Simon Jordan believes that Jose Mourinho’s infamous Tottenham sacking came after players went to Daniel Levy with their issues.
The Portuguese manager was suddenly removed in April 2021 less than a week before Spurs faced Man City in the League Cup final.
They would lose 1-0 under caretaker Ryan Mason, and Mourinho would subsequently claim that Tottenham is the only one of his former clubs he doesn’t have a deep feeling for as a result.
Levy left his role running Tottenham earlier this year, and personal acquaintance Jordan has now indicated his understanding that it was Spurs players expressing their displeasure with The Special One to the former chairman at the time that sparked the departure.
Tottenham players went to Daniel Levy over Jose Mourinho
Prior to Ange Postecoglou‘s triumph in the Europa League last term the League Cup loss had gone down as one of the best missed chances to end the trophy drought in recent years, and Mourinho’s record in finals made the sacking that much more of a shock.
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During a discussion live on talkSPORT about the progress of North London rivals Spurs and Arsenal over the past five years Jim White wanted to know if Jordan had managed to get to the bottom of the exit.
White asked: “Actually, along the way, Simon, did you ever get the truth as to why Daniel and Tottenham parted company with Mourinho days before Tottenham played in a League Cup final?”
“Well, I got an understanding of the fact that the players didn’t want to play for Mourinho,” Jordan answered. “There was a significant lobby of players that pretty much marched up to the owner’s door, or the chairman’s door, to tell [him] they didn’t want to play for Mourinho.
“Now, how much of that is misrepresentation or misclassification or slight exaggeration I don’t really know, but to take him out on the eve of a final was something you wouldn’t have expected. But Mourinho will evoke reactions in people.”
Thomas Frank has to break hiring and firing cycle
That Tottenham have cycled through so many managers in recent years is a measure of how they have continually been searching for the formula to get over the hump.
It won’t be lost on many Spurs fans that even in finally landing a major European trophy they hadn’t truly found the answer, as Tottenham still sacked Postecoglou after finishing 17th in the Premier League.
Some believe replacing the Australian with Thomas Frank as Tottenham boss was a mistake, and the Dane still has a long way to go to prove he is the man for the long term.
Levy’s exit has fundamentally changed how the club is set to be run moving forward, and all the facilities are in place to be the best, but question marks remain over the recruitment following last summer’s window as the team continues to perform inconsistently.