POCH WILL BE COVETED BY ELITE CLUBS
Remarkable that Levy decided to let him go
IN THOSE happier and more harmonious days when he was about to declare his fabulous new stadium open for business, Daniel Levy spoke giddily about the sky-walk and the pact he had made with Mauricio Pochettino.
Tottenham’s chairman and manager had promised each other they would be the first to make the vertiginous climb on to the top of the new £1billion structure towering above the High Road in N17.
They would clip on harnesses and circle the edge of the glass roof, savour the bird’s eye view and abseil back to ground level from somewhere near the enormous golden cockerel.
After all, they had been action buddies since they went whitewater rafting in Argentina and enjoyed the sort of special relationship that can only be built by doing action stuff in the great outdoors. There was a bond of trust and in Pochettino it seemed Levy had finally found the manager he had been searching for.
Someone who understood the deal, who realised he could not burn money like Pep Guardiola but should still pursue the glory, who was grateful for the chance to challenge his philosophies at a proud and historic club with such enormous potential.
There would be a degree of financial backing — and ultimately a very handsome £8.5million-a-year salary — but the manager would be expected to work within limits and develop some of the highly-rated young players already at the club.
Harry Kane and Dele Alli matured into established England internationals as Pochettino imposed his gruelling fitness regime and forged bonds of trust within the dressing room. Before the Champions League final in June, his players were walking on hot coals for their manager and breaking arrows on their throats.
Pochettino was never slow to remind people he was operating ahead of the schedule, moving past Arsenal and establishing the club in the top four on a budget.
Two transfer windows opened and closed without a single signing and still they moved forward. Progress survived the move away from White Hart Lane to Wembley and even, on one occasion, to Milton Keynes. Yet he suspected all along that he would eventually become a victim of his own success.
When Real Madrid and Manchester United showed interest and the questions would rain down about his future, he would always mention his long-term contract and his desire to serve until the end. But he would never fail to remind his audience that in football, the manager and his coaching staff will always be disposable, however unlikely that seems for someone coveted by some of the world’s biggest clubs. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not about to sack you, to paraphrase Yossarian in Joseph Heller’s Catch 22.
Pochettino had arrived in the summer of 2014 and was ordered to serve up some Champions League football by the time the stadium was open. The stadium — seven months late and vastly over-budget — was finally ready in April by which time Tottenham were well into their third successive campaign in the competition. It was one which would lead them all the way to the final in Madrid via various scrapes and the most astonishing night in Amsterdam. No Spurs fans will forget the recovery from 3-0 down on aggregate with 45 minutes left in a twolegged semi-final to beat Ajax.
It goes down as the pinnacle of the Pochettino era because, remarkably, Levy has cut the rope before the sky-walk is even open. It will also go down as the beginning of the end.
It looks like Jose Mourinho will be the man clipping on his harness and abseiling alongside the chairman. He is available and hungry to work but can be confrontational and while adept at building a winning team is used to doing so with clout the transfer market.
He is far removed from the sort of manager who has traditionally held any sort of appeal for Levy. The problem is it is hard to imagine how Tottenham find an upgrade on the man who is on his way out. Yes, the form in 2019 has been awful, aside from the Champions League run, and the team has lost its energy and intensity. They are a shadow of the side they were when they accrued 86 points and finished as runners-up behind Chelsea in 2016-17.
And, yes, he leaves without a trophy, something which will eat away at his ego, but Pochettino’s name will appear on the shortlist for any top job which becomes available. It might be Real or United again. Or it might be Barcelona or Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain.
And if it is, they would all have the wherewithal to fund a raid on north London for players such as Kane, who will be slightly less inclined to stick around with the man who made him gone.
One day, Pochettino might thank Levy for cutting him loose. In the meantime he is a very difficult act to follow.