Jose Mourinho was brought in by Tottenham to prevent the club from dropping out of the European places. The experienced Portuguese achieved that after sealing sixth place on the final day of the league campaign.
The players and the manager get some much-needed rest now after a hectic schedule but Mourinho might just be feeling the heat already despite a fairly successful start at Tottenham.
Many people speculated that the current Spurs boss’ time at the top level in England was over after his sacking at Manchester United. Some feel that this opportunity at Spurs will almost certainly be his last job in the Premier League, but could it well be his last big job anywhere?
Clubs might not prefer big-name managers anymore
Managerial changes have been a common theme now across Europe every few months. Multiple top clubs are quick to let their bosses go if things don’t work out very well and we saw such a thing over the weekend.
Maurizio Sarri was let go by Juventus after they bowed out of the Champions League. The Italian lost his job despite winning the Serie A title, which just shows how high the demands are at some of the clubs.
The Old Lady surprised many when they announced that Andrea Pirlo will be their new boss. That really is a shock considering that the legendary Italian has no prior managerial experience anywhere.
However, that is becoming a common theme now. Ex-players returning to their former clubs to take over as managers seems to be the new norm and it has proved to be fairly successful recently.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has done a decent job this season at Manchester United while Frank Lampard has exceeded expectations at Chelsea after taking over the job last summer.
Mikel Arteta won the FA Cup recently as Arsenal boss while Zinedine Zidane, now in his second spell at Real Madrid, has been working wonders for a while now.
Bad news for managers like Mourinho?
Former players as managers, as big a gamble as it is, is a smart option for football clubs these days. Fans tend to give their former heroes more time than they would to a manager who they have no prior connection with.
It certainly seems like that is the direction football is heading in, which is bad news for a few of the old guards of football management. Mourinho is one of them and the former Chelsea boss has to get things right at Tottenham this coming season and beyond.
If Mourinho does fail at Tottenham and faces the sack before the end of the upcoming season, his managerial career, especially at the highest level, might truly be over with clubs preferring coaches who are either former players or ones who have been extremely successful in the last few years – Jose would be neither.
That adds a ton of pressure on Mourinho but it might not be such a bad thing. The best players and the managers step up when the pressure is high and if the Spurs boss still has a bit of the hunger that he had when he first came to the Premier League, he could go on to have a hugely successful spell at the club.
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