Chelsea Mauricio Pochettino responds to Chelsea fans' calls for Jose Mourinho
Chelsea
Mauricio Pochettino responds to Chelsea fans' calls for Jose Mourinho
Pochettino insisted he would never step down from his role as Chelsea manager
Blues boss has repeatedly demanded more support from fans
Jose Mourinho touted as potential successor
By Tom Gott
10:45 AM GMT
Chelsea supporters have recently chanted in favour of Mourinho
Chelsea supporters have recently chanted in favour of Mourinho / Richard Heathcote/Getty Images, Clive Rose/Getty Images
Mauricio Pochettino has once again urged Chelsea fans to get behind him by claiming that they would not love any manager more than him in the team's current situation.
Talk of a divide between Pochettino and the fans has been rife for weeks after a number of supporters inside Stamford Bridge were heard chanting the name of former manager Jose Mourinho as part of their ongoing frustrations towards the direction of the club.
While Pochettino has acknowledged that the only way to convince fans is by winning matches, he stressed that supporters should understand the long-term nature of the project at Chelsea.
"Today is a different project," he explained. "It's a different Chelsea.
"If you are going to judge us analysing the situation comparing it with the past of Chelsea, for sure, no one is going to succeed. The fans are not going to love another coach any more [than me]. It"s a new project, and people need to understand."
José Mourinho
Mourinho has managed Chelsea twice before / Ivan Romano/GettyImages
Asked directly about the public support of Mourinho, Pochettino added: "I respect Jose. He's my friend and he was amazing for this club. Circumstances are circumstances. We need to keep pushing, believing in us, and accept all the things that came from the fans. Of course, I respect the fans.
"You need to ask the players. If the players believe that with another coach they'll do better, I am the first to say: 'Hey, they can go and talk with the owner and the sporting director'.
"But do you see me worried about this? No. Look, is attitude a problem? No. They [the players] are clever enough; you can see in the way they behave and everything that they are behind us. There is no doubt.
"I came here because I knew that it was going to be tough but also knew we were going to need time and belief."
Pochettino offered a defiant response when asked if he would ever step down from his position as Chelsea manager.
"No, no, no. Why? Never," he said.
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Pape Quiz: Sarr wants to go into computer science after football
Come build my gaming rig, Pape!
By Dustin George-Miller@dustingm Mar 11, 2024, 3:16pm GMT 4 Comments / 4 New
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Tottenham Hotspur v Brighton & Hove Albion - Premier League
Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images
Professional footballers’ careers are short. If you are blessed enough to play football until you’re old enough to retire, you should consider yourself fortunate, and the list of footballers who go on to play well into their thirties is not that long. And then there’s the question of what to do with the rest of your life after football is over. Tough decisions!
Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pape Matar Sarr seems to have the trajectory of his life planned out. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Sarr says that he has a specific field he’s interested in after he hangs up his boots — computer science.
“Computer science is what I want to do after my career. I’ve done bits of research here and there in regards to the route I want to go down. I’ve not started with any formal studies because I don’t really have too much time. Within the next year or two I am going to start lessons. It’s not games I’m interested in, it’s the electronic stuff behind a computer.
“We’re a family. Maybe my game does resemble the way a computer works a bit. I try to bring my football intelligence to the party, my view of the game.”
That’s cool, and at least to my experience, a little unusual! Consider — most professional footballers are products of club academy systems. While these players do get an education, it really doesn’t go beyond American high school level, and they’re drilled relentlessly on sports. Maybe that’s why a lot of retired footballers end up in sports-related fields like coaching or commentary, or in a field in the close orbit of sports like business after their playing days are over. But computer science? Not very common!
I support it, too. I love the idea of a post-retirement Pape hunched over his keyboard, or tearing apart and rebuilding PCs for a business environment. It sounds like he’s not interested in being a pure code guy, but getting his hands dirty with hardware. Maybe he’s more into IT management or enterprise infrastructure development? I can see him doing that. Come over and build my new gaming rig, Pape! I’ve got beer.
But first he’s got this professional football career to work on, and gotta say he’s already pretty darned good at that job. It’s taken a little while for him to get into Tottenham’s first team plans, but he’s pretty much perfect for Ange Postecoglou’s tactics and he’s done a great job of integrating himself into the squad and taking the chance he’s been given.
“I’d like to think that’s partly down to all the hard work I did in that first year.
“Although I wasn’t playing, I didn’t let my head drop or my desire and belief to decrease. I will never stop believing in my ability and myself. Now I’m playing, it’s great. It feels like a return on that hard work.
“But I’m honest enough with myself to realise that nothing has been achieved yet. I’ve still got a long way to go and a lot to learn. Maybe the easy part is getting to the top. The hard bit is actually maintaining that level and staying there.”
And if he doesn’t, at least he’s got a backup plan.
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