Mauricio Pochettino has told Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to find another “magic guy” if he is expected to start winning the Premier League and Champions League in the club’s current climate.
Pochettino, who is referred to as “magic, you know” by Spurs fans, has overachieved on his brief in his four years at the club, having been told when he got the job in 2014 to get them into the top four by the time their new stadium is built.
In that time Spurs have been regulars in the Champions League, are on the verge of the quarter-finals this season and have challenged for Premier League titles.
They were recently in the race for this season’s title until back-to-back defeats dented their hopes of usurping Liverpool or Manchester City.
But their dealings at the top end of the English game have been done against the backdrop of little backing in the transfer market and in terms of a wage budget compared to teams around them.
Pochettino often gets criticised for not winning any silverware but remains staunch in his defence of the job he has done.
“I cannot change opinions and everyone can judge us in a different way,” he said ahead of Saturday’s north London derby with Arsenal.
“That’s why I told you that, maybe if Daniel said to me next season, ‘We need to win a title, we need to win the Champions League and we need to win the Premier League’, then maybe you need to find another magic guy who can do this.
“My doubt is not about my future here. After five years, I really believe we do a fantastic job for the club.
“We have created a very good platform to work, improved young players – Dele Alli, Harry Kane, Harry Winks – but you need time to build them and play at high level.
“If now the expectation is that it is not enough to play well, be a contender for top four and be in the Champions League for the third year in a row, if now the obligation is that it is compulsory to win a title because we are doing so well, you need to compare with other teams.
“In that comparison, you can be fair or unfair in your opinion. People judge us and put pressure on us if we have not won a trophy. Is that fair or not fair? If we compete with the same tools or different tools? If we (are) at the same level or not?
“Because we are not going to change the way we operate.
- 2014/15 - 5th
- 2015/16 - 3rd
- 2016/17 - 2nd
- 2017/18 - 3rd
- 2018/19 - Currently 3rd
“I think we are going to be there, yes. We are going to fight, yes. We are going to find the way to be competitive, of course.
“But you cannot put a gun here (points to head) and say, ‘We need to win’, if we’re not fighting with the same tools as another team.”
Considering the circumstances Pochettino has had to work in, which has included having to play at Wembley for the last 18 months while their increasingly-expensive stadium is being built, and their lack of signings, the boss believes what the club have achieved is bigger than winning a title.
“The job that the club is doing is fantastic because with Brexit, with the position of the pound with Europe, I think the cost of building the new stadium (has increase) 30-40 per cent,” Pochettino said.
“You know, to be in the top four, to play Champions League, that was a dream five years ago.
“Arrive to the new stadium in very good condition – I think that is more than winning a title, more than winning a Carabao Cup.
“We are talking about bigger things than winning a trophy. Of course we’d like to win a trophy.
“We like to feel, to lift some trophy – the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, the Premier League, the Champions League, of course.
“But the responsibility of the club is massive. You need to be sure you survive and you are, in the next few years, paying the salaries of the players, the manager, the groundsman, and (you) pay back the banks and everything. And that is very tough work for the club.”
