Poch: I’ll know when to go
PREMIER LEAGUE SPURS BOSS IN PLEDGE TO FANS
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MAURICIO POCHETTINO claims he would rather quit football than outstay his welcome at Tottenham and risk damaging the club.
Pochettino, who was 46 yesterday, insists working for the North London club is a joy, and the day it’s ever in danger of giving him grey hairs is the day he walks away.
That is an attitude those Arsenal fans desperate to see Arsene Wenger go would welcome.
Damage
But Pochettino insists that he was NOT referring to the Frenchman’s current desperate plight.
He said: “If your own fans don’t want you there is no point to carry on working because you are going to damage, first of all, your club.
“At some point, you need to go away because the club is always more important than any person and if I am the point that creates a problem, I prefer to go away.
“For me football is no drama. It’s natural. It’s true. I promise you, for me, it is not a drama. Football is a joy. Is it stressful? For me, the most quiet I am is when we are going to compete. It’s not a drama.
“Will it ever give me grey hairs? No. Football cannot be a drama.
“You win or lose, but no drama. You are responsible, of course, and professional, but no drama.”
Pochettino also revealed that when he first went into management he planned to quit at 50, but he has changed his mind after finding the perfect work-life balance.
Ahead of today’s visit of Huddersfield, he added: “When I started as a manager I was 36.
“I said, ‘Okay, I will be a manager and my limit is 50’. But now, I don’t know.
“I don’t know if I will be longer like Roy Hodgson, Arsene Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson, or maybe I will stop before. I cannot tell you.
“What I believed when I started my career as a manager was to end up without my hair going grey.
“When I watch football and the manager criticises everyone and tries to defend himself and is fighting with you and fighting with the fans... that is no life.
“Outside of football, the first (aim) is to provide a good life for your family and help them to achieve their dream.
“Then I like to do things outside football. I like my farm and to be in contact with nature.
“That is why, if all my family are supporting me, football cannot be a drama for me or for my family.”