JOSE’S BUS SNUB NEARLY DROVE ME OUT OF SPURS... BUT CONTE’S BACKED ME

MATT DOHERTY has revealed how Jose Mourinho almost drove him out of Tottenham.

This time last year the Republic of Ireland international (left) was left to stew all alone on the team bus at Aston Villa after being axed by the

Portuguese coach. The Spurs wing-back, 30, declared: “We’d played Arsenal, lost 2-1 and I didn’t have a good game.

“Then we played Villa away. Twenty-one players travelled, including nine substitutes.

“That was the time when the manager left people out and brought some kids on the bench. I wasn’t even on the bench.

“It was Covid time and you weren’t allowed into the dressing room if not in the squad.

“So I was left sat on the bus on my own. Genuinely – because it was the international break straight after – I was so close to

getting in a car and going to Manchester. I’m glad I didn’t. It’s not professional.

“You’re on the bus and thinking, ‘What’s the point watching the game, I might as well go’.

“He was trying to prove a point to everybody, not just to me, but that was not fun.” Mourinho (right) was sacked soon after. As an outcast under the Special One, and not much better off with his successor – former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo – Doherty is finding Antonio Conte much more to his liking.

It’s still only in recent weeks that Doherty has become a first-team regular. Asked when exactly he finally earned the trust of Conte, the ex-Molineux man responded: “Now. I don’t know how many games I’ve started in a row, maybe five, so it’s just now I feel that’s the case.

“I feel I’ve gained his trust and I’m able to repay him. I’m really happy how things are going.” Four wins from the last five means Conte’s men are suddenly back in the top-four mix.

On the eve of Newcastle’s visit, Doherty added: “We’ve all realised what an unbelievable coach he is.

“I feel like we’re all improving. And we don’t want it to end.”