FORGET All Or Nothing — Amazon should call their sensational new fly-on-the-ball series about Tottenham: The Jose Mourinho Show.
For that is what the production really is, an ode to the Special One.
Tottenham supremo Daniel Levy is seen welcoming Jose Mourinho to the clubCredit: Amazon
Despite his incredible achievements and long reign, Mauricio Pochettino is barely shown beyond about 30 minutes of the series openerCredit: Amazon Prime
Jose Mourinho not only takes centre stage, predecessor Mauricio Pochettino soon goes missing in All Or Nothing Credit: Getty Images – Getty
Tottenham playes look on as the regime under Jose Mourinho takes shapeCredit: Amazon Prime
The achievements of predecessor Mauricio Pochettino are almost forgotten in this soap opera of last season at Spurs.
It is like the previous 5½ years under Poch at the North London club never happened.
The series will only fan the flames of those conspiracists who claimed Mourinho was only appointed Tottenham boss to ensure this show was a success and ultimately boost Amazon Prime’s subscribers.
That is surely nonsense — although Pochettino’s starring role in this supposedly groundbreaking series lasts barely beyond 30 minutes of the first of nine episodes.
From then on, it is Jose, Jose, Jose.
SunSport understands even Spurs staff, watching the final edit, were shocked by how little footage of their former manager there is.
And what footage of Poch does appear in this series is hardly flattering.
Even their sacking was all about Levy. Not a single word on the events from Pochettino or any footage of his sacking in what is supposed to be an access-all-areas documentary.
The cameras showed him and Daniel Levy meeting at the new stadium’s first NFL game, where they did not look that friendly, and the awkward small-talk turned to the chairman asking his manager if his cardigan was cashmere!
It could not have been any more embarrassing had Levy asked Poch: “Do you come here often?”
The writing was clearly on the wall and that has been supported by sources revealing the Argie was told by Levy he was a dead man walking after his bizarre announcement he could quit the club if they won the 2019 Champions League final.
When talking about Pochettino’s appointment in 2014, Levy claims: “I got lucky.”
No mention of the way his previous boss and backroom team turned the club around.
Christian Eriksen, right, is one of those players to have since departed, to Inter MilanCredit: Amazon Prime
The show goes behind the scenes with the players but little was seen of Jose Mourinho’s predecessor Mauricio PochettinoCredit: Amazon Prime
Daniel Levy says sacking Mauricio Pochettino was the most emotional decision he has ever had to makeCredit: Amazon Prime
It was all down to the chairman’s good fortune.
Even their sacking was all about Levy. Not a single word on the events from Pochettino or any footage of his sacking in what is supposed to be an access-all-areas documentary.
Instead it was mainly made to seem it was all Poch’s fault, which to an extent it was — only not as much as the start of this series makes out.
Almost all of the footage of Pochettino portrays him as a weak manager who was to blame for the club allowing the contracts of their top stars like Toby Alderweireld, Christan Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen to run down.
Indeed, Eriksen and Vertonghen — who were happy to run down their deals in order to a cop a Bosman fortune — were portrayed far more sympathetically.
While the episodes made Levy look like he was some Kofi Annan figure in all this — seemingly forgetting the chairman was and is responsible for who gets a new deal at Spurs and who does not.
Midfielder Dele Alli attends White Hart Lane for a closed team screening of Amazon Prime Video’s All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur,Credit: BackGrid
Star attacker Son Heung-Min arrives at the special premiere, held in-houseCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Asked about what the sacking of Poch was like, he said: “A lot of heartache is the honest answer. It’s never easy when you have to ask somebody to leave the club but, when you’ve been working with them for 5½ years, it’s difficult.
“My heart was telling me don’t do it and my brain was telling me I needed to do it.
“It’s the most emotional decision I’ve ever had to make.”
Nonetheless, the man who never gives interviews was able to open his heart to a firm with a warehouse in Tilbury.
Levy added: “Only time will tell if we made the right decision.”
When are those viewing figures announced, again?
Manager Jose Mourinho turns up to take the limelight at the premiereCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Even Spurs players were said to be surprised at Jose Mourinho dominating the show so muchCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Footage then shows Mourinho’s agent around a table at Tottenham’s training ground urging Levy to sign the contract to get the Jose deal done — with a very public pat on the back for all concerned, crowing: “We did well to keep this quiet, didn’t we.”
Snakes.
So much for Levy’s agonising over the decision as this proved he had been working for weeks on bringing in Mourinho — and Pochettino, according to Harry Kane, never had a Scooby.
When the striker sat down with some of his team-mates in the canteen the morning after the night before, Vertonghen insisted: “They knew already, didn’t they?”
But Kane revealed: “No, I spoke with him last night. The chairman came in, said ‘Can we talk? You are being sacked and you need to pack your things because you are leaving tonight.’”
There is then great footage of Mourinho unpacking and moving into his office at Tottenham’s training ground as a show being broadcast by the huge plasma TV debates whether he still has what it takes to be a manager.
As one pundit insists the Portuguese is beyond his best, the new Spurs chief stands up and screams at the screen: F*** you!
Which is basically what Amazon have done to Poch.
But if you want to gain even a snippet into the guarded world of a Premier League football club then this series is for you.
Harry Kane enjoys himself on holiday playing American football on golf course
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
