Andy Gray's prediction about Mourinho at Tottenham that made him look foolish

05 November 2023 , 05:00

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Andy Gray's prediction about Mourinho at Tottenham that made him look foolish

Big things were expected of Jose Mourinho when he was announced as Tottenham manager in late 2019, with the former Chelsea boss tipped to be the one to end the club's wait for a trophy.

The 'special one' succeeded Mauricio Pochettino, who was sacked after five years in charge. Five years in which the Argentine transformed Spurs' fortunes, ensuring they were regularly inside the top four and even taking them to the 2019 Champions League final.

Few could have predicted that night in June that after Liverpool had beaten Spurs 2-0 in Madrid to lift club football's most prestigious trophy, Pochettino would be out of a job five months later. However, football is never short of surprises and that is exactly what happened.

Mourinho was confirmed as the new man in the dug-out less than 24 hours after Pochettino had been given the boot and after an impressive 3-2 win over West Ham in his first game at the helm, Spurs were tipped for big things by Andy Gray.

The Scotsman told beIN Sports: "I'm going to make a statement here, I wouldn't be surprised if he [Mourinho] takes them back to the Champions League final this year. I am telling you. If they beat Olympiacos in midweek then they can forget it till February.

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When February comes around he'll have been there for a while and this is pretty much the team that got to the final last year. With Mourinho, stranger things have happened. We can revisit this in six months."

Let's revisit it four years later and see how that prediction panned out. Instead of reaching the final, Spurs were dumped out at the round-of-16 stage. The north Londoners were brushed aside by a Red Bull Leipzig side that ran out 4-0 winners on aggregate.

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Jose Mourinho lasted 17 months at Spurs (PA)

Mourinho was scathing in his assessment of his Spurs side after they were eliminated. "I don't need to repeat the same things again, we have lots of problems, and it is really, really difficult," he told reporters. "All the players that were on Leipzig's bench, they would all play in my team at this moment. So that is a big problem."

Comments like this were not uncommon from Mourinho during his Tottenham tenure. He would waste little time in digging out or demeaning his own squad in public if he deemed it necessary.

Mourinho's only full season in charge of Spurs saw them finish sixth in the table, missing out on Champions League qualification altogether, let alone reaching the final like Gray predicted. The following campaign, the club did reach a final - the Carabao Cup final.

However, Mourinho, a man famed for his prowess in big-game management, was not there to oversee Spurs' League Cup clash against Manchester City at Wembley as Daniel Levy had sacked him just days before the clash. Assistant coach Ryan Mason took charge instead as Pep Guardiola's side won 1-0 to prolong Spurs' wait for silverware.

That feels like a distant memory among the Spurs faithful now however, as they currently sit top of the Premier League under the guidance of new boss Ange Postecoglou. The Australian has managed to restore the feel-good factor, something few could have seen coming when Harry Kane left for Bayern Munich in the summer.

Josh O'Brien