The Premier League coaches who managed Chelsea and Tottenham | OneFootball

The Premier League coaches who managed Chelsea and Tottenham | OneFootball

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90min

·29 May 2023

The Premier League coaches who managed Chelsea and Tottenham

Article image:The Premier League coaches who managed Chelsea and Tottenham

Managers crossing the divide from Chelsea to Tottenham has become something of a modern phenomenon.

The Blues have chopped and changed their figures in the dugout to a successful extent over the past 20 years with trophies never that far from hand, while Spurs have been similarly indecisive when backing coaches but with little silverware to show for it.


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From Jose Mourinho to latest arrival Mauricio Pochettino, here are the managers who have taken over in both west and north London during the Premier League era.

Glenn Hoddle

Hoddle managed Chelsea before Spurs / Gary M. Prior/GettyImages

When his days as a mercurial and gifted midfielder were coming to an end, Glenn Hoddle took up the role of player-manager at Chelsea. While he led the Blues back into Europe by reaching the 1994 FA Cup final, true consistency was hard to find as results split across wins, draws and losses over 140 games.

He picked up a couple of Manager of the Month awards during his spell in charge of Tottenham but could only manage placings of ninth and tenth in his two full seasons before being booted out for a poor start to the 2003/04 term.

Andre Villas-Boas

Villas-Boas' Tottenham reign ended with a heavy defeat to Liverpool / GLYN KIRK/GettyImages

Andre-Villas Boas arrived at Chelsea in 2011 as a young managerial prodigy, having wowed Primeira Liga fans by winning a treble in his first season at Porto. Chelsea paid £13.3m in compensation but that outlay never came close to looking worth it as he was ditched in his first season with only 40 games played - the Blues would go on to win the Champions League under interim Roberto Di Matteo.

Spurs sought his services after the departure of Harry Redknapp, who had flirted with the England job only for Roy Hodgson to take over, and a Gareth Bale-inspired 2012/13 campaign almost returned Champions League football.

Tottenham came fifth but Bale was sold that summer and a number of inadequate players were brought in as replacements. A 6-0 defeat at Manchester City and a 5-0 home loss to Liverpool were the final nails in Villas-Boas' coffin at White Hart Lane.

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Jose Mourinho

Mourinho succeeded in two spells at Chelsea / Michael Regan/GettyImages

Jose Mourinho was arguably at his career best during his first spell at Chelsea, winning back-to-back Premier League titles with a swagger few coaches had exuded in England before.

He came back to win more trophies at Stamford Bridge after successful ventures with Inter and Real Madrid. Mourinho then joined Spurs when Pochettino was sacked in 2019 shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic changed football for a few years.

The Portuguese coach has since admitted he has little emotional feeling towards Tottenham due to the empty stadiums and being sacked days before a Carabao Cup final against Man City.

Antonio Conte

Conte's final game with Chelsea was a victory in the FA Cup final / Laurence Griffiths/GettyImages

Antonio Conte proved with both Chelsea and Tottenham that he knows how to conduct a spectacular exit.

He turned Chelsea's fortunes around to win the 2016/17 Premier League title before missing out on Champions League qualification the next season, which also yielded FA Cup success.

Conte became a fan favourite for leading Spurs to fourth in 2021/22 after a horrendous start under Nuno Espirito Santo, but Spurs' already disappointing 2022/23 campaign really came off the rails when the Italian lambasted his squad in March and left during the international break.

Mauricio Pochettino

Pochettino will take the Stamford Bridge dugout / IAN KINGTON/GettyImages

Mauricio Pochettino is reversing the trend by taking the Chelsea job having managed Tottenham first, with a spell at Paris Saint-Germain also thrown in.

The Argentine was adored by the Spurs faithful for making Champions League football a regular feature in north London, while financial restraints as the current stadium was being built helped enhance his reputation as an excellent man manager.

Things haven't got better at Tottenham since his departure in 2019 and Pochettino is now tasked with trimming an overly stuffed Chelsea squad down to his liking, with trophies surely expected by Todd Boehly and co.

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