Jose’s arrival is simple: Expect success but not forever

Jose Mourinho’s appointment on Wednesday morning as Tottenham’s new manager has come as a shock to many.

The long-serving Mauricio Pochettino has been a great servant to the White Hart Lane for over five years but could Mourinho’s arrival signal success in north London? 

Mourinho comes into this job having been away from the touchline for over 11 months since he was sacked as manager of Manchester United in December. A certain Ole Gunnar-Solskjaer took over and the Norwegian has implemented a youth policy unlike that of his predecessor, who only made use of Marcus Rashford in attack after using his other attacking options to the full.

The three-time Premier League winner has been involved in football whilst away from the management by doing punditry at games across Europe. In fact there was a confidentiality clause United added in to stop the Portuguese 55-year-old from talking about his departure live on air.

Mourinho has a trend of lasting for three years maximum in each managerial job he has been in. This has been proven at Porto, Chelsea (twice), Manchester United, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. In fact, there was strong rumours that the Portuguese coach was ready to go back to the Bernabeu had Zinedine Zidane got the sack for an underperforming start to the season.

There was also strong rumours being the potential successor to Unai Emery at Arsenal if the time was to come when the Gunners felt the Spaniard wasn’t the right man to take them forward after 18 months at the helm.

The fact that Spurs have handed Jose a three and a half year deal shows they know he isn’t a manager who could be their long term solution as such. But it shows a rather full circle to owner Daniel Levy who tried to sign Jose following his departure from Chelsea in 2007.

In all of this, Chelsea and Tottenham did have some good encounters during Mourinho’s reign as Blues boss and as for fans of the Stamford Bridge side, there could be mixed emotions when the two meet on December 22^nd at White Hart Lane and then 22^nd February in West London.

Mourinho has visited Stamford Bridge on many occasions as an opposition boss and the visit in February will no doubt be any different. However the rivalry with Chelsea and Tottenham has heated up over the past few years where it could be argued that its on par with the hostility that any other London derby has to offer.

Chelsea aren’t the only past side who Mourinho will be going up against in the coming season. Manchester United welcome Spurs to Old Trafford on December 4^th. Just being four days away from it being a year since he took charge of his last home game for United.

Spurs are due to welcome United to White Hart Lane on March 14^th (which could be subject to TV schedule changes) and that game could prove whether Levy was right to appoint the Portuguese Special One or whether United were right to sack him over 18 months ago.

But back to now. Tottenham have a big task on their hands this weekend as they travel to a West Ham side who find themselves underperforming somewhat under Manuel Pellegrini. This game is a must-win for both sides who need to start pushing towards the top half of the table once more.

West Ham would take quite some joy if they were to inflict Mourinho’s first defeat as Spurs boss on his managerial debut for the club just like they were able to be the first club to inflict a defeat at their new stadium back in April.

Jose does come with a track record of success with over 25 trophies won during his career but how long will it take for the Special One to get this Spurs squad into a trophy winning one will be interesting to view. It could be widely expected that Spurs will take the FA Cup a lot more seriously than Pochettino ever looked at the competition despite Mourinho only ever having won the competition once during his stay in England.

Spurs will no doubt also feel a lot more optimistic in Europe as they realise they have a manager who has managed to achieve European honours at past clubs including Porto, Inter Milan and Manchester United.

Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, the pressure will be on to deliver where he can both on and off the pitch and I for one don’t think it’ll be too long before Mr Levy gets his chequebook out and starts purchasing new players to replace those who are perhaps not as good as they were a few years ago.