Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has been sacked by the club after just 17 months in charge and on the eve of a cup final.
The club confirmed in a statement that Mourinho, who took over in November 2019, would be leaving along with his coaching staff.
His firing comes with seventh-place Tottenham outside the Champions League places but with a League Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday.
Tottenham’s chairman, Daniel Levy, said Mourinho was “a true professional who showed enormous resilience during the pandemic.
“On a personal level, I have enjoyed working with him and regret that things have not worked out as we both had envisaged. He will always be welcome here and we should like to thank him and his coaching staff for their contribution.”
European Super League
Tottenham’s board had already been under fire after it backed controversial plans for a breakaway European Super League, a move that has widely condemned and ridiculed in the UK.
It joined 11 other European clubs in announcing they had agreed to the new mid-week competition, which will be governed by its ‘Founding Clubs’.
AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Tottenham Hotspur have all joined as ‘Founding Clubs’.
There was speculation on Monday that Mourinho had been sacked after opposing the move, but the club denied any link in a statement to Euronews.
The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust said in a statement that the board had “betrayed the club, its history and the magic that makes this game so special.”
The group said Tottenham’s board was “prepared to risk the club’s reputation and its future in the opportunistic pursuit of greed” and called for a change of ownership if Tottenham did not immediately disassociate itself from the breakaway league.
