Tottenham Hotspur have made some of the worst decisions of any club in European football over the years under the stewardship of chairman Daniel Levy, with many Premier League fans viewing Spurs as the most mismanaged club in the country, especially in comparison to their stature and support in both the United Kingdom and United States.
On Friday night, Spurs reached another low in their perception among their own fans and those around the Premier League, firing manager Ange Postecoglou weeks after he brought them their first Europa League title in 41 years.
It's unclear what Tottenham are looking for in terms of a replacement, but the main candidate - and the only clear potential upgrade on the beloved Postecoglou - is Brentford's perennial underdog tactician Thomas Frank.
At this point, if Frank doesn't get the Tottenham job, it would be an upset. However, a new name has emerged on the radar as a possible Postecoglou replacement, and this one manager could be the biggest splash possible.
Tottenham need to commit to a rebuild
According to a report from BBC Sport's Sami Mokbel, Tottenham are considering former manager Mauricio Pochettino, who once had Spurs on the doorstep of fairytale Premier League and Champions League title wins, as a potential managerial option.
Pochettino joins a list almost exclusively populated by current mid-table Premier League managers like Frank, Fulham's Marco Silva, and Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola. From the beginning, these three have been considered the favorites to take over for Postecoglou - and in that exact order.
Although Pochettino hurt his stock in world football with poor results at PSG and Chelsea, he didn't totally embarrass himself at either club, but rather confirmed the fact that Tottenham was by far the best fit for him. Pochettino has never been as successful without Spurs, and Spurs, outside of this incredible Europa League run, haven't been thriving either, particularly not in a broad spectrum view as an organization.
Pochettino, at the time of his dismissal in 2019, was begging Tottenham to see the writing on the wall and commit to a full-scale rebuild in his vision. He was 100 percent right about what Tottenham needed, but, like always, Daniel Levy thought with his own ego first and axed Poch for proposing an astute vision that ran counter to his own wishes.
And now, even if he isn't a leading candidate, Tottenham are back being linked to Pochettino by one of the biggest outlets in the country. Pochettino is a legitimate candidate to take over, and while chances are it won't happen, it would be a funny visual to see Levy coaxing a reptilian smile on his own face after crawling through gritted teeth to get Poch back and start over from where they should have left off more than five years ago. Football is a funny little game.