José Mourinho sacked as Tottenham Hotspur manager

José Mourinho has been sacked as manager of Tottenham Hotspur. His position has come under increasing scrutiny following a run of form that has left Spurs dumped out of the Europa League by Dinamo Zagreb in humiliating fashion, behind in the race for Champions League qualification – they sit seventh – and generally performing poorly.

Mourinho had also somewhat reverted to type by criticising his own players and picking fights with opposition managers, but it was expected that the 58-year-old manager would at least get the chance to lead the side into the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday. That will not be the case.

“The club can today announce that José Mourinho and his coaching staff João Sacramento, Nuno Santos, Carlos Lalin and Giovanni Cerra have been relieved of their duties,” read a statement released by Tottenham just before 11am on Monday.

In the statement the chairman, Daniel Levy, added: “José and his coaching staff have been with us through some of our most challenging times as a club. José is a true professional who showed enormous resilience during the pandemic. On a personal level I have enjoyed working with him and regret that things have not worked out as we both had envisaged. He will always be welcome here and we should like to thank him and his coaching staff for their contribution.”

The assistant coach Ryan Mason will assume first-team duties and is expected to see out the season with support from Chris Powell.

Mourinho’s sacking comes less than 24 hours after Tottenham announced they were part of the hugely controversial Super League and this could be seen as a case of the club attempting to bury bad news.

Letting go of Mourinho is undeniably bad news for the club’s hierarchy given the huge expense of hiring him – the Portuguese is believed to earning close to £12m a year – and the fact he arrived as a replacement for Mauricio Pochettino, who was popular with the fanbase having led Tottenham to consistently high finishes in the Premier League and to the Champions League final in 2019.

Mourinho has now been sacked by three clubs in England – Chelsea (twice), Manchester United and Tottenham. The latest is also performance-based and not, contrary to some reports, the result of Mourinho refusing to take training as a protest against Spurs’ involvement in the Super League.

Harry Kane tweeted: “Thank you for everything Boss. A pleasure to have worked together. I wish you all the best for your next chapter.”