Reporter Ian Ladyman of the Daily Mail stated that Nuno Espirito Santo’s lack of drive and excitement during his four months as the North London club’s manager perplexed people within Tottenham Hotspur.
Espirito Santo, who was fired by Tottenham more than two years ago, is back in the Premier League as Nottingham Forest’s manager, taking over for Steve Cooper.
The Portuguese coach’s tenure at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is not well remembered by the team’s supporters, who felt that his team played a very uninspired brand of football and struggled to score goals or keep opponents out.
Although Espirito Santo was only at N17 for four months before Antonio Conte took over, he has since found success at Al-Ittihad, leading them to the Saudi Pro League championship the previous season.
Nuno was a lethargic when he got to Tottenham.
Following his employment by Forest, Ladyman has now disclosed how the former manager’s demeanour confused some at Spurs.
In the It’s All Kicking Off Podcast, the journalist observed, “It was almost like a fire went out.” He was like a different man by the time he arrived at Tottenham; he was flat, uncommunicative, and lacking in energy. I know this from people I know very well at Tottenham.
It appeared as though Tottenham hired him too soon after Wolves fired him because they were unimpressed with his character.
“People at Tottenham were confused by his incorrect demeanour; he was almost like a shell of himself. This wasn’t the guy they interviewed, the guy they saw at Wolves, or the guy they had good references about.”
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Perhaps Nuno’s lack of flamboyance and charisma persuaded the Spurs management that he would not be able to win the players over and turn the team around.
To be fair to the Portuguese coach, though, he did join the team during a turbulent period, with Spurs embarking on a new course following Paratici’s appointment as managing director, and the entire scandal surrounding Kane’s botched transfer to Manchester City.
