By Andrew Warshaw
April 25 – First the manager out the door, then the managing director of football, now the interim coach – all in the space of a few disastrous weeks.
To describe the situation at Tottenham Hotspur as a mess is one huge understatement.
Twenty-four hours after a humiliating 6-1 thrashing by Newcastle, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy announced on Monday the departure of interim coach Cristian Stellini and the appointment of another temporary fix in Ryan Mason.
“Sunday’s performance against Newcastle was wholly unacceptable,” Levy said in a statement. “It was devastating to see. We can look at many reasons why it happened and whilst myself, the board, the coaches and players must all take collective responsibility, ultimately the responsibility is mine.”
There was widespread surprise when Stellini, Antonio Conte’s long-time assistant, was given the job on a temporary basis when Conte parted ways with the club last month.
Stellini had no prior experience of high-level management and the general consensus outside the club was that he should never have been appointed in the first place.
With Tottenham’s chances of a top-four finish now extremely slim, there is a sense of déjà vu with Mason, another member of the Tottenham backroom staff who also took the reins temporarily following Jose Mourinho’s departure in 2021, back in charge again.
Like Stellini, Mason, a former Tottenham player, has no managerial pedigree yet has been thrown into the spotlight to manage the team for the remainder of the season.
Regardless of how he performs in the final weeks, the concern for Tottenham fans will be where the club goes beyond that as Levy seeks a fifth permanent manager in four years.
Since the hugely popular Mauricio Pochettino was dismissed in 2019 – prematurely according to many fans having turned Tottenham into perennial top-four finishers and taken the club to the Champions League final – Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Conte have all had short-lived reigns.
To make matters worse, Pochettino, whose name has been chanted by Spurs fans during recent games yet has seemingly been ignored by the Spurs heirarchy, now seems about to be appointed by cross-town rivals Chelsea.
Levy’s task has not been helped by the resignation of his managing director of football, Fabio Paratici, after he lost his appeal against a 30-month ban for his part in a false accounting scandal involving former club Juventus.
Paratici would have been a key figure in the search for the next manager. And so on… you couldn’t make it up.
To add to Tottenham’s frustration, in a season when perennial heavyweights Liverpool and Chelsea have been off the pace, Spurs were presented with a golden opportunity to qualify for the Champions League for the second year running.
Conte hinted at deep-lying issues in his now infamous rant that led to his exit in which he took aim at the club and its ownership after 15 years without a trophy.
“Tottenham’s story is this,” he said. “Twenty years there is the (same) owner and they never won something.”
Stellini’s appointment looks like being a costly mistake with the club six points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, having played two games more.
Levy will hope Mason’s affinity with Tottenham as a former player can spark a late revival. But a Europa League place at best now looks the most likely outcome from a season that promised so much more.
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