Mauricio Pochettino, the holiest of holies, the manager of Tottenham Hotspur football club, the man who WALKS ON WATER, who has taken a rag-bag group of bad buys, poor attitudes and abject appallingness and turned it into a wonder-team of togetherness and passionate artistry, the best man in the whole country…

was seen in a restaurant in Barcelona with no other than Josep Bartomeu, the president and head honcho of FC Barcelona!!!!

The incumbent manager at that exalted football club is leaving in the summer. And, cor blimey, what a coincidence, I pops into me fave tapas bar for a glass of Rioja and some Serrano ham (its what football Presidents eat) and fuck me sideways; ain’t that Mauricio Pochettino, the wonderkind of football management, just as my super-rich team are looking for a new top dude???? What a stroke of luck. Amazing coincidence. ‘ere, Mauricio, share a plate of meatballs with me, let’s ‘ave a little chat.

Apparently, according to the leading expert in Spanish football, the meeting was merely a coincidence, a chance encounter in which the two men, old friends anyway, simply hugged, exchanged pleasantries and went their separate ways. Mauricio went for the sardines and Josep the lamb chops and 3 bean salad. Nice. Fresh.

This was no ‘tapping up’ restaurant encounter as made famous by Ashley Cole who ‘coincidentally’ bumped into Jose Morinho in a restaurant. Ashley coincidentally had his agent with him, 2 advisers, 3 secretaries and a legal team from Clifford Chance.

So despite everyone (read: Arsenal fans, Chelsea fans) making a big deal of this encounter in Catalonia, it was just that. The scummy end of English football would love for Pochettino to leave Spurs. But he won’t. He’s found his ‘inner Yiddo’ and is loved at the Lane. Why would he want to swap that for Barcelona?

Ok, money. Lots of fucking money. Obscene amounts of money. And a team that has the most winning mentality in the world. With the best attacking line that very world has ever seen. And a history of glory. A recent history, not like Spurs one. BUT…

It is also the most unforgiving environment in the game if success is not massive and immediate. You don’t get 3 seasons at Camp Nou. You don’t get one. You win or you’re gone. Though in the Mickey Mouse league that they have there, you only have to beat Real Madrid twice to win it.

So, Josep, let me tell you now, HE AIN’T FOR SALE, AT ANY PRICE, SO FUCK OFF.

Just in case.

Happy Sunday

A xxxx