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Chalk this up as one of the weirdest developments in the saga surrounding the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas on Monday and its aftermath throughout the week. BBC Sport is reporting today that former Real Madrid and Portugal manager and long-serving assistant to Alex Ferguson Carlos Queiroz has attempted to put himself into the running for the top job at White Hart Lane, citing "some private connections in the past" with Daniel Levy. Mystery is fun!
To attach quotes to this story, Queiroz claimed in an interview with BBC World Football that:
"One of my coaching dreams is to get back to English football".
"I was very happy in Manchester. It was the most happy and outstanding football period of my entire career."
When subsequently asked if the Spurs job is one that would interest him as a route back to the Premiership, he replied:
"Absolutely. Tottenham is a club I really appreciate a lot and I have great admiration."
Obviously, it's very flattering for Spurs to have any manager with a experience in the higher echelons of European football throw their name in the ring for the top job, especially with jitters starting to emerge amongst the Spurs fan base over Daniel Levy's perceived itchy trigger finger, and the effect this might be having on the club's ability to attract top managerial talent.
When you look hard at the current Iran manager's credentials and record, however, it's difficult to muster a huge amount of enthusiasm for him an actual candidate. Putting aside his famous and productive spell as United assistant, Queiroz's win record as a head coach stands at 54.65% across all of the various jobs he's had at club and international level (W141, D61, L56), although this figure is distorted by the vast disparities in the quality of the teams he's presided over and the comparative difficulties of the leagues he's managed in.
His tenure at Real Madrid was pretty disappointing by all accounts, only producing a Supercopa de Espana to show for his season there despite the presence of Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Ronaldo and Luis Figo in the primes in the side. His second and most recent spell at Portugal was something of a downer too, not clearing the 2010 World Cup first elimination round after blasting seven goals past North Korea in the group stages (although elimination at the hands of a golden-era Spain team isn't really something to be too ashamed of). He recently got Iran through the World Cup qualifiers, albeit from a far-from-testing group.
What worries me most about this hypothetical appointment is the playing-up of that 'private connection with Daniel Levy' part. For Andre Villas-Boas' sacking to be truly justified, the process to find his replacement must be prefaced on footballing considerations, not Mike Ashley-style croneyism, which this story smacks just a little of.
Chalk this one up as a 'thanks but no thanks' from me.
