Tottenham Hotspurs’ Daniel Levy has again raised his hatchet and has sensationally sacked Nuno Espirito Santo following Saturday’s 3-0 thrashing by a regalvanised Manchester United selection. Spurs were heckled and booed off by their irate supporters and have now won just two of their last five matches.
Nuno’s side embarrassingly was unable to register even a single shot on target against a Red Devils team that had been notoriously fragile and feeble a week earlier having been smashed 5-0 by Liverpool and yet the revitalised United team comfortably breezed past the north Londoners in a weekend soiree.
A club statement read: “The club can today announce that Nuno Espirito Santo and his coaching staff Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa and Antonio Dias have been relieved of their duties.”
Managing director Fabio Paratici 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 club statement added: “A further coaching update will follow in due course.”
Chairman Daniel Levy is now on the prowl for a new manager for the third time in two years. He sacked Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019 and the Argentine was succeeded by Jose Mourinho who was then dismissed in April after a dismal run of form.
After Mourinho’s sacking, a chaotic recruitment process ensued that eventually led to Levy appointing former Wolves boss Nuno in June after approaches had been made to Antonio Conte, Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso but the deals fell through for all three.
Nuno had enjoyed a brief, successful start to the season, appearing to be a seamless fit into life at the club. He impressively recorded stunning victories in each of their opening three Premier League matches, including a stunning win against League champions Manchester City, but their fortunes soon collapsed like a house of cards.
The 48-year-old Portuguese lost his first North London Derby and was beaten last weekend by rivals West Ham before the recent loss to Manchester United. Tottenham are also in the midst of scrapping hard to qualify from their Europa Conference League group having won just one of their three Group G matches. They were most recently beaten by Vitesse.
“I’m only thinking about the next training session. There are no words that are going to solve this situation. The booing and disappointment of the fans is understandable,” Nuno had said of the reaction by supporters on Saturday, prior to his sacking.
“When they don’t see the team they expect, the team that should play, and I truly believe that we are better than what we showed today, they are going to boo.
“They are going to boo. It’s up to us to change the mood.”
Spurs are ‘working to close’ a deal for Conte to succeed Nuno, according to Italian outlet TuttoMercatoWeb.