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Football

01st Nov 2021

Nuno Espirito Santo sacked by Tottenham after four months in charge

Callum Boyle

He’d barely been in the job four months

Tottenham Hotspur have sacked Nuno Espirito Santo as manager just four months after taking charge of the club.

Fabio Paratici, Managing Director, Football, said: “I know how much Nuno and his coaching staff wanted to succeed and I regret that we have had to take this decision.

“Nuno is a true gentleman and will always be welcome here. We should like to thank him and his coaching staff and wish them well for the future.”

The 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester United was the final straw after a series of poor performances with talks taking place almost immediately amongst the club’s hierarchy after supporters turned on Espirito Santo during the loss.

During the heavy defeat to United, fans could be heard booing the former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss’ choice of substitutions and also jeers of “you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Nuno’s short-lived spell at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium isn’t all that surprising given that when it came to getting the job, he was far down the list of managers the club originally wanted to replace Jose Mourinho.

Before he was contacted, the likes of Genaro Gattuso, Antonio Conte and Paulo Fonseca had all looked set to get the job only for those deals to collapse for different reasons and his appointment was an underwhelming one to Spurs fans.

It hasn’t been all easy for Nuno in the background, with multiple off-the-field incidents having to be dealt with – the biggest of those surrounding the future of Harry Kane.

Whilst the number 10 wanted to leave, Spurs were reluctant to let him leave and with Kane looking a shadow of himself, the goals have dried up and fans have even began to vent their frustrations towards the England captain.

Then there are long-standing tensions between the fans and the board, in particular Daniel Levy, with a large amount of supporters calling for the chairman to leave.

In truth it was a pairing that wasn’t really ever meant to happen, and was never destined to be successful. Not only have results been poor and Spurs have shown no signs of improvement, the style of football has been a huge complaint of Spurs fans.

Roy Keane described the club as ‘boring’ with many in agreement of his brutal assessment and called for vast improvements.

Nuno leaves the club in eighth place with five wins and five draws this season.