Tottenham had just announced their participation in a division where poor results will carry no penalty when they sacked a manager after a wretched run. Spot the contradiction. Perhaps Jose Mourinho is the first manager in the European Super League to be fired. He is at least blameless there, but culpable in the Premier League.
Spurs were top in December and are seventh in April. No wonder they want a world without Champions League qualification. It is increasingly unsurprising they would prefer one without Mourinho. This season has become a huge missed opportunity, a way of undoing Mauricio Pochettino’s legacy and further proof of the decline of a manager whose greatness is firmly confined in the past.
Even Sunday’s League Cup final against Manchester City, potentially bringing Spurs’ first silverware since 2008, was not enough to delay his departure. Mourinho was supposed to be the guarantee of glory; instead, for the first time since his 20-game stint in charge of Uniao de Leiria 20 years ago, he leaves a club without winning anything.
That adds an element of novelty, but the rest of Mourinho’s demise felt all so familiar it amounts to an indictment of Daniel Levy for appointing him. This was utterly predictable.
The only differences were that it unravelled quicker and that the indignities were bigger. A supposed specialist in the short term did not even achieve success then. Mourinho used to win the league in his second season everywhere; at Manchester United his sophomore campaign ended in second.
He leaves Spurs after 17 months, with fewer highs – a 6-1 win at Old Trafford, a couple of victories over Pep Guardiola and Manchester City and a pair of North London derby triumphs – and his greatest low, the Europa League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb, arguably the worst result by any English club in Europe for the best part of 20 years.
He goes when Harry Kane is clearly considering his future; along with Heung-Min Son, Tanguy Ndombele and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, he is perhaps only one of four to perform to their capabilities this season. That the striker has registered 21 goals and 13 assists underlines Mourinho’s underachievement; with an elite player in sensational form, Spurs have still floundered.
If footballers used to want to play for Mourinho, now dressing rooms are alienated. Where there were loyalists, he generated dissidents at Real Madrid, Chelsea, United and now Spurs. It is hard to escape the conclusion that he does not relate to a younger generation.
Perhaps Mourinho thought he was accomplishing something by scapegoating and marginalising Dele Alli; instead one of England’s finest talents has just had a bit-part role. Gareth Bale had a golden month; otherwise Mourinho has got little from him.
He has made his squad less than the sum of their considerable parts. He used to be a byword for clarity of thought but chopped and changed his team and altered his system; the consequences of mistakes brought fearful football. If Pochettino’s positivity was often reflected on the pitch, so was Mourinho’s negativity. Spurs lost an ethos, an identity and an energy, the factors that had propelled them forwards.
His constant carping was counter-productive. The tactic of trying to shift the blame – for dropping deep, conceding late goals, poor defending or bad results – was utterly transparent. It was tempting to wonder what Mourinho thought a £15 million-a-year manager was for, given his refusal to take responsibility for anything that went wrong.
And much did. Mourinho suffered 10 league defeats in a season, for the first time. Since December’s win against Arsenal, Spurs have more losses than wins. They have dropped 20 points from winning positions and a bottom-half record in the last four months. He turned toxic; he always seems to.
He represented Levy’s folly, a chairman blinded by stardust hiring an anachronism. Perhaps he will be the last to make the Mourinho mistake.
The Portuguese’s final home game concluded in strange fashion, with an odd row about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over parenting. That was Mourinho, entertaining and quotable off the pitch but, with chances of a top-four finish disappearing, losing and failing on it. And, in the final irony, Spurs borrowed from his playbook with the diversionary tactic. He was sacked as they used the Super League furore to deflect attention from their managerial problems.
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Mobile phone packages comparison
Leaderboard
63 - Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA)
64 - Rory McIlroy (NIR)
66 - Jon Rahm (ESP)
67 - Tom Lewis (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
68 - Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP), Marcus Kinhult (SWE)
69 - Justin Rose (ENG), Thomas Detry (BEL), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Danny Willett (ENG), Li Haotong (CHN), Matthias Schwab (AUT)
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
BRIEF SCORES
England 353 and 313-8 dec
(B Stokes 112, A Cook 88; M Morkel 3-70, K Rabada 3-85)
(J Bairstow 63, T Westley 59, J Root 50; K Maharaj 3-50)
South Africa 175 and 252
(T Bavuma 52; T Roland-Jones 5-57, J Anderson 3-25)
(D Elgar 136; M Ali 4-45, T Roland-Jones 3-72)
Result: England won by 239 runs
England lead four-match series 2-1
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
RESULTS
Catchweight 82kg
Piotr Kuberski (POL) beat Ahmed Saeb (IRQ) by decision.
Women’s bantamweight
Corinne Laframboise (CAN) beat Cornelia Holm (SWE) by unanimous decision.
Welterweight
Omar Hussein (PAL) beat Vitalii Stoian (UKR) by unanimous decision.
Welterweight
Josh Togo (LEB) beat Ali Dyusenov (UZB) by unanimous decision.
Flyweight
Isaac Pimentel (BRA) beat Delfin Nawen (PHI) TKO round-3.
Catchweight 80kg
Seb Eubank (GBR) beat Emad Hanbali (SYR) KO round 1.
Lightweight
Mohammad Yahya (UAE) beat Ramadan Noaman (EGY) TKO round 2.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) beat Reydon Romero (PHI) submission 1.
Welterweight
Juho Valamaa (FIN) beat Ahmed Labban (LEB) by unanimous decision.
Featherweight
Elias Boudegzdame (ALG) beat Austin Arnett (USA) by unanimous decision.
Super heavyweight
Maciej Sosnowski (POL) beat Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) by submission round 1.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
UAE%20SQUAD
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The bio
Who inspires you?
I am in awe of the remarkable women in the Arab region, both big and small, pushing boundaries and becoming role models for generations. Emily Nasrallah was a writer, journalist, teacher and women’s rights activist
How do you relax?
Yoga relaxes me and helps me relieve tension, especially now when we’re practically chained to laptops and desks. I enjoy learning more about music and the history of famous music bands and genres.
What is favourite book?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - I think I've read it more than 7 times
What is your favourite Arabic film?
Hala2 Lawen (Translation: Where Do We Go Now?) by Nadine Labaki
What is favourite English film?
Mamma Mia
Best piece of advice to someone looking for a career at Google?
If you’re interested in a career at Google, deep dive into the different career paths and pinpoint the space you want to join. When you know your space, you’re likely to identify the skills you need to develop.
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 1 (Hudson-Odoi 90 1')
Manchester City 3 (Gundogan 18', Foden 21', De Bruyne 34')
Man of the match: Ilkay Gundogan (Man City)
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20Last%20White%20Man
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
