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When Tottenham Hotspur sacked Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019, it was the end of a five-and-a-half-year stint for the Argentine.
Although he lead Spurs to a Champions League final, domestic results had nosedived and the club were 14th on the Premier League ladder at the time of his dismissal.
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Since Pochettino departed the club, Spurs have spent approximately $AUD636 million on players, hired three new managers and have fired three, although Antonio Conte’s departure was deemed a mutual termination.
With the Italian firebrand’s time at the club officially over in the wake of his explosive press conference in which he branded the players as selfish among other things, Spurs are once again looking for a new face in the dugout.
Yet it appears most of the noise is in favour of bringing Pochettino back, although Julian Nagelsmann’s recent sacking from Bayern Munich has seen the German catapult into the conversation.
That would mean hundreds of millions spent, even more paid in severance packages to managers and no trophies to show for it, just for Spurs to be in the same place they were almost four years ago.
Worryingly, the latest chapter in Spurs’ trophyless seasons could be the final piece of evidence Harry Kane needs to move on from the club once and for all.
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THE BREADCRUMBS EN ROUTE TO CONTE EXPLOSION
When Spurs chairman Daniel Levy appointed Conte, he must have known what he was getting.
A serial winner, yes, but also a manager who is notoriously feisty and not afraid of speaking his mind.
Given his penchant for winning trophies, it also seemed the perfect appointment to not only bring Tottenham’s first piece of silverware 2008, but to appease Kane and prove the club meant business.
After all, Kane was on the verge of moving to Manchester City in a monster deal in the summer of 2021, only for Levy to play hardball and refuse to budge on his asking price for the talismanic striker.
Conte was also brought in to replace the underwhelming Nuno Espirito Santo, who lasted five months before he was sacked in November 2021.
The Italian was extremely successful from the outset, winning six from nine Premier League games to begin his tenure.
But things quickly soured with four losses from their next five, including a shock loss away to relegation-threatened Burnley.
The defeat to the Clarets prompted a “frustrated” Conte to publicly consider his future with the club, with the Italian “not used to this sort of results.”
“We have to make an assessment, the club, me, we have to make the best decision because our fans don’t deserve losing four games out of five,” Conte said.
“When I say about making assessment, for sure I have to speak with the club to talk and find the right solution, because it is not right to continue in this way.”
However, Conte quickly returned to winning ways as Spurs won 10 of their next 14 league games to secure Champions League qualification, with Heung-Min Son also securing the golden boot award with 23 goals.
The Italian was heavily backed in the summer to the tune of $274 million, yet one questions whether Conte truly wanted all of the signings brought in.
Despite a strong start to the domestic season, winning seven of the opening 10 Premier League games, Spurs have been riddled by inconsistency.
They have failed to win more than two games in a row and suffered embarrassing cup exits at the hands of Sheffield United (FA Cup) and Nottingham Forest (Carabao Cup).
A weak effort against Milan in the Champions League Round of 16 also brought an end to the club’s European adventure having finished top of their group.
The 3-3 draw against Southampton, in which Spurs conceded twice in the last 15 minutes to throw away the win, was the final straw for Conte who then launched into an explosive press conference.
He criticised the players by calling them “selfish” and claimed “they don’t want to play under pressure”, believing it’s exactly why they hadn’t won anything in several years.
Perhaps it is a little surprising then that according to The Telegraph’s Matt Law, “there is a feeling outside the club that Conte over-achieved in his first season at Spurs by clinching Champions League qualification and that this campaign is more reflective of the level of the squad and the ambition of the club.”
Conte’s outburst also could present future problems for Levy in his search for a successor.
“It is understood that a number of Tottenham’s potential candidates to replace Conte share similar concerns to those he raised so publicly,” Law wrote.
POCH’S BIG CALL IN 2019 STILL RINGS TRUE, AND IT COULD FORCE SPURS’ PRIZED ASSET OUT THE DOOR
Funnily enough, Pochettino, a strong favourite to take over from Conte, aired similar grievances in the later months of his tenure.
Once Spurs’ shiny new stadium was officially complete, Pochettino made it clear he needed fresh faces in his team to match it.
“When you talk about Tottenham, everyone says you have an amazing house but you need to put in the furniture,” Pochettino said in 2019.
“If you want to have a lovely house, maybe you need better furniture.”
Pochettino added: “We need to rebuild. It’s going to be painful.”
Four years on and the Argentine’s words have relevancy yet again, although an argument could be made they never lost any.
A rebuild will no doubt start with the choice of manager.
The likes of Mourinho, Espirito Santo and Conte represented a deviation from the attack-minded and progressive football played by Spurs under Pochettino, with the trio more defensive and in win-now mentalities.
Perhaps a return to what Pochettino first brought is the right path forward for Spurs, with the likes of Nagelsmann and Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi representing such moves.
But the one critical factor of any such rebuild, no matter who takes the Spurs hot seat, is the immediate future of Kane.
For a striker that is both Tottenham and England’s all-time goalscorer, would he have the stomach for another patient build-up with a new manager?
According to former Spurs boss Tim Sherwood, who managed Kane for a period of time, the England superstar must ask some serious questions of the club’s hierarchy.
“He [Harry Kane] loves the football club, but then he has to realise if he’s going to chase down Alan Shearer’s record, which we all believe he’s going to surpass if he stays in the Premier League, Alan will always have something over him at the moment,” Sherwood told talkSPORT.
“That is the Premier League winner’s medal. Now, if Harry feels there’s an opportunity at another club where he can possibly win and he’s got more chance of winning at Tottenham Hotspur, it sucks.
“You look at the way it is recently, it’s up in the air at Tottenham. Who’s going to be the next manager?
“He’s going to have a serious sit down with Daniel Levy, Joe Lewis [Spurs majority owner] perhaps bringing him into the conversation and say, ‘What is the next move for this football club? Are you going to invest in players?’”
Even though it does feel like Groundhog Day, Spurs must get their next managerial appointment right.
Who that ends up being will also demonstrate what type of approach Spurs want to take for both the immediate and long-term health of the club.
A youthful face with plenty of ideas may mean patience amongst the supporters, but will add renewed hope that the team is building towards something.
But a manager of similar ilk to Mourinho or Conte means Spurs are very much win-now, boom-or-bust in the pursuit of silverware.
Get that wrong and we’re going to have the same conversation again.
Not only that, but it might make Kane’s choice on his future for him.
