Tottenham Hotspur Fires José Mourinho

The Portuguese coach’s 17 months in charge at the North London club failed to deliver the successes that marked his career at teams like Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Tottenham Hotspur said on Monday that it had fired José Mourinho, the manager it hired as the closest thing European soccer has to a guarantee of trophies, six days before he was to contest his first major final with the club. Spurs appointed Mourinho in November 2019 in the hope that he would turn the team into serial contenders for honors. He was, as the club’s chairman, Daniel Levy, explained, “one of the most accomplished managers in world football,” and had delivered success at every previous stop in his illustrious career, winning championships at F.C. Porto, Chelsea (twice), Inter Milan and Real Madrid. His 17 months in North London, though, have been anticlimactic. The club finished sixth last season, and sits one place lower in the current standings after a run of just one win in its last five Premier League games. In that time, Mourinho also suffered what he described as one of the most humiliating nights of his career: an exit from the Europa League at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb.