Tottenham report: There is a cost to Jose Mourinho’s winning pedigree

Tottenham are reportedly close to agreeing terms with Jose Mourinho as a dramatically new era is about to dawn on the North London club.

Sky Sports, among others, is reporting the developing story. An announcement should be made as early as today. Wow, how quickly the tide turns.

If confirmed, Mourinho will bring the sort of winning pedigree from a manager Tottenham have never before experienced. But there is a great cost to hiring Mourinho, a man known for a particularly rugged, dogmatic, disciplined style from a bygone era.

He is a throwback to the generation where 1-0 score lines were commonplace. And maybe that style of defensive football is precisely what Tottenham need.

But at what cost?

Mourinho won’t tolerate apathy, indecision or indifference from his players. Collective discipline, responsibility and hard work are trademarks of his sides. Buy into his system, or find yourself out in the cold, quickly and without hesitation.

That type of team discipline has been lacking at Tottenham since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, but Mourinho will have to stir a listless hornet’s nest to get his desired results. Which will invariably mean some collateral damage. Like a brilliant consultant, Mourinho is known for his remarkable ability to join a club and garner immediate results.

His personality and charisma, his ability to form strong bonds with players quickly often has a galvanizing effect in the short term. Sorting out Tottenham’s defensive frailties would be Mourinho’s first priority. His second would be to inject the type of passion and devotion wearing a Spurs shirt should encompass.

For Mourinho to accomplish those two imperatives, they will have to get back to the fundamentals. They will have to forsake Pochettino’s attacking, high-octane style. Although that won’t be too difficult considering how long Spurs have unknowingly and involuntarily veered away from that style.

While Mourinho inspires confidence from the start of his managerial appointments, historically, he’s renowned for polarizing and alienating en masse after his first season in charge. Entitled individuals tire quickly of his dogmatic, dictatorial, old-school approach. They grow sick of his uncanny ability to take the fun out of proceedings. Such is the era of prima donnas with which we’re ensared.

But anything to win, right?

That’s obviously Daniel Levy’s thinking with this prospective appointment. More than anything, Levy needs a trophy. And he will forsake just about anything to get it. So what better candidate than the self-proclaimed Special one, a man who wins no matter the cost.