JOSE MOURINHO IS sensitive to criticism like the rest of us, it seems.
In the new Amazon Prime behind-the-scenes show on Spurs, the Portuguese boss tells a TV pundit to โfuck offโ before switching off the set.
Mourinho was filmed in his new office soon after he succeeded the hugely popular Mauricio Pochettino, with television experts heard discussing whether the ex-Man Utd coach was the right man for the job.
โItโs incredible. Personally, Iโm surprised they got rid of him. But Iโm more surprised by Jose coming in,โ one voice from the Sky Sports discussion says.
โIs that really the football that Tottenham want to play?โ
The producers of All or Nothing have revealed, meanwhile, how they had to pinch themselves when Mourinho arrived at the club.
Mourinho was appointed less than 24 hours after Pochettino was sacked in November and it was all captured on camera as production company 72 Films were on site at Tottenhamโs training ground in Enfield.
The Portugueseโs arrival features in the first episode of the documentary, which lands on the streaming site on Monday, and he goes on to be a brilliant leading man in the series, giving a unique insight into the methods of one of the most successful managers of all time.
Series producer Clare Cameron told the PA news agency: โI donโt think we were rubbing our hands gleefully, but we were in an incredibly privileged position to be able to cover someone like Jose, to come in and film it literally from day one.
โWe did pinch ourselves when we turned up in the morning and saw Jose walking across the car park in front of us.
โAt no point are you sort of gleeful about the drama, you are just trying to react to think about how we cover this story sensitively.
โObviously the club was going through a huge change, it was obviously going to be difficult for the players, we wanted to just be as sensitive as we possibly could while following the story.โ
When he first arrived at the club, Mourinho gave the outward perception to the press that he was not comfortable with the cameras filming him, but the producers were surprised by how open everyone at the club was, including camera-shy chairman Daniel Levy.
โWe didnโt really know what to expect with Jose or the players and Daniel,โ executive producer John Douglas said. โWhat comes through more than anything is that he and the players are people who just absolutely love football.
โI think us building up that trust with them and us understanding that we really wanted to tell the story of the club in an honest way, they really responded to that, and once they knew that we were surprised at how open everyone was.โ
The coverage of Pochettinoโs sacking may leave viewers wanting more as none of the key conversations are featured and the Argentinianโs presence in the show lasts less than 25 minutes.
Douglas insists, contrary to reports at the time, that the cameras were not present at any of those meetings and they stand by their decision to introduce Mourinho so quickly.
โIt was in the press at the time that we had been filming all of that and we were in the room when it happened,โ he added. โThe fact is it was during the international break, the players were all away, we had a light footprint at that time and we werenโt there.
โWe hadnโt filmed that meeting, we had filmed a bit of Mauricio in the weeks before and were happy to get that in, but in all honesty we didnโt have loads of really explosive sensational material that we either couldnโt, didnโt or werenโt allowed to put in the series.
โIt felt important once that happened, knowing we were going to cover the whole season, we had so much material we had to make some brutal editorial decisions sometimes.
โJose coming in and there being the start of this new era for the club felt where our centre of gravity should be. Editorially we made the right choice.โ
If you are reading this. You are likely a spurs fan. I feel sorry for you and your kids who you will likely force them through the inevitable heartbreak that comes with supporting Spurs!
Spurs top 4 this season for sure.
This Spurs fan of 51 years found sanitised Part One of โAll or Nothingโ documentary (Amazon) underwhelming. It quickly became The Mourhino Show.