At the time there were a great many theories over why Daniel Levy sacked José Mourinho as Tottenham Hotspur manager, six days before the Carabao Cup final, but the most outlandish was this: he was genuinely scared he might win it.
Crazy, of course. The gun manager, hired to win trophies, standing one game from doing just that and delivering Tottenham’s first major prize since 2008, when the chairman dismisses him. The premise is that, by then, Levy was convinced Mourinho wasn’t right for him or the club, but knew if he claimed Tottenham’s first trophy in 13 years he would have to let him take them into next season. Manchester City were formidable opponents but, even so, he couldn’t take that risk.
It was a strange, Covid-blighted season, 2020-21, with less than 8,000 at Wembley. Tottenham had a walkover in their first round, due to a viral outbreak at Leyton Orient, and had beaten only one Premier League opponent on the way. Little could be predicted. So Levy put Ryan Mason in charge and Tottenham lost 1-0.
Now here Tottenham are, still barren in 2025. They have one competition left to play for, the Europa League, with a difficult tie against Eintracht Frankfurt looming next month. Frankfurt won the competition in 2022 and sit inside the Bundesliga’s top four. If Tottenham play as they did against Fulham on Sunday, or as they have done on many occasions this season, they have no chance.
Some would favour history repeating. Ange Postecoglou out, a replacement — even a temporary one — appointed. Tottenham’s numbers this year are dismal. The loss away to Fulham was their 15th in the league — the poorest return since 2008-09, when Juande Ramos was sacked and replaced by Harry Redknapp, with the club bottom of the table in the last week of October.
Postecoglou has often been in conflict with the fans — there was another exchange with a dissenter at Craven Cottage — and some of his excuses do not make sense. Before the Fulham match he called out his critics as “Mr Hindsight”. “He’s the guy who, when the outcome’s there, the results already done, he’s got all the answers,” he said.
Well, yes and no. Obviously, commentary appears once the result is in. Reporters observe rather than engage in clairvoyance. Yet not all the negatives around Tottenham come after the fact. There were plenty who, when Tottenham went down to nine men against Chelsea, said playing a high line was suicidal — as it proved; plenty who, when injuries cursed Postecoglou this season, advocated a more conservative approach to protect young or battlefield promotions. Little then came out of the blue, least of all the results.
Yet Postecoglou has also endured rotten luck in this campaign. Equally, to his credit, he made the loss of Harry Kane last season less painful than was anticipated. He has built the beginnings of an exciting Tottenham side and played some eye-catching football. And if he leaves, another manager is going to reap the benefits of Postecoglou having further developed the likes of Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Dominic Solanke and Djed Spence.
So he deserves his shot. Frankfurt, maybe beyond. Tottenham are five games away from next season’s Champions League. Not even five wins; five games, if all goes well. And one of them could be against Manchester United, who they have beaten three times already this season with a 8-3 aggregate. It’s still a long shot, but Postecoglou deserves to make it. Every manager deserves the opportunity to be a winner once the campaign has reached this stage.
Manchester United made a big mistake keeping Erik ten Hag beyond the end of last season. They didn’t make a mistake letting him take them into the FA Cup final, though, particularly in light of the result. That, if anything, should have been a perfect ending. Sir Jim Ratcliffe suspected Ten Hag wasn’t the man for the job — and he wasn’t — but he should have left with the trophy and his reputation restored. The same chance should be afforded Postecoglou.
Levy may already have decided he wants a change. There is talk of Andoni Iraola, of Bournemouth, or Fulham’s Marco Silva being early frontrunners. Even if that is the case, there is no downside to Postecoglou remaining to the end of the season. Were he to win the Europa League, were he to qualify for the Champions League next season, there could still be change. Many would think it harsh, many would advocate on Postecoglou’s behalf, but Kenny Dalglish won the 2012 Carling Cup for Liverpool — their first trophy in six years — and was dismissed that May. The eighth-place finish was considered reason enough. Tottenham are rank outsiders to finish in the top half. If Iraola, in particular, were amenable, the case against Postecoglou could be made, trophy or not.
Yet he deserves the chance to put forward his strongest case too. And that would involve steering Tottenham through a horrendous spell of bad luck to a trophy and back into the Champions League. If he falls short this is, in all likelihood, his last season there. But he at least deserves the shot Mourinho never got.
Hardly the romance of the cup
Preston North End’s arrival in the FA Cup’s last eight for the first time since 1966 should have been this season’s fairy story. Instead, it left something to be desired. Milutin Osmajic, Preston’s striker, has now been charged after an allegation of racist abuse towards Hannibal Mejbri, the Burnley midfielder, during a league match on February 15.
In the interim period he helped to put Preston through at Burnley’s expense in the FA Cup fifth round and celebrated by cupping his ears and taunting the away end. Nothing is proven as yet, so we must afford Osmajic the benefit of the doubt. Even so, a fine romance this is.
Surface tension… and a lousy match
The Manchester City midfielder shinned an ordinary cross into her own net for the winner, Chelsea’s England goalkeeper dealt with City’s equaliser as if blindfolded, and Lucy Bronze was booked for simulation, having collapsed in a heap without a touch — but she hadn’t cheated, the commentary informed us, merely “anticipated contact”. Diving, as it known in less noble versions of the game.
Yet the biggest problem with the Women’s League Cup final was apparently the pitch. Pride Park is good enough for Derby County, but not for this. “I don’t think the surface was fit for a final,” the Chelsea midfielder, Erin Cuthbert, said. And, yes, Derby played two home matches in the week preceding, which is far from ideal.
Yet Pride Park also has the biggest capability of any Women’s League Cup final venue so far, with a 33,597 capacity. The attendance was 14,187. The Chelsea captain, Millie Bright, talked about the luxury of playing on the Wembley surface, but that gate would get lost there. Compromises are therefore made. So it was indeed a lousy surface and should have been a lot better, but the same could be said of the match.
Why should Tuchel have to sing God Save the King?
He isn’t his king. That’s the first problem, really. And it’s very nice that Thomas Tuchel wants him saved and never think we don’t appreciate it, but that’s the thing with national anthems. They’re sort of personal. Kimigayo — the Japanese one — translates roughly as “His Imperial Majesty’s Reign” which, it is hoped, will “continue for a thousand, eight thousand generations”. That’s not the sort of commitment anyone tries on for size. You’ve got to really feel it to engage with those words.
So it is ridiculous, really, that Tuchel is even asked if he will sing the national anthem before his first game as England manager on Friday, or that he feels pressured to reply that he must earn his right to do so. “Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you,” he said. Not at all. He’s German, we’re English. It’s a marriage of convenience. Why pretend otherwise?
Regular readers will know what I think about the FA appointing foreign managers for England, but anyone who understands this as a patriotic stance misses the point by a mile. I’m not a patriot. I’m a Remain-voting Europhile who would swap his British passport for a European Union one in a heartbeat, even if it only got me through the airport quicker. I simply happen to believe international sport is unique and exceptional and unless it is the best of ours versus the best of theirs, it’s redundant.
And Tuchel isn’t ours. He’s a product of Germany’s system, but we don’t develop enough elite coaches, so we steal from others. And then we wrap them in our flag, and project our desires onto them and, if it goes well, convince ourselves it is our triumph, as we did when we won the women’s European Championship, with a largely Dutch coaching staff, having not got over the line on our own.
And nothing embodies that arrogance more than the idea that a German coach with an international staff should have to sing God Save the King so we can pretend our system has not failed to do anything more than generate the most money.
Dog’s dinner of international matches
What a dog’s dinner the international schedule looks these days. This week, across Europe, there are the Uefa Nations League quarter-finals, the Uefa Nations League A relegation play-offs, the Uefa Nations League B relegation play-offs, the Fifa World Cup European qualifying groups G, H, I, J, K and L, plus a smattering of international friendlies. What used to be clear and simple now has myriad strands, often leading to the same destination via routes few understand.
We could pull fixtures at random — Denmark v Portugal, Ukraine v Belgium, Luxembourg v Sweden, Poland v Lithuania — and no one would have a clue whether they were for qualification, relegation, a place in the semis or nothing at all. One of the miracles of the modern age is that, despite this, Wembley still packs them in.
In stitches? There’s no chance for Mateta
Vanity aside, the only people who meet plastic surgeons have something detached, severed or hanging off. So it is helpful that the Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta reminded us it was a plastic surgeon who was involved in the 25 stitches and treatment of his ear after the kick from the Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts.
“He took photographs, which he wouldn’t show me, so they wouldn’t stay in my head,” Mateta said. Just in case anyone forgets the real victim here.
