BEVERLY HILLS, April 20, (THEWILL) – English Premier League north London club Tottenham Hotspur have handed Ryan Glen Mason the role of interim head coach until the end of the season.
This comes after Monday’s sacking of former coach Jose Mourinho from the Tottenham Hotspur Studium.
The dismissal of the Portuguese coach came just six days before the final match of the English Football League (EFL) Carabao Cup against Manchester City, which Mourinho qualified Spurs for. However, with the London side sitting seventh in the league after 32 matches and their UEFA Champions League qualification hopes almost unattainable, the club thought it was better to part ways at this time.
Mason assumed the managerial role on an interim basis for the first-team training after Mourinho’s dismissal on Monday and will now take charge of the team for that crunch final against City and for the remainder of the 2020-21 season.
The debut game for the 29-year-old will be at their home grounds when they welcome Southampton to the Tottenham Hotspur Studium on Wednesday for their scheduled Round 29 Premier League fixture.
The new manager, though interim, will be assisted by Chris Powell and Nigel Gibbs, with Ledley King continuing as a first-team assistant and Michel Vorm as his goalkeeping coach, for the time being.
After the appointment was made public, Daniel Levy, Spurs’ Chairman commented on the quality of the club’s squad, as a show of confidence for the EPL side: “We have great belief in this squad of talented players. We have a cup final and six Premier League games ahead of us and we shall now focus all our energies on achieving a strong finish to the season.”
THEWILL recalls that the recent furore in international football with the formation of a new but highly controversial Super League of Europe’s biggest sides placed Tottenham squarely in the mix as one of six English clubs who announced their membership.
It was a development that overshadowed their decision to sack Mourinho and had not a few critics pointing to the firing decision, so close to the EFL Carabao Cup Final, as an attempt by the club management to weave the discussion in the club away from the barrage of negativity that has greeted the news of the League.
However, discussion will now shift to the youthfulness of the new interim manager. Mason graduated through the youth Academy at Tottenham and played for Spurs for eight years before moving to Hull City. But, a fractured skull in January 2017 eventually forced him to retire, prompting his early move into coaching with Spurs in 2018.
This will be his first senior managerial position, even if temporal.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
