LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur sacked manager Mauricio Pochettino on Tuesday just five months after reaching the Champions League final following a poor start to the Premier League season.
“The club can today announce that Mauricio Pochettino and his coaching staff Jesus Perez, Miguel D’Agostino and Antoni Jimenez have been relieved of their duties,” Tottenham said in a statement.
The Spurs are currently 14th in the Premier League.
The 47-year-old joined the club from Southampton in 2014 and has been instrumental in turning Tottenham into Champions League regulars over the past four seasons.
That culminated in a dramatic run to the club’s first-ever European Cup final in June, which they lost 2-0 to Liverpool.
But the results weren’t that imprssive in the Premier League since February.
There was a slide in form since the start of this season with just three wins from their opening 12 games leaving Tottenham already 11 points outside the top four and 20 behind leaders Liverpool.
“We were extremely reluctant to make this change and it is not a decision the board has taken lightly, nor in haste,” said Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.
“It falls to the board to make the difficult decisions — this one made more so given the many memorable moments we have had with Mauricio and his coaching staff — but we do so in the club’s best interests,” he added.
