Struggling Spurs sack Mauricio Pochettino despite leading Tottenham to new heights

Tottenham have fired manager Mauricio Pochettino as the club currently sit 14th in the Premier League despite reaching the Champions League final last season.

The bar Mauricio Pochettino set at Tottenham Hotspur came crashing down on him Tuesday.

Pochettino was sacked by Tottenham on Tuesday amid a terrible start to the Premier League season, despite the manager guiding Spurs to their first-ever Champions League final less than six months ago.

Tottenham are currently 14th in the Premier League, taking 14 points from 12 matches to start the season (3W-5D-4L, plus-1 goal difference). Spurs haven’t won a league match since late September and have already been eliminated from the League Cup.

While things have not gone well domestically, Tottenham sit second in Champions League Group B and are on track to advance to the next round of the competition in which they finished runners-up last season.

The move was so surprising that it crashed Tottenham’s website upon being announced.

In the club’s statement, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said:

"“We were extremely reluctant to make this change and it is not a decision the Board has taken lightly, nor in haste.“Regrettably domestic results at the end of last season and beginning of this season have been extremely disappointing.“It falls to the Board to make the difficult decisions – this one made more so given the many memorable moments we have had with Mauricio and his coaching staff – but we do so in the Club’s best interests.“Mauricio and his coaching staff will always be part of our history. I have the utmost admiration for the manner in which he dealt with the difficult times away from a home ground whilst we built the new stadium and for the warmth and positivity he brought to us. I should like to thank him and his coaching staff for all they have contributed. They will always be welcome here.“We have a talented squad. We need to re-energise and look to deliver a positive season for our supporters.”"

Pochettino arrived in North London in 2014 and guided Tottenham to top-five finishes in all five of his full seasons. After finishing fifth in 2014-15, Pochettino’s Spurs sides finished third in 2015-16, second in 2016-17, third in 2017-18 and fourth in 2018-19.

He led the club to those results through what could have been a turbulent time, as they left White Hart Lane, played at temporary-home Wembley for longer than expected and eventually opened their new stadium last season.

Despite losing to Liverpool in the Champions League final last year, just getting there was supposed to be a sign that Pochettino’s Spurs project project was on track – even ahead of schedule.

Now that schedule has been scrapped and Jose Mourinho is reportedly among the front runners to replace Pochettino.

It would seem like a strange pairing to put Mourinho – notorious for his transfer demands – in charge of a squad that has been considered too thin to compete on all fronts.

Last season, Tottenham became the first Premier League club to go without signing a player for two consecutive transfer windows, and Pochettino was largely praised for what he accomplished within Levy’s spending constraints.

Pochettino, for his part, is likely to be a candidate for other jobs as soon as he would like. The Argentine has been linked with Real Madrid and Manchester United in the past.

The work Pochettino did with Tottenham was widely revered for raising the club’s level, but when those raised expectations came to a head with this season’s realities, it wound up costing him his job.