During his five and a half years at Tottenham, Pochettino has built a special relationship with Spurs fans, who regularly sang his name from the terraces.
The Argentine turned the team into title contenders and even took the club a step closer to European glory, but the Lilywhites failed to cross the line and win a major silverware.
Pochettino lost his job after a poor start to the 2019/20 season, and Tottenham wandered in the background for several years after his departure as Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte failed to make the expected impact at the club.
However, the club finally seems to have struck gold with Ange Postecoglou, who quickly became a fans’ favourite after arriving at the club, and the Australian has provided the kind of football Tottenham fans have wanted since the Pochettino era.
Tottenham still means a lot to Mauricio Pochettino:
As expected, the relationship between Spurs fans and the Argentine coach has suffered since the 51-year-old took over at London rivals Chelsea last summer.
Pochettino is now under intense pressure at Stamford Bridge as the club struggles to string together decent results.
The former Tottenham coach has now spoken of his disappointment at failing to win a trophy at the N17, which could upset Chelsea fans even more.
Asked if he had any regrets about his time at Spurs, Pochettino replied (via TNT Sports): “I have to repeat that I left the club because I was sacked.”
“We achieved things, we were so close, but we missed the last step. It was shameful and sad because we wanted to win. We wanted to deliver it to the fans and lift the trophy. This is a club that has one of the best facilities, with a training ground and a stadium. It can achieve what it wants.”
I’m in the minority of Spurs fans who don’t resent Pochettino for joining Chelsea, especially given that Tottenham didn’t contact him about the managerial vacancy last summer.
However, it is not very wise of the Argentine to continue to speak positively about Spurs and his affection for the club (an indirect dig at Chelsea) at a time when Chelsea fans are already questioning his position at the club following another disappointing defeat to Wolves at home.