At a time when the footballing world is raining a constant stream of crap down upon Tottenham Hotspur supporters, sometimes it’s nice to get just a little glimpse of hope. Tottenham may or may not be without a manager again, with unconfirmed and spurious reports suggesting Igor Tudor might depart the club by mutual consent, and the long-term new manager to replace Thomas Frank is likely not going to be known until Spurs know their Premier League fate at bare minimum.
But here’s Mauricio Pochettino,
giving us all the feels. In an interview with French language newspaper L’Equipe (as reported by SportWitness), USA national team manager Pochettino said that he “misses” football in England and the Premier League, and once again tossing fuel on the fire that he could be the one who eventually takes charge.
“I miss the world of football in England. I love the country, its culture, the football culture. For anyone with a competitive spirit who wants to measure themselves against others and test their limits, it’s the ideal place. Here, you have to give your best constantly.”
Poch! MAURICIOOOOOOO! We’re here! We’re right here and we love you!
Honestly, if you wanted the best manager to rebuild Tottenham from the ground up next season, Pochettino may not be your guy. But if you just wanted a manager that you know loves the club and loves football and has history here and is just a cuddly warm hug of a man, well it’s hard not to be seduced by the idea of a Mauricio Pochettino return. That doesn’t mean that everything would turn out good, or even that Poch would succeed in the job. Certainly there are plenty of us that remember how things ended the last time he was here — it didn’t end so well. And the challenge is definitely significantly greater now than it was in 2014 when Poch joined the club fresh from a positive stint with Southampton. There are no guarantees in football.
Poch also admitted that Spurs reached out to him a couple of years ago before hiring Ange Postecoglou, but said that the conditions weren’t right at the time for him to leave PSG and return to the loving embrace of Spurs fans.
“Not just Tottenham [contacted me]. Other big clubs too.
“When that six-month season ended, there was a bit of… Well, with this whole COVID situation, the club situation created instability. In every area. There was a period of change, uncomfortable situations, situations that… (He thinks about his words.) That didn’t give the impression that it was possible to work in a stable environment, like the one we have today. I enjoyed my experience at PSG. But I had other options, which I shared with the club, but they chose not to listen to any of them.”
I know. I know. My head says that this is probably not a great idea, but the heart wants what it wants, right? I look at the other options reportedly available in the media (stares in Roberto De Zerbi) and I can’t help but be swayed by the idea of Pochettino returning to his old club, a club he still obviously loves and which loves him right back. It’s been a horrible year. I kinda just want Dad back, even though he left to go get cigs a few years ago and then went to live in Paris and ended up shacking up with that South London hussy for a while. Is that so wrong?
