Tottenham's Daniel Levy caused a stir during the week when he sacked manager Andre Villas-Boas after the 5-0 defeat to Liverpool. But with Villas-Boas now gone, who does Levy intend to turn to now?
Names mentioned early in the week were, Glenn Hoddle, Fabio Capello, Tim Sherwood and Mauricio Pochettino. With Capello just after reaching the World Cup Finals with Russia, I couldn't see him giving up the opportunity to lead them into battle in Brazil. Tim Sherwood is very much the Rookie coach, and I doubt Levy would make such a dramatic appointment. Glenn Hoddle has been out of the game a while now, and brings a fair bit of baggage with him from his England Manager days, so I can't see that happening either. Pochettino would be interesting, however he's not long in the Southampton job and whether he would give it up and start all over again with Tottenham is debatable.
The elephant in the room though, is Director or Football Franco Baldini. It's being reported in this mornings newspapers that Baldini offered to resign when Villas-Boas was sacked, but that Levy wouldn't accept it, so it looks like whoever gets the job will have to work under the former Roma Chief. It's a difficult situation for a manager, having to work with players that someone else signs for you. Andre Vlllas-Boas has claimed that he didn't want Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen or Nacir Chadli, a claim denied by Daniel Levy. Levy has stated that Villa-Boas was involved with a team of others regarding transfers, but I'd imagine if majority rules, he doesn't really have much choice but to go along with those decisions.
Other people linked with the Tottenham job this morning are Galatasaray boss, and title-winning ex-Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini, ex-Chelsea and Champions League winning manager Roberto Di Matteo and wanted-man, Basel boss Murat Yakin. Throw in ex-Manchester United player and current Molde boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Dan Petrescu and you have quite a list of interesting names.
Mancini has just guided the Turkish Champions into the last 16 of the Champions League and has control over transfers at the club, so it may not interest him. He had a similar problem at Manchester City, with players being bought that he didn't want. But, he enjoyed his time in England and if the pull is strong you just never know.
Murat Yakin is highly coveted all over Europe, especially after beating Chelsea home and away in the UEFA Champions League. He is being touted as a replacement for Vladimir Petkovic at Lazio if they decide to make a change. He is a young manager of huge potential but the Tottenham job may just have come a bit soon for him.
Roberto Di Matteo is an interesting one. He had a wonderful playing career, with great success, most notably at Chelsea. He started his managerial career at MK Dons where he led them into the play-offs, they lost on penalties to Scunthorpe. He then moved on to West Brom, who he guided into the Premier League at his first attempt. His first season in the Premier League didn't go so well, as he was sacked in February after a poor run of results. He moved on to link up with Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea and then replaced him on an interim basis after he was sacked. Wouldn't it be quite ironic if he ended up replacing him again? While at Chelsea, Di Matteo had massive success. Winning the FA Cup at Wembley and the UEFA Champions League in Munich, beating the home team Bayern. He was sacked as Chelsea boss in November 2012.
That just leaves Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Known throughout his playing career as " the baby-faced assassin " Solskjaer moved into coaching in 2008 helping the strikers at Manchester United. Then he became coach of United's reserve team. In Noember of 2010 he was appointed coach of Norweigian side Molde on a 4-year deal. In his first year as head coach he won the Norweigian Title, a feat he repeated the following year. He has become highly regarded as a coach, so much so that Aston Villa made an approach for his services before appointing current manager Paul Lambert. Solskjaer hasn't extended his contract at Molde and it is believed he wishes to make a move to English football.
To sum up, Daniel Levy has a tough choice to make. Di Matteo could be the wise choice, but Petrescu is most definatley an good up and coming coach, but will Levy take another gamble?
Published by @gersloveofsport December 22
Published by @gersloveofsport December 22
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