Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino insists it was “amazing” to have had the chance to have played the role as Tottenham Hotspur head coach for more than five years. Despite the disappointing ending to his time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Pochettino appears proud of the work he and his coaching staff were able to produce during their time in the capital.
Mauricio Pochettino said “I think we spent a little bit more time than we did at Southampton. Southampton was different to Tottenham, and of course, when we arrived at Tottenham, the circumstances were completely different. Tottenham was a team with 33 players, was a team that was trying to create some identity and that was why they hired maybe young coaching staff and manager and to try and develop different ways to approach the games. In the same way I am talking about Nicola and Southampton, but for us, Tottenham was an amazing job, more than five years that we really enjoyed from day one. All the people and the staff there that were helping from day one, to us, to help us be successful. Then, the players, they were amazing too. We had a group with different habits, the players were not responsible for the habits they adopted, it’s always who leads the club. Then, you need to create the line from the top and to be strong in your principle and the way you’re going to develop and lead the way things happen. That was amazing, to have this facility, to feel free to create something special in Tottenham, that was amazing. Then, of course, in all change, it’s always painful, but when you arrive at a new club, you need to make some changes. If you arrive at the beginning, it’s easier, but if you arrive in the middle, the same, you need to start to build and that’s why it’s so important to create a big platform and that’s what we really believe. For the coaching staff, it’s about building the platform where the players can feel comfortable and can improve, it’s so important.”
After making a strong impression at Southampton, following his arrival at St Mary’s in January 2013, Pochettino was approached by Spurs in May 2014, as Daniel Levy seeked a replacement for the recently departed Tim Sherwood. After guiding Spurs to a fifth-placed finish at the end of the 2014/15 campaign, the Argentine chief led Spurs to four successive top-four finishes, as well as pushing Leicester City all the way for the Premier League title in 2015/16. As well as leading Spurs to an array of top-four finishes in the Premier League, he, too, of course, guided the club to their very first Champions League final after a thrilling semi-final triumph against Dutch giants Ajax in 2019. However, the success in 2018/19 could not be replicated in 2019/20, which ended up costing the Argentine his job in north London.
