The Defence for Jose Mourinho

I am going to present a counter argument in defence of Jose Mourinho. I will do so with a question.

Can you judge a manager who took over a struggling, directionless team midseason, and a team facing three stark issues:-

1. Want away players

2. Players of average ability

3. An imbalanced squad lacking options in key areas due largely to the ineptitude of the owners of Tottenham Hotspur FC, ENIC.

Then 5 months into his incumbency came the grave incursion of the worst global pandemic in 102 years afflicting the world (at a key juncture in the season) bringing death, illness and economic destruction all over the planet.

When football does resume, after a 3 month layoff, it resumes with no fans, no preseason and matches condensed over a hastily arranged schedule.

Meanwhile the spectre of VAR haunts every action in every match bringing chaos, inconsistency and bafflement from every quarter.

The truthful answer is we cannot judge Jose Mourinho with these stark facts and against the backdrop of this most uniquely challenging of seasons.

Muhammad Ali once said:-

"Often it isn't the mountains ahead that wear you out, it's the little pebble in your shoe."

ENIC are that pebble and until ENIC either sell the club to a more benevolent investor, or at a minimum Daniel Levy is removed from football operations, the identity of the manager will be irrelevant to fortunes of the team. 

Do I believe Jose Mourinho is the right man to manage a team with limited funds which requires major reconstruction? No. 

But there were mitigating factors at the start of Mourinho's tenure and these factors have accentuated ever since.