Twenty minutes to midnight and a crowd of weary Tottenham supporters growing in number as they wait for the Victoria Line platforms to reopen at Seven Sisters started to sing about Mauricio Pochettino.
‘He’s magic you know’, the song goes, and that would help, but is he, really?
Pochettino could not conjure a trophy in five full seasons at Spurs, and ultimately became exasperated by the same limitations Antonio Conte was grumbling about as they slithered feebly out of the Champions League, on Wednesday, unable to score a goal in two games against AC Milan.
Just as they were unable to score a goal in two games against Leipzig, the last time they were at this stage of the same competition, under Jose Mourinho, three years ago.
Rumblings of disquiet echoed around the stadium and emerged from the dressing room, with Richarlison voicing his disappointment not to have started against Milan.
Tottenham Hotspur fans have called for the return of former manager Mauricio Pochettino
Spurs limped out of the Champions League with a 0-0 draw against AC Milan on Wednesday
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy (left) watched on from the stands as under-fire boss Antonio Conte could do little to inspire his side to success in the last-16 tie
‘I’m really sorry for the fans but we cannot invent the win,’ said Conte afterwards. ‘It’s important to know this and not hope for a miracle that one day a trophy comes to us.’
There is no magic wand. ‘Time and patience’ has become Conte’s catchphrase ever since he came to realise what it is to manage Tottenham, considered among the Premier League’s elite but with only two League Cup wins to show for all the money spent and all the hope generated over the last 32 years.
They may have the best stadium with Beyonce, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and go-karting on the way. But they trail a distant sixth of the big six. Quite possibly soon to be overtaken by Newcastle. And with Harry Kane edging into the final year of his contract, looking to move on.
The outlook is not particularly rosy which might be why supporters sing for Pochettino because they can remember when they were failing to win anything under him at least the football was decent to watch.
It has not been so this season under Conte, who has sought to cover up deficiencies in the squad by tightening up at the back and trusting Kane and Son Heung-min to find some goals on the break.
Sections of Tottenham fans have long wanted the return of Pochettino since his 2019 exit
Pedro Porro shares a discussion with Conte on the touchline amid coming on as a substitute
Frustrated striker Richarlison aired his dissatisfaction post-match due to his lack of game time
Clearly, his players do not enjoy this restricted style but, whenever he has tried to loosen the shackles and be more adventurous, they have been too fragile in defence. They lack strength at the back and to protect them in midfield costs them creativity, especially without Rodrigo Bentancur.
This would have been on his mind when he sent Davinson Sanchez on as a late substitute, to patch up the back-three after Cristian Romero’s red card, leaving attackers Arnaut Danjuma and Lucas Moura unused on the bench.
The Tottenham crowd jeered the decision roundly. They needed a goal and they wanted to see more risk. Conte, on the other hand, was thinking, ‘Milan score and it’s over but if we can keep them out, Kane might still find the net’.
Kane nearly did, a last-gasp header saved. Conte is no mug. He is a winning coach even if he has done it before with teams nearer the top of the food chain. Winning with Juventus and Inter in Italy. Winning with Chelsea in England.
His time at Spurs, however, has run its course. He is ready to go and no-one is desperate to keep him.
It was a coup to bring appoint him at a time when chairman Daniel Levy needed to reinvigorate the place after Nuno Espirito Santo but he was never a natural fit for the club, always longing for bigger players to compete for bigger prizes and satisfy his boundless ambition.
The same as Mourinho before him. And who is say Pochettino won’t be the same since his time at Paris Saint-Germain, working with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Lionely Messi, and flirting with jobs at Manchester United and Real Madrid.
Spurs fans want a Pochettino return but the Argentine also failed to bring success to the club
His successor Jose Mourinho was sacked one week before his side played in a League Cup final
If he is to return and replace Conte, either at the end of the season or before, he will not be the same coach poached from Southampton nine years ago, hungry to work with better players, ready to develop promising youngsters.
He wasn’t that same coach when he was sacked, four months after losing the Champions League final. By that point, he was demanding Tottenham started to behave like a bit club, spend big and chase the star players.
Then again, the club’s best signings have often been low-key. Gareth Bale, Christian Eriksen and Luka Modric spring to mind. Kane cost them nothing, and he was there all along.
Oh, it would be a fabulous story. The prodigal son and all that. Full of emotion. Pochettino is charismatic, popular and likeable. We in the media would lap it up, without doubt. So would plenty of supporters but not all of them.
Even as the chorus started to swell in support at Seven Sisters, there were dissenting voices. Those fearing another turn of the same old wheel of misfortune. Never go back, they say.
Look back on the most successful managerial appointments in the Levy era. They are Harry Redknapp and Pochettino, plucked from unfashionable clubs further down the Premier League. Martin Jol did a fine job, too, stepping up unheralded from his role as assistant to Jacques Santini.
Along with Pochettino, Spurs’ best managerial appointments have come with little fanfare in Martin Jol (left) and Harry Redknapp who both took the club to greater levels
All three were fired when Levy thought it was time for something more sophisticated or something more marketable. Someone from the blue-chip circuit of super-coaches to take them to the mythical next level and extend their global appeal.
Jol was ousted for Juande Ramos. Redknapp for Andre Villas-Boas. Pochettino for Mourinho.
Tottenham ought to think about their level instead of the next one. That might be someone like Roberto de Zerbi or Steve Cooper as much as it is Pochettino Returns or Thomas Tuchel, another on the rebound from Chelsea.
Consider those managers who might be excited to develop the squad they will have, rather than those who will agitate for signings they can’t get, and who can tune into a frequency with the recruitment team and the identity of the club. Get that right and the magic might happen.
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