Tottenham Sacks Head Coach Nuno Espirito Santo After Just Four Months in Office.
Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo, often referred to as simply Nuno, a Portuguese football manager and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper has been fired by Tottenham Board of directives just after his fourth months in charge as head coach.
Nuno’s chances of staying in command were shattered by Tottenham’s devastating loss to Manchester United on Saturday.
Despite the club’s poor start to the season, Sportsmail understands that dismissing Nuno from his role as head coach had not been publicly considered by chairman Daniel Levy and other important figures before to Saturday’s poor performance.
But now Tottenham are looking forward to draw back Antonio Conte. After failing to persuade him to take over in the summer, they reached him on Sunday night.
‘I know how much Nuno and his coaching staff wanted to succeed, and I hate that we have had to make this decision,’ said Fabio Paratici, Tottenham’s managing director.
‘Nuno is a gentleman who will always be welcomed here.’ We’d want to express our gratitude to him and his coaching staff, as well as our best wishes for the future.’
Santo is leaving with his coaching staff, which includes Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa, and Antonio Dias.
However, the club’s hierarchy has been concerned about the team’s underperformance for several weeks.
And the style of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team’s defeat on Saturday, as well as the disturbing crowd reaction, has pushed the club to take urgent measures.
On Sunday, Levy and the club’s upper management, including director of football Fabio Paratici, met in an emergency meeting to evaluate Nuno’s future and decided to fire him.
Nuno’s dismissal appeared to be a direct response to the loud booing that reverberated around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night, with special hostility directed towards the board.
On Sunday, the club began preparing for Nuno to be in command at least until Thursday’s game against Vitesse Arnhem.
As word of the conversations spread through the club, it became clear that Nuno was on borrowed time.
Nuno’s realistic approach has enraged big sections of the Spurs fanbase, who did not want him to succeed Jose Mourinho.
After failing to land a series of managers like Julian Naglesmann, Brendan Rodgers, Erik ten Hag, Mauricio Pochettino, Antonio Conte, Paulo Fonseca, and Rino Gattuso, the former Wolves manager was near the bottom of the list of probable candidates for the Spurs post.
Spurs will now focus on finding a replacement for Nuno, with Porto coach Sergio Conceicao thought to have admirers at the club.
Ryan Mason, who took over as caretaker manager when Jose Mourinho was fired last season, could return for a second term.
Tottenham return to Premier League play on Sunday against Rafe Benitez’s Everton, following their match against Vitesse on Thursday.
