Winning over players and fans will be key
Mourinho has hurdles to overcome if he is to prove Spurs job is a match made in heaven
Build dressing-room alliances
The key player at Tottenham Hotspur is undoubtedly Harry Kane, who appears more frustrated than anyone at the failure to win a trophy. Jose Mourinho will like Kane’s ferocious work ethic and desire to improve and will tap into his seniority in the dressing room. He will also demand he stays.
Eric Dier is expected to emerge as an important figure, given Mourinho wanted to sign him for Manchester United in 2017 and regards him as an intelligent defender. Dier was coached by one of Mourinho’s godsons when he was at Sporting in Portugal, and knows Mourinho. He has been largely out of the picture under Mauricio Pochettino, but could now become central to the team.
Mourinho will not try to retain players such as Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, who are in the final year of their contracts and have indicated they want to go.
Prove that he is not a ‘chequebook’ manager
An interesting part of the discussions between Mourinho and Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, has been over transfer spending. It will appeal to Levy that Mourinho assured him he does not need to spend a lot and certainly not in January. Instead, he feels he is inheriting a strong squad which is guilty of underachieving.
“I always felt that the biggest investment Tottenham could do is what they did in previous seasons, which was to keep their best players,” Mourinho said recently.
At the same time, Mourinho has grown increasingly annoyed at claims that he is a chequebook manager and only wants to buy success – and points to Porto and Inter Milan, the two clubs where he won the Champions League without significant investment. He was also irked by suggestions that he pushed Manchester United to spend heavily on Harry Maguire: while he wanted a central defender in his final year, he is understood to have walked away from that deal because of the cost.
Similar to United, though, Mourinho sees the priority at Spurs as being to reorganise and eventually overhaul a defence which he regards as the weakest part of team. Arguably all four positions – both full-backs and centre-halves – are in need of strengthening.
Create a dynamic with his new staff
One of the more fascinating aspects of Mourinho’s arrival as head coach – not manager – is that he has had to assemble a new backroom staff away from a couple of the Portuguese loyalists who have been by his side for so many years. It will be a test to cope without them, but it may also give him a fresher, energised approach. Gone are Rui Faria, who coaches Qatari club Al-duhail, while Silvino Louro wants to remain in Portugal. Mourinho has raided French club Lille, where his friend and former colleague at Real Madrid, Luis Campos, is sporting director, which will lead to speculation that he will follow. Already arriving with Mourinho are Joao Sacramento, who will be his assistant manager, and goalkeeping coach Nuno Santos (both from Lille). There are also some familiar faces – fitness coach Carlos Lalin, analyst Giovanni Cerra and scout Ricardo Formosinho, who worked for Mourinho at Manchester United.
Find a way to work with chairman Levy
It should be remembered that Spurs tried to hire Mourinho in 2007, immediately after he was first sacked by Chelsea. Levy made five attempts in one day to persuade him and offered to match his then £5.2million-a-year salary, before accepting the costs were too prohibitive.
But it showed how highly Levy coveted Mourinho, even if the widespread reaction to the Portuguese’s appointment – that this is not a marriage made in heaven – is understandable.
Mourinho, for now, has promised not to be demanding in the transfer market and has been good to his word that he wanted another Premier League job, rather than accept offers from clubs including AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Lyon.
But it is also known that Levy does not react well to an abrasive manager, or confrontation, as Andre Villas-boas, Mourinho’s former assistant, found out.
Given Spurs do not have a director of football, there will be talk that Mourinho wants to bring in Campos from Lille – whom he wanted at Manchester United
– and although it is understood he is happy to work with Spurs’ chief scout Steve Hitchen, that is something that could become an issue.
Convince the fans he can ‘do glory’
Will a declaration from Mourinho – in reply to a question from Telegraph Sport in 2015 about previously being offered the Tottenham job – come back to haunt him?
“I would not take the [Spurs] job because I love Chelsea supporters too much,” he said. The remark will certainly be put to him when he conducts his first press conference today.
Mourinho’s answer will probably be it is Chelsea who fell out of love with him and so he has the right to work with whomever he pleases, but it is undeniable that his appointment has not been well received by many Spurs fans.
Yes, there is the allure of a serial trophy winner coming to a club who have not won a trophy since 2008, but that may only serve to add to the pressure on Mourinho to make a quick start, especially as there are big question marks as to whether the style of football will also grate for a fan base who hold on to that quote from Danny Blanchflower that “the game is about the glory”.