GONE: Jose Mourinho has been sacked by Tottenham Hotspur after 17 months in the job. AFP/VNA Photo

Paul Kennedy

LONDON  Tottenham Hotspur Football Club yesterday sacked manager Jose Mourinho.

The bombshell dismissal comes less than a week before Tottenham are set to take on Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.  

Spurs have struggled in 2021, slipping down the Premier League and also crashing out of the Europa League.

The Portuguese boss, who also managed Porto, Chelsea twice, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United, had been manager at White Hart Lane for 17 months.

A statement released via the Tottenham website read: “The Club can announce that Jose Mourinho and his coaching staff Joao Sacramento, Nuno Santos, Carlos Lalin and Giovanni Cerra have been relieved of their duties.

“Ryan Mason will take First Team training today and a further update will follow in due course.”

Chairman Daniel Levy added: "Jose and his coaching staff have been with us through some of our most challenging times as a Club.

“Jose 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 sacking comes just a day after Tottenham announced they would be joining the breakaway European Super League along with Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City, as well as six other teams from Spain and Italy.

There is no confirmation Mourinho’s departure is connected to the controversial move to join the elite European competition,

Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019 and had a contract until the end of the 2022-23 season.

A permanent replacement for ex-Chelsea and Manchester United boss Mourinho is expected to be named in the summer.

RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann is favourite to take over in north London, according to bookmakers Betfair.

Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers is second favourite and links have also been made to former Spurs defender Ledley King, Glasgow Rangers manager Steven Gerrard and former Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri. VNS