Jamie Redknapp has been speaking on the latest episode of the Pitch to Post podcast to discuss all things Tottenham Hotspur ahead of their Carabao Cup final on Sunday.
Daniel Levy sacked Jose Mourinho earlier this week to bring an end to the 58-year-old’s 17-month stint at the north London side.
Were Spurs right to get rid of Mourinho when they did?
Yes
No
However, Spurs recorded their first win under their interim manager Ryan Mason on Wednesday as they beat Southampton 2-1.
The victory for the Lilywhites saw them climb up to sixth place temporarily before Liverpool’s draw against Newcastle United put them back down to seventh spot.
The former Spurs midfielder, Redknapp, discussed the possibility of ‘player power’ having an effect on Levy’s decision to end Mourinho’s tenure at the club as he touched on his personal experience at the club.
He said: “I think it just shows you how they must have felt about Jose Mourinho as a manager that the player power is obviously a big thing at Tottenham and they probably felt that it was the best thing to in terms of maybe not having him at the club because of the situation with the players that were already there maybe not being happy. (4:45)
“Player power is apparent but certainly, at Tottenham, I was there for a while. And I did notice that with Tottenham and the way that the club was run, they are very keen to speak to players get their opinions, how is the manager? Has he lost a dressing room? And I think that was something that they probably looked at and in the case of Jose Mourinho if Daniel Levy felt that he wasn’t the manager and he wasn’t getting the best out of them. There’s no doubt that’s one of the reasons why he would’ve sacked him.”
TIF Thoughts on Redknapp’s comments…
There were certainly a few influential players which did not seem to be in Mourinho’s good books throughout his time at Spurs – Dele Alli and Gareth Bale being the main two.
Neither of these players were given much game time under the Portuguese manager and in Bale’s case when he did get given a run of games in the team, it only took one poor game (vs Arsenal) for him to be not selected again in Mourinho’s starting XI.
However, there were players such as Harry Kane and Heung-min Son who flourished under Mourinho and both sent out messages via their social media accounts showing their disappointment to see him depart. So it shows ultimately it was down to the decision of Daniel Levy.
In other news: ‘Why did we even allow this’, ‘Can’t be true’ – Many Spurs fans shocked over ‘vile’ news