Spurs legend reveals why he thinks Mourinho was ‘unfortunate’ in North London

Graham Roberts has claimed that Jose Mourinho was unfortunate not to have any fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium during the majority of his reign as Spurs boss.

Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino at the helm in November of 2019 and Tottenham fans would have been hoping that the Portuguese coach was the man to take the team that one final step further to win major honours.

However, the North London club regressed considerably during the special one’s reign, with the 58-year-old losing his job in April of this year.

Expect the first few months of his time at Tottenham, Mourinho did not get a chance to field his team in front of a capacity crowd at home, with clubs having been forced into playing behind closed doors after the pandemic hit.

When discussing parallels between Mourinho’s appointment and Antonio Conte’s, Roberts insisted that the Roma boss would have done better at North London had fans been allowed inside the stadium.

The legendry Spurs defender told ThisisFutbol about Conte’s appointment: “It’s massive because what you do is you build a stadium, you build your training ground.

“We had Jose Mourinho, one of the top managers in the world, but he was unfortunate he never had any fans in there.

“I think if he’d have had fans in there the football might have been a little bit different, but he did it his own way and parted company.

“The other three top managers in the league are Chelsea’s manager, Liverpool and Man City and look where they are in the league and that’s what you aim for, and Conte is one of those elite managers and with a bit of luck, we’ve got him.”

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I actually think Mourinho would have come under a lot more pressure a lot earlier had fans been allowed inside the stadium as his style of play would not have gone down well with the Spurs faithful.

I believe the reaction of the home crowd during Tottenham’s 3-0 loss to Manchester United played a huge part in the club’s decision to sack Nuno Espirito Santo.

The team under Jose would have faced similar jeers and scrutiny in front of the home fans during the Portuguese coach’s final few months at the helm.

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