Coaching Les Parisiens, in many ways, is the impossible job – by season’s end, Pochettino’s exit was inevitable. Ever since, the Argentine has felt he has something to prove.
TEARS AND WHEELIE BINS
When Pochettino was offered his first job in management, aged 36, some warned him not to accept it. Espanyol were third bottom of La Liga and had already burned through two coaches during that 2008-09 campaign. “Many told me that I’d be crazy to take over a side in crisis, it would go badly and I’d disappear from the map,” he later explained in Guillem Balague’s book Brave New World. “But I followed my gut.”
Taking over a club with whom he’d had two spells as a player, the Argentine secured a surprise draw against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in his very first game, in the Copa del Rey. A month later, Los Pericos claimed their first league win at the Camp Nou since 1982. Not only did they avoid relegation with ease, they ended up finishing in the top half of the table, rising to an impressive eighth by 2010-11.
Financial problems eventually forced him to sell players and he departed in November 2012, frustrated, having previously turned down an approach from Sampdoria to remain with the Catalan outfit. “We dream of his return one day,” his biographer Balague, a lifelong Espanyol fan, tells FFT. “We fell in love with him very early on, the kind of love that when he disappeared, it created a big gap. After him, no one is good enough now!”
This story is from the July 2023 edition of FourFourTwo UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 2023 edition of FourFourTwo UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
How Liverpool have changed under new manager Arne Slot
The Reds have had to adapt to life without their legendary boss Jurgen Klopp, But their new managers tactical tweaks showed highly promising early signs
Why Cole Palmer is an absolute genius on a football pitch
Chelsea’s attacking star attracts plenty of mirth for his interviews, but he often displays unrivalled intelligence in the heat of Premier League action
CORINTHIANS X SENNA 2018-19
Kit connoisseur Phil Delves looks back at an ultimate 'collab shirt' from South America - one that heralded a black and gold craze
"THE MISSILE SIRENS WOULD START DURING TRAINING, SO WE'D HAVE TO GO INSIDE AND TAKE COVER"
The Welsh international striker recalls growing up in Africa, humiliation at Derby and air strikes in Israel, not to mention a certain hat-tricks record...
"I SWAPPED SHIRTS WITH ETO'O AFTER MY DEBUT HE PROBABLY USED MINE ON HIS WINDOWS"
The lifelong Magpie opens up about earning Sir Bobby’s trust, his new career in the Middle East, and how Ruud van Nistelrooy knew I wanted to kick him”
"SVEN GOT IN TOUCH TO SEE IF I'D BE KEEN ON PLAYING FOR ENGLAND THAT MADE ME SO PROUD"
The former Italian shot-stopper tells FourFourTwo about following in his father’s footsteps at Milan and the game that changed Chelsea forever...
Why Thomas Tuchel is the perfect fit for the England job
The new gaffer might not have been born and bred in Barnsley, but he’s long proved himself to be particularly astute in high-profile knockout competitions
GREEN SHOOTS
Less than two years ago, Saint-Etienne were at real risk of relegation to the semi-professional third tier - unthinkable for a club who were the finest in France throughout the 1960s and '70s. Now Les Verts are back in the big time following last term's Ligue 2 play-off success. Oh, and they're also billionaires...
Why I love Scottish football
The legendary goal-getter recounts his strangest tales, featuring Graeme Souness punch-ups, broken sofas, Duncan Ferguson's errant pigeon and, of course, Gazza...
A MATCH WITH THE MONKS THE GREATEST COMPETITION PRIZE EVER
A globe-trotting FourFourTwo has gone beyond even Tanzania’s borders this month. American fan Matthew Eide of the Far Away Football blog ventured to equally mountainous Bhutan, after winning the most unusual of raffles...