The news of the weekend was that Levy rushed together a 5 million pound offer for Mourinho just hours after his resignation. Some papers are reporting that Levy called the Special One's agent five times to present the offer. While this is confounding for a number of reasons, perhaps this provides a little bit of hope.
For anyone who has followed the transfer history of Abramovich at Chelsea, it is clear that he does not allow his players to move to his rivals. Spurs fans should be well acquainted with this process as Damien Duff's transfer mysteriously hit a road block. Consider also the number of other players that came to Chelsea seeking to play in the Premier League and have had to move to other leagues upon departing Chelsea.
The confirmation of such a substantial severance package for Mourinho could only mean that the manager had to give something back in return. That something likely includes a non-compete clause restricting his future employment by competitors for a period of time. While there are varying suggestions as to the length and the extent of these restrictions, it would not be surprising if the term was a couple years or longer. 17 million pounds is a lot to pay for anything less.
Which brings us back to the purported Spurs offer. If true, this would represent an astonishing level of naivete or desperation. Levy should know Mourinho would never be allowed to manage a London rival. And that an agent would only gladly trumpet the approaches to his client.
The one thing that makes this type of desperate approach seem likely is the word that Levy is trying to lure a top flight manager to make the imminent sale of the club more appealing to potential investors. We can only hope this is true.
The clumsy boardroom machinations at the start of the season have disrupted the team and probably dashed any chance to break into the top four. Maybe the approach to Mourinho was a fabrication by an opportunist agent willingly reported by a careless media. The problem is, because of the boardroom's recent poor form, this story is believable and that severely compromises the ability to attract a new manager and transfer targets.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club deserves top-flight professionalism at all levels and the boardroom has let down its supporters badly in this regard. Let's hope they can recover or yield to another management team to allow this team of great talent reach its potential.
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I agree about the boardroom disruption. While Jol has been making questionable calls on the field, it must be even harder for his players to have faith in what he preaches when they do not know if there will be a new preacher in shop next week. If Levy and his staff do not want Jol, then they need to say this. All they are doing is being two faced and gaining no one's respect. They are standing behind Jol publicly then running around behind his back in desperation trying to get any sort of top flight manager they can to replace him. They are looking crazy desperate. It would seem they took note of how FA appointed McClaren and are acting accordingly. And we all know how well that has worked out.
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