Considering the struggles Tottenham Hotspur have encountered since Mauricio Pochettino’s exit in 2019, the Argentine’s five-year term at the helm now appears even more impressive.
Appointed by chairman Daniel Levy in May 2014 as Spurs’ tenth manager within 12 years, Pochettino left the club in November 2019. During his tenure, he consistently guided Tottenham to top-five Premier League finishes and took them to their first-ever UEFA Champions League final, where they were beaten by Liverpool in 2019.
This blend of progress, ambition, and heartbreaking near-misses made his time in North London one of the most discussed managerial spells in recent football history — and one that Pochettino himself continues to look back on.
“It was nearly six years of work in which I wasn’t just a coach,” Pochettino recalled in an interview with FourFourTwo, when asked about his dismissal just five months after reaching the Champions League final.
“I would arrive with my staff at 7 a.m. and leave at 10 p.m., often alongside Daniel Levy. We would leave the training ground discussing how to make improvements. Our lives revolved around Tottenham, but that level of intensity also played a part in how things eventually ended.”
He added, “I was disappointed, naturally, but I also understood that it was a very difficult decision for him to make.”
In addition to leading Spurs to the Champions League final, Pochettino also guided them to the 2015 League Cup final and to a Premier League runners-up finish in the 2016–17 season, adding more examples of how close his side came under his leadership.
When asked whether the lack of silverware still hurt, Pochettino admitted, “It hurts because of the expectations and the momentum that surrounded us.”
He continued, “When we first spoke with Levy about the project, the aim was to provide the club with the best facilities in the world while building a squad capable of competing with the biggest teams in England within five years. Because we advanced faster in footballing terms than in infrastructural development, massive expectations arose — and perhaps not enough credit was given for what we actually achieved.”
“At one stage, constructing the new stadium was considered more vital than winning a title — the club’s financial priorities were focused there. Even then, we achieved strong results. I believe those years should still be remembered as a huge success.”
Pochettino’s long-awaited trophy eventually arrived during his next managerial role, when he lifted the French Super Cup soon after joining Paris Saint-Germain in January 2021.
“It wasn’t so much a relief,” he explained, “because winning it came with the responsibility of managing players who were expected to succeed at PSG. The public perception of a coach changes once he wins a trophy, but that doesn’t always reflect the entire journey.”
He concluded, “It’s somewhat unfair to draw a straight line — that the one who wins did everything right, and the one who loses did everything wrong.”
