the League One club this summer, will overhaul the backroom staff and start by hiring Hill (above) as his No.2.
Carlisle defender Hill, 39, is set to hang up his boots at the end of the season after playing almost 700 games.
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