The Mourinho Thread

[Vesper 27,373]

Can Mourinho bring back Spurs’ love of years that end in 1?

https://theathletic.com/2256254/2020/12/26/spurs-mourinho-year-1/

The moment when Tottenham Hotspur’s modern reality started to diverge from the pattern they had set for themselves came in April 2001.

The occasion was an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, held at Old Trafford. Daniel Levy had bought a stake in the club from Alan Sugar earlier that season and, like a man wanting to reconnect the club with its past, had sacked George Graham and replaced him with Glenn Hoddle.

This derby semi-final was Hoddle’s first game and it was impossible not to think back 10 years to Wembley on 14 April, 1991, Paul Gascoigne’s thunderbolt free kick and beating an Arsenal team managed, as it happened, by George Graham.

That 1991 win felt much more recent then. It was the latest iteration in a pattern that had sustained Spurs through the years: winning a trophy in the first year of every decade. Like the FA Cup in 1981, the League Cup in 1971, the double in 1961 (the first English team to win it), the First Division in 1951, the FA Cup in 1921 and, as the first non-League team to win it, in 1901.

This might not sound totally serious now, in the age of VAR and xG, but it was something that people latched onto. Chas and Dave recorded Spurs’ FA Cup final single in 1991 about exactly this trend. (“It’s lucky for Spurs when the year ends in one / they first won the cup when the century begun / it’s lucky for Spurs when the year ends in one / so this is the year for Spurs”). The single reached No 44 in the charts and could claim to be a self-fulfilling prophecy after Spurs beat Nottingham Forest in the final.

“It’s always been quite a thing for the club,” says Gary Mabbutt, Spurs captain when they won the FA Cup in 1991. “Sometimes these things just get tagged along, and people just pick up on it.”

So this idea was very much in the ether during the 2001 campaign. It was not a vintage Spurs team at that point, compared to the stars of 1991. Even David Ginola, their only big name, had been sold to Aston Villa. And while George Graham had won the League Cup in his first season at Spurs, he had never won over the fans who could never forgive him his history with Arsenal.

In March 2001, three weeks before the Arsenal semi-final, Graham was sacked. ENIC, who had only recently taken control of the club, were furious with Graham discussing the club’s financial situation in public, especially as they attempted to persuade Sol Campbell to stay at the club.

This gave Levy and ENIC the chance to take the club in a new direction and they decided to go for Hoddle, one of the club’s greatest ever players. He was not there for the 1991 FA Cup triumph — he was sold to Monaco in 1987 — but he was there when Spurs beat Manchester City in a replay to win the FA Cup in 1981, the final made most famous by Ricky Villa’s goal. Hoddle had a chance to keep the famous old pattern going.

But the problem was that Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, even in a year when Manchester United won the title, were simply miles better than the Tottenham team Hoddle took over. And luck was not on Spurs’ side. Sol Campbell and Les Ferdinand had to go off injured, Arsenal dominated throughout and while Neil Sullivan did his best to keep them at bay, he could not do everything. Arsenal won 2-1.

Interestingly enough, Ferdinand thinks that replacing Graham with Hoddle just before the game might have been the wrong call by ENIC.

“They got rid of George just before the semi-final,” he says, “and I always felt — and I may have been wrong — that if we had still had George we would have got to the final of the FA Cup. I always felt that. Sometimes you think things are written in the stars and that year with George we kept churning out results in that FA Cup.”

Spurs had won at Charlton Athletic in the fourth round — not an easy game then — and 3-2 at Upton Park in the quarter-final. They had a habit of grinding it out.

“He’s up there with the best managers I’ve worked with,” Ferdinand says of Graham. “He was a hard man, hard every single day. He got his pound of flesh out of you definitely, but I thoroughly enjoyed that. That was how I wanted to work and wanted to be.”

Stephen Carr looks back to that semi-final at Old Trafford with a sense of regret about the injuries that they suffered. If Campbell — who was to join Arsenal later that year — had been at full fitness, it might have been a different game. “We lost to Arsenal, but it was a depleted team,” Carr says. “It was weird, we were down players. Looking at key moments, at times when you’re in a situation, you just need that little bit of luck, but you have to earn your luck as well.”

The Hoddle era started with frustration, and while he did get them to a League Cup final the following year, they lost that to Graeme Souness’ Blackburn Rovers.

---

Rewind back 10 years and you will see why that coincidental pattern looked like it carried so much real-world weight. The 1991 FA Cup win is one of the defining achievements of Tottenham Hotspur in the modern era. It was an unlikely triumph, with Terry Venables’ star-studded side managing to win despite chaos off the field. And it remains, with all due respect to those two League Cup wins, Tottenham’s last major trophy.

On the surface it might not look like too much of an achievement. This was a very strong Spurs side. Even after selling Chris Waddle to Marseille they still had Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker. They had finished the 1989-90 season strongly, winning eight of their last 10 games to seal third place in what was then the First Division. They were not the best team of the era, but they were one of the most glamorous.

But behind the scenes, Tottenham were a mess. Irving Scholar and Venables were looking for fresh investment in the club. They were trying to sell Gascoigne to Lazio to bring in enough money to cover some of the debts.

“It was a very strange year,” Gary Mabbutt says. “We were not only fighting against all our opponents, but we were fighting bankruptcy as well. We were probably on the business pages more than we were on the sports pages throughout the season. Terry, and myself as captain, we tried to keep as much of that away from the players. Nobody knew behind the scenes what was actually going to be happening the following season.”

With the club in crisis, and the league form nothing special, the cup became their escape. “We were actually lucky to get away with winning the third round away at Blackpool,” Mabbutt remembers. “We could easily have gone out there. In these ridiculous conditions, with the wind meaning the goalkeeper would take a goal kick and the ball would blow back into his arms.”

Then Spurs beat Oxford United in the fourth round, before going to Portsmouth after that. The night before that game, Gascoigne had worried Spurs staff by playing an unauthorised, marathon squash match, but it did not tire him out: he was brilliant on the day and scored both goals in a 2-1 win. When Notts County came to White Hart Lane for the quarter-final, an injured, limping Gascoigne scored the winner with five minutes left. It started to feel as if Gascoigne alone was going to deliver that trophy, in keeping with the traditions of the club.

A semi-final against George Graham’s dominant Arsenal was not intimidating. “You don’t need any help with adrenaline preparing for the Arsenal game,” Mabbutt remembers. “The fact that they had already won the title, they were going for the double, the fact they were our biggest rivals. We went into a semi-final being completely the underdogs, and we totally outplayed them. We thoroughly deserved the victory.” Again, Gascoigne was instrumental, scoring Spurs’ first with a 35-yard free kick before Lineker scored the next two. It is one of Spurs’ greatest wins of the modern era.

Then, in the final, Venables’ Spurs faced Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. Gascoigne had just been sold to Lazio but he was so hyped up for his last game that he injured himself fouling Gary Charles early on, delaying his move to Rome by more than a year. Spurs still won in extra time, thanks to Des Walker’s own goal.

“Like in any walk of life or business, you had people who got on better with other people, certain cliques and things, and we had a few cliques in the squad,” Mabbutt says. “But the best thing about the squad in 1991 was that when it came to match days and preparing, we were all together. We had a very good squad of players, we got ourselves prepared well, and for the big occasions we rose to them.”

This win was a continuation of a tradition, extending the run that took Spurs back through 1981, 1971, 1961, 1951 and beyond. But it also marked the end of something. Gascoigne’s last game for the club. Venables’ last as manager before he moved upstairs. Irving Scholar’s last before the Alan Sugar takeover, alongside Venables. And the last time Tottenham won anything more prestigious than a League Cup.

The question ever since has been whether Spurs could repeat what they did in 1991, or go even better than that.

---

Look at the Alan Sugar and Daniel Levy eras in terms of major trophies, and they have not succeeded. There have been two League Cup wins, in 1999 and 2008, but they were both under managers — George Graham and Juande Ramos — who did not leave much of a legacy at the club aside from that trophy.

That last League Cup was almost 13 years ago now, and if you put League Cups to one side, then Spurs’ major trophy drought extends to almost 30 years. Far too long for a club that plays in the best stadium in the country, with the best training ground, which has Harry Kane up front and Jose Mourinho in the dugout.

They have gone close a few times in the last 30 years, but never close enough. Spurs lost the League Cup final in 2009 and again in 2015. That was Mauricio Pochettino’s first season and he took Tottenham closer than anyone, launching serious title challenges in 2015-16 and 2016-17 that, with a bit more luck and a bit more nerve, could have won Spurs their first title since Bill Nicholson. Even though they finished third in 2015-16, that was probably their better chance, rather than when they were up against the juggernaut of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea.

In the final months of his tenure, Pochettino steered Tottenham all the way to the Champions League final, but Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool were too good for them. Pochettino was gone less than six months later and the long wait for a major trophy went on.

So, as Tottenham head into the new year in a better shape than they have been for years, the question is simple: will 2021 be more 1991 or 2001? Ever since Mourinho was appointed, the focus has been on winning a trophy, any trophy, a change from the Pochettino approach.

“One thing that’s great about the manager is that you know that in every competition we’re in, we’re going to be trying to win it,” Eric Dier told The Athletic at the start of the season. “It’s really straightforward. There is nothing else to it. That is a very nice feeling to have now. To know that in every competition, we’re going to be trying to win it.”

And with Tottenham flying in the league and still in all the cups, who would bet against them? This is the best chance they have had to reunite reality with that old 20th-century pattern. Nobody is better placed to judge that than Mabbutt, their 1991 captain.

“It’s very, very different this year,” he says. “We were fighting bankruptcy the last time we won the FA Cup. This time we’ve got the best stadium in the world. We’ve got a group of players now, and a manager who is a winner. Everything is in place this season. There was talk in 1991 about whether or not the club would survive. It’s a long, long time since we were particularly successful on the field. This season, I just feel things are falling into place.”

[NikkiCFC 7,601]

 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

 

 

[NikkiCFC 7,601]

 

[Fernando 6,378]

Jose sack by Spurs. 

[OneMoSalah 8,616]

Apparently refused to hold training due to Spurs involvement with the super league. 

Apparently Spur’s have said it was result based but if that was the case why did they not sack him a while ago? They were also a week away from a cup final..

100% more likely to do with super league for me. Will he be the first of many? Looking forward to his statement as this will clear it up you would imagine.

Edited April 19, 2021 by OneMoSalah

[MoroccanBlue 5,207]

3 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Apparently refused to hold training due to Spurs involvement with the super league. 

 

inside reports at spurs claiming that's bollocks. 

[OneMoSalah 8,616]

13 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

inside reports at spurs claiming that's bollocks. 

They’re saying its results based. But they’re a week off a cup final and haven’t won a trophy in years? And if it was results based why not pull the trigger much earlier? Makes no sense. 

[Jase 43,479]

15 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

They’re saying its results based. But they’re a week off a cup final and haven’t won a trophy in years? And if it was results based why not pull the trigger much earlier? Makes no sense. 

Think the issue is, even if Mourinho wins them the cup, it would just paper over the obvious cracks at the club.

And had he won them the cup, then it would look kinda silly to just sack him after that. 

[OneMoSalah 8,616]

Just now, Jason said:

Think the issue is, even if Mourinho wins them the cup, it would just paper over the obvious cracks at the club.

And had he won them the cup, then it would look kinda silly to just sack him after that. 

True but Spurs haven't won a trophy since what 2008? Why sack the manager who got you there a week before, even more so considering Kane is likely to miss out and put a 29 year old with 0 managerial experience in his place?

Its may have just papered over the obvious cracks as you’ve said but the logic behind it is frighteningly off. Mourinho may be passed his best but if you had the choice of him managing a team in a cup final or an absolute novice, surely it would make sense to stick with him? 

This is why I think the rumours re the super league makes more sense. Maybe not but I dont see why Spurs would do it when there are maybe 4-5 weeks left of the season. After yesterdays announcement too from all the clubs, the timing is odd.

 

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

True but Spurs haven't won a trophy since what 2008? Why sack the manager who got you there a week before, even more so considering Kane is likely to miss out and put a 29 year old with 0 managerial experience in his place?

Its may have just papered over the obvious cracks as you’ve said but the logic behind it is frighteningly off. Mourinho may be passed his best but if you had the choice of him managing a team in a cup final or an absolute novice, surely it would make sense to stick with him? 

This is why I think the rumours re the super league makes more sense. Maybe not but I dont see why Spurs would do it when there are maybe 4-5 weeks left of the season. After yesterdays announcement too from all the clubs, the timing is odd.

But why choose to sack Mourinho when Spurs would have to pay a huge compensation? If Mourinho did not agree with it, then why did he not just walk away instead?

As much as it's a trophy and Spurs haven't won one in ages, not sure how much they care about the League Cup. Not as if it's the Champions League.

Plus, having someone like Mourinho may give them a better chance but it's still no guarantee he will win it considering the state they have been in. They are clearly no longer convinced about him long term and thought better off just sack him now instead of sack him after the final because it would be awkward if they win the trophy.

Maybe they are also hoping for a fresh scenery or a change in atmosphere of sorts by just getting rid of him. 

[OneMoSalah 8,616]

Just now, Jason said:

But why choose to sack Mourinho when Spurs would have to pay a huge compensation? If Mourinho did not agree with it, then why did he not just walk away instead?

As much as it's a trophy and Spurs haven't won one in ages, not sure how much they care about the League Cup. Not as if it's the Champions League.

Plus, having someone like Mourinho may give them a better chance but it's still no guarantee he will win it considering the state they have been in. They are clearly no longer convinced about him long term and thought better off just sack him now instead of sack him after the final because it would be awkward if they win the trophy.

Maybe they are also hoping for a fresh scenery or a change in atmosphere of sorts by just getting rid of him. 

All points I agree with but again regarding walking away, if hes on X,Y or Z a year hes never going to. Was same here both times too. 

I suppose taking only 2 points v Newcastle, United and Everton isn’t particularly impressive and theyve not been great but if they wanted to salvage their season they should of done it sooner. 

Just find the timing really odd. Having no manager in place prior to a cup final is baffling. I know we won a CL and FA cup with Di Matteo who was basically a novice as a PL manager but there are exceptional circumstances and once in a lifetime moments. 

 

[Jase 43,479]

13 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

All points I agree with but again regarding walking away, if hes on X,Y or Z a year hes never going to. Was same here both times too. 

I suppose taking only 2 points v Newcastle, United and Everton isn’t particularly impressive and theyve not been great but if they wanted to salvage their season they should of done it sooner. 

Just find the timing really odd. Having no manager in place prior to a cup final is baffling. I know we won a CL and FA cup with Di Matteo who was basically a novice as a PL manager but there are exceptional circumstances and once in a lifetime moments. 

The timing is odd perhaps but think the Spurs fans have long given up on Mourinho and are glad to see the back of him. 

[manpe 10,857]

Don't try to make sense of Tottenham's actions, there is a reason why they are a trophyless banter meme club with a chicken on a turd as its crest. Shooting themselves in the foot is what they do. Hope Shitty fucking mop the floor with them in the final.

Edited April 21, 2021 by manpe

[Vesper 27,373]

A brilliant XI made up of players Jose Mourinho has fallen out with

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/an-brilliant-xi-made-up-of-players-jose-mourinho-has-publicly-fallen-out-with-real-madrid-manchester-united-Chelsea-tottenham/

Having managed Porto and Inter Milan to Champions League glory and Chelsea to three Premier League titles, there are not too many more decorated managers than Jose Mourinho. 

But perhaps more impressive than his ability to pick up silverware is his uncanny way of doing so while seemingly falling out with every player he manages.

With this in mind, we have put together a ridiculously good XI made up entirely of players the Portuguese has publicly fallen out with.

 

GK: Iker Casillas 

From everything Mourinho said about the Spanish legend, you could probably count the things he liked about him on one hand.

He didn’t like the high-regard in which he was held at the Bernabeu, he didn’t like him having friends in the Barcelona team, he didn’t like his girlfriend being a journalist, and he definitely did not like the way he disagreed with Mourinho’s tactics.

Diego Lopez was signed in the summer of 2012 and played much of the following season in goal instead.

RB: William Gallas

Gallas famously once said that he hated it when Claudio Ranieri played him at right-back for Chelsea. Sorry, William.

Thankfully, you do not actually have to play this one. The Frenchman fell out with Mourinho towards the end of his time with Chelsea when he was pushing for a move across London to Arsenal in 2006.

The club claimed that he told his manager that he would deliberately score own goals if he was not allowed to leave, something that Gallas has since refuted.

CB: Sergio Ramos

It’s remarkable that Mourinho ever managed to lead a training session in Madrid considering the amount of time he spent falling out with club legends.

You would have had pretty short odds on Ramos clashing with him, however. There was that one time the defender pretended to forget who his own manager was in an interview, and also when he wore Mesut Ozil’s shirt after the German had been controversially subbed off.

Strange how this is probably the calmest of the beef Mourinho has been involved in.

 

 

CB: Ricardo Carvalho 

It was sad to see the falling out take place between Mourinho and Carvalho, considering the pair had travelled from Porto to Chelsea together back in 2004.

However, Mourinho was not about to go easy on his compatriot. When Carvalho was unhappy at missing out on selection for the opening game of the 2005-06 season, Mourinho said the defender “seems to have problems understanding things, maybe he should have an IQ test, or go to a mental hospital or something”.

But they kissed and made up in enough time to ensure the Blues won their first Premier League title, and work together for a third time at Real Madrid.

LB: Danny Rose

Rose’s fall-out with Mourinho was more well documented than most. Well, it did happen in a documentary to be fair.

A famous scene in Tottenham’s All Or Nothing series showed the left-back asking his manager for more playing time. The discussion ended with Rose leaving the office, declaring that he would talk to Daniel Levy about his future with the club. In 2020-21, he was banished to the Under-23s

But Rose literally had the last laugh, asking the reporters outside Tottenham’s training ground what they were doing there the morning of Mourinho’s sacking before laughing and climbing back into his van.

 

CM: Paul Pogba 

This one still isn’t over.

 

 

CM: Dele Alli 

After an excellent display against West Ham in Mourinho’s first game in charge, it looked for a while that Alli may finally be back to his best.

But on the commencement of the 2020-21 campaign, that all seemed to change again. Mourinho publicly scorned the attacking midfielder for not showing any fight in January, claiming that he was not happy.

RW: Eden Hazard

In May 2014, Mourinho said Hazard is “not the kind of player to sacrifice himself for the team” after Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid.

Two years later, after a strong start to the season under Mourinho’s permanent successor Antonio Conte, Hazard praised the Italian by pointedly saying that it took him just one week to improve as a player under the new regime. Ouch.

 

LW: Joe Cole 

Mourinho publicly criticised Cole after the attacking midfielder scored the winner for Chelsea against Liverpool, saying: “When he scored the goal the game finished for him. After that, I needed 11 players for my defensive organisation and I had just 10.”

Thankfully, Cole turned out to be the sort of person who responded well to this risky method of coaching, playing an integral role in back-to-back title wins at the Bridge.

 

AM: Henrikh Mhkitaryan 

Mhkitaryan was one of the world’s most exciting talents when he joined Manchester United from Borussia Dortmund.

Don’t worry. Jose soon saw to that. The Armenian moved to Old Trafford in 2016, managing 13 goals in 69 appearances under Mourinho, who was not shy in publicly criticising his new player.

After joining Roma, Mhkitaryan said: “Once Mourinho saw me at breakfast and said to me, ‘Because of you, the press criticises me.’”

ST: Anthony Martial

Back in the summer of 2018, Anthony Martial had the sheer audacity, the disrespect, the arrogance to *checks notes* attend the birth of his child.

Yep. The French striker left a pre-season tour in America to be with his partner who had gone into labour with their second child. Reports at the time indicated that Mourinho was not happy at all.

Subs: Vitor Baia, Luke Shaw, Pepe, Pedro Leon, Tanguy Ndombele, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Juan Mata.

[NikkiCFC 7,601]

 

[NikkiCFC 7,601]

How many lives he has? 😆