Fri 20 November 2020, 10:54
Tottenham HotspurJose Mourinho described himself as ‘happy, very happy’ as he reflected on an ‘unexpected’ first year at the Club.
Indeed, few could have predicted what lay ahead when Jose took over as Head Coach on 20 November, 2019.
Sitting 14th in the Premier League at the time, Jose lifted us back up to fifth as early as December, and then again in February, but the squad was then hit by injuries, losing the attacking force of Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Steven Bergwijn, plus Moussa Sissoko, before football was forced to shut down as the world fought the coronavirus pandemic in March.
Returning in June, we climbed up to sixth with a fine run of results to qualify for the UEFA Europa League and that form has continued into 2020/21, as we’ve qualified for the group stages of the UEL, and sit second in the Premier League with just one defeat, on the opening day against Everton. We also beat Chelsea on penalties to progress to the quarter-final of the League Cup.
Looking back at his first year this week, Jose said: “Of course we’ve had difficult moments, of course it was an unexpected year... nobody could believe what was going to happen the day I came to the Club.
“The only thing I can say in a very few words, but they mean everything because they are very objective, is that if I could travel in time and go back to 20 November, 2019, I would sign that contract with the same happiness as I did.
“It’s been a very strange year. It’s a year in the calendar, but it’s not a year in football. We didn’t train as many times as we should, we didn’t play the season the way we should and normally is, we didn’t have the pre-season we would normally have, so it’s not like you have a ‘normal’ year of work, not at all. But I’m happy, very happy in the Club, very happy with the decision I made one year ago, and I wish in one year’s time to be speaking about two years.”
