Never Go Back: On Tottenham Hotspur and Nostalgia
It will come as no revelation when I say that Tottenham Hotspur Football Club are terrible. They have lost 46 of their last 100 league games, nearly four times as many as North London rivals Arsenal (12), and almost twice as many as Aston Villa (26) and only one more than 18th place West Ham. Other than Wolverhampton Wanderers, they are the losingest side in the Premier League since the start of the 2024/25 campaign, with a total of 32. Before this campaign began, Opta’s supercomputer gave them only a 7.5% chance of finishing in the 16th place that they currently occupy on the table; those odds now rest at 23.5%. Their chances of finishing in a Champions League place sit at virtually 0.0% and, indeed, most eyes in the Park Lane stand are now fixed on the teams below them — all four of them.
Igor Tudor has arrived at N17, following former Brentford boss Thomas Frank’s disastrous time at the wheel. His appointment is, at least as of now, a temporary one. Myriad names from myriad sources have been swirling around the upcoming vacancy; recently sacked Roberto De Zerbi; former Republic of Ireland assistant Robbie Keane and (soon-to-be-former) Crystal Palace head coach Oliver Glasner. One name sticks out amongst them all though — not least because it holds the shortest odds — USMNT manager, and Spurs darling, Mauricio Pochettino.
The appeal is clear. Even on paper, Mauricio Pochettino represents better days, he holds the 3rd highest Premier League win percentage of any Tottenham manager, and the highest of those who managed over 100 games. He was also their only manager to manage 200 Premier League fixtures and across his 293 total fixtures he reached a League Cup final in 2015 and a Champions League final in 2019. But it was the 2016/17 Premier League season that was the high watermark for Pochettino’s Spurs: a 2nd place finish (after a narrow 3rd place finish the season prior), their longest unbeaten home run and highest finish since the 1960s, and their highest accruement of points since 3-points-for-a-win was introduced.
Even if he went trophyless, it’s a far cry from Tottenham’s current era of anguish. Harry Kane scored 104 goals in 136 games during Pochettino’s three complete seasons in charge, a 20 year old Dele Alli swept the nation with his iconic celebration and Son Hueng-Min truly began his journey to North London hero. Christian Eriksen, Kieran Trippier, Danny Rose, Jan Vertonghen helped complete a squad of true cult status. 2–0 against Manchester City to end Pep Guardiola’s perfect Premier League start, 3–1 against European champions Real Madrid, 2–6 at Goodison Park and a Lucas Moura hat-trick at the Johan Cruyff Arena. For a rare occasion, Tottenham were defined by an upward trajectory. The Argentine brought a style of high-pressing football, resting on pragmatic, direct possession, a lust for goal-scoring and penchant for developing talent. When calls for Pochettino rang out at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this month, you could hardly blame Spurs fans.
A craving for the past is hardly a trait particular to fans of Tottenham Hotspur anyway, this is a moment defined by rabid nostalgiamania. Between Trump’s return to office, Bruno Mars at №1 and West Ham in a relegation scrap — it seems 2016 is everywhere again. Spurs fans are no exception. But in a field as dynamic and changing as professional sports, and one as brutal and unabating as the Premier League, there is scarcely time to look in the rear view mirror.
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As with any wistful longing, there is firstly the proverbial rose-tint to account for. Stints of glorious form aside, Pochettino was far from perfect and on the subject of shortcomings Spurs fans clamouring for a redux risk turning a mountain into a molehill. Pochettino’s final season was scarcely covered in glory, the lily-white outfit were languishing in 14th at the time of his dismissal, and amongst those semi-final victories in Sheffield and Amsterdam, were the subsequent collapses in Madrid and Wembley. Despite Spurs’ torrid display at home to Arsenal last weekend or Michael Carrick’s Manchester demolition job earlier in the month, Pochettino’s own record against the Big Six was hardly one to write home about. He managed a total of 49 league games against them, winning just 12 whilst drawing 18, and losing 19.
Perhaps most clearly, there was Tottenham’s 2016 capitulation under pressure. With 4 games remaining, Tottenham had jumped Arsenal for 2nd place and sat only 5 points behind Leicester City in the Premier League. A catastrophic draw with West Brom was followed by an infamous 2–2 at Stamford Bridge that saw their title hopes evaporate. For added humiliation they accrued zero points from their final two games, and after thirteen consecutive game weeks in 2nd place, finished 3rd behind Arsenal. Leicester’s odds-defying, history-making title victory in 2015/16 has long-since annihilated the lesser facts of that season in the general consciousness. Southampton’s 6th place finish, Newcastle’s and Aston Villa’s relegations, and Chelsea’s miserable mid-table campaign have been lost to time beneath the weight of Claudio Ranieri’s champions. It’s no surprise then, that this collapse often finds its way to the less discussed column of Poch’s Spurs legacy. But the proof is there, Pochettino was one thing if nothing else: Spursy. Ultimately, It was the untested mettle of Ange Postecoglou, not a resurgent Spurs manager of old, that brought silverware home to North London. The fabric of Pochettino’s Tottenham was, in reality, complex — defined by its defeats perhaps just as much by its victories.
It’s been a long ten years since that 2016 3rd place finish, and Pochettino has been around the block. Following his dismissal from Spurs, he reunited with Paris Saint Germain, the club he had previously captained, in Ligue 1. It was not an unimpressive eighteen months, he walked away with a league title, but so do most in this position. He ultimately struggled with the dressing-room politics of a star studded squad and the back-room politics of PSG’s infamous Qatari ownership group. He suffered similarly with Chelsea’s BlueCo ownership, resenting meddlings in his squad selection and the planned sale of academy graduates. Despite climbing 6 places in the table, securing European football and guiding Cole Palmer to a blistering talismanic season, the two parted ways in the summer of 2024. He is currently head coach of the USMNT, but will have been out of club management for two years by the close of this Premier League season. The heights of against-the-odds comebacks and fire-form second place finishes have not been frequently found for Pochettino since his departure from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It’s not only Pochettino who has changed, Spurs have too. At their best, Pochettino’s Tottenham were ominous in attack, they only failed to score in 6 of their Premier League outings in 2016/17, and brought this tally down to 3 in the following season — current league leaders Arsenal have already gone goalless in 3 games this season with 10 games still to play. It’s been just over six years since Pochettino departed Tottenham, and only one player who started his final game in charge — a 1–1 draw away at Bramall Lane — remains at the club: Ben Davies. The instruments of Pochettino’s symphony are gone, and while there is talent in the current Tottenham squad, it is wearing thin. Brennan Johnson was widely touted after his time in the Championship, but fell short at Spurs and has now been moved on; Richarlison has now failed to outscore his best season with Everton after 4 attempts; Dejan Kulusevski and James Madison have struggled for fitness and have been out for over 300 days each; Cristian Romero and Micky van de Van are widely expected to leave this summer. Pochettino could potentially get a tune out of creative-minded youngsters like Xavi Simons or Lucas Burgvall, or squeeze some goal scoring form from more experienced forwards like Dominic Solanke or Mohammad Kudus, and he produced adequate performances with Connor Gallagher at Chelsea — but it is far from guaranteed, and there is a gulf in quality between these players and their predecessors. This squad ultimately has far more in common with Poch’s lackluster Chelsea side than it does with his Spurs, or his league winning PSG lineup, there are no Harry Kanes and Kylian Mbappes here, and no Son Heung-Mins or Neymars either — not even a Cole Palmer.
But let’s say you’ve accounted for all of this: you accept that Pochettino’s reign was rife with missed opportunity, that he would be unlikely to bring home any trophies, you accept that he has fallen short in subsequent jobs, and that the current Tottenham squad is subpar, in and of itself – you just want someone, something, anything to buy into. A taste of comfort, some warmth and stability. But the truth is a return to N17 for the Argentine fails a much greater test than adequate trophy hauls or Big Six win percentages, it would fly in the face of one of football’s most tried and tested adages: ”never go back”.
It’s been done before, two-time Ballon D’Or winner Kevin Keegan made a brief return to Newcastle in 2008, Jose Mourinho infamously returned to Stamford Bridge in 2013, David Moyes almost instantly found himself back at West Ham in 2019 and Roy Hodgson returned to Crystal Palace in 2023. Despite varying degrees of on-pitch success, a pattern emerges. Bitterness, breakdown and heartbreak. Kevin Keegan began Newcastle’s 2008/09 death march and never managed again. Mourinho’s second reign at the Bridge was tumultuous at best, but down-right visceral is probably a fairer description. David Moyes took European glory home to East London but fans turned on his tepid football and he was sacked in cold blood less than a year later. Roy Hodgson’s return to Crystal Palace ended pitifully, with fans pushed to the brink and forced to turn their knives on a club cult hero. It’s hardly a resume to be proud of from managers who gave it a second go around.
In the face of discomfort and threat, it’s tempting — and often natural — to revert to moments of safety, to shield ourselves in a wistful reconstruction of the past and regress into metastasized ideas of comfort. We’re looming over a historical tipping point: AI threatens to deconstruct the nature of work and art, political turmoil has eradicated conceptions of security and consensus in the West, while climate change threatens our mere biological presence. It’s unsurprising that nostalgia is en vogue. We can rummage through the dustbin of history all we like, pulling out forgotten internet clips, past-their-sell-by-date musicians, ill-fitted skinny jeans and blocky white Air Force 1s, but it is not going to be 2016 again. The present moment poses bold questions but the answers are unlikely to be found rehashing the past. The Premier League is a sporting lightning bolt, clubs utilise cutting edge technology, managers spend decades developing ideas that can revolutionise the sport in a season and be totally written over in two. Spurs, like us all, are staring down the barrel of existential threat, there is no space or time for plaintive reunions and doleful reversions to comfortability.
Should Pochettino return to Tottenham in the summer (should Tottenham remain a Premier League side is another matter entirely), he may well bring positives to the table: a fanbase back onside, some attractive football, perhaps a decent mid-table finish, and maybe some European football. But would this ever live up to the memory? There is a feeling that Poch’s time at Tottenham was cut short, that he was dealt a bad hand, and was let down by extra-managerial forces. If only he had more time, if only he had been backed, if only, if only, if only… So if — or really, when — Tottenham’s current squad comes up short on the legacies of yore, what becomes of Pochettino the Hypothetical? The reality sets in that there is no magic pill from Santa Fe. History shows how quickly homecoming joy can turn to ash in the mouth. Turmoil, betrayal, disappointment and heartbreak feel inevitable. Tottenham fans long to regress to the positivity and comfort of Pochettino’s memory, to see his time in North London completed, to fulfill an imaginary missed destiny. But no man steps in the same river twice, Mauricio Pochettino is a different manager, Tottenham Hotspur are a different football club. The past is a place there is no way back to.
