Mirror
As any Tottenham fan will tell you, things are never dull in the white half of north London and 2021 proved to be no different.
This was the year of the managerial merry-go-round, three different gaffers enjoying the TottenhamHotspur Stadium hot-seat within the space of 12 months.
The start of 2021 saw Jose Mourinho at the helm, appointed in November of 2019, the self-proclaimed ‘special one’ proved anything but during his 17-month stint as Spurs boss, though the timing of his dismissal was notably bizarre.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy did not appoint Mourinho back in 2019 for any kind of long-term project, it was for one thing and one thing only – to get the trophy monkey off of Spurs’ back.
Without silverware since a 2008 League Cup victory, Mourinho’s arrival sparked plenty of confidence that for all of the expected fall-outs with certain players – a trophy of some kind would duly follow.
Therefore, regardless of how poor the form was at the time of his sacking, parting ways with Mourinho on the eve of a League Cup final against Manchester City raised eyebrows.
Mourinho is one of the few manager’s that has sufficient experience both in cup finals and at beating Pep Guardiola, yet Levy saw the week leading up to the 2021 League Cup final the best time to part ways.
Tottenham handed the reigns to former player Ryan Mason on an interim basis, the 29-year-old unsurprisingly overseeing a 1-0 defeat at Wembley to ensure Spurs’ wait for a trophy extends to at least 14 years.
Meanwhile, Mourinho made comments to GQ Portugal which seemed to suggest he viewed his entire Tottenham tenure as a ‘mistake’.
“I make mistakes sometimes, I haven’t always chosen the right project, or I may have been misled about the path of some projects,” he explained.
“I went to Tottenham who don’t have a history of success,” Mourinho added, scathingly.
Mason continued as Spurs boss until the end of last season, during what was a frankly farcical search for a permanent replacement.
Juventus ‘ long-serving chief football officer Fabio Paratici joined the club to help oversee on-pitch operations.
Names like Gennaro Gattuso, Paulo Fonseca and even Antonio Conte were…
