It's a comparison that doesn't make much sense because he had a much better squad to start with than he'd have at Everton - and I think that's the point bedford makes. He did so with a limited budget and nobody's denying that he did a great job, but he was lucky to get the best striker in the world for free. And yes, he was lucky. Kane's raw talent has nothing to do with Pochettino, just like nobody credits Ferguson for Ronaldo's career, and rightly so. Likewise, Guardiola didn't 'make' Messi.
When it took over, we had already played in the Champions League, something Everton have done once (I think) since the creation of the competition. If he had done the same with Arsenal, who from what I remember, were roughly on a par with us when he took over, he'd be considered a very good manager but a trophyless one too. And that's what he is (except for that French Cup he's won a couple of weeks ago). I don't think anyone outside the Spurs community considers him as one of the best managers in the world. We had a great run, again, nobody denies that but he needs to be there on a regular basis to be considered amongst the best.
Ok, but even just taking the initial intent of the question, which was around the idea that people wanting Poch back are romantic about him and what he did for us before, rather than being confident he’s the right guy for the future. Taking it like this specifically, if the club he did it for was Everton, I would absolutely still say he was one of the best managers around and would happily take him here.
I don’t think it needs to be a debate around whether Everton was a fair comparison as a club - they were just picked as a club who have a relatively similar spend to us and who if they made better decisions might be able to do what we have done. But taking the romance out of it, if we were presented with a manager who took Everton (or Saudi Sportswashing Machine, or someone similar sized) to regular top 3 finishes, 2 genuine titles challenges, a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL!!!, and did this all with no signings for 18 months, 2 years away from the home stadium, and a £20m net spend average over 5 seasons, I’d say yes, I’d take that guy in a heartbeat and wouldn’t need to think about it.
FWIW, I think it is a fair comparison. For Walker/Rose/Kane etc, you can easily read Baines/Coleman/Stones/Lukaku. Point is, they’ve had some top players over the years. Under Martinez they actually made 72 points in his first season. Even if we accept that Poch found a tonne of great talent, the level he took them to, those achievements above, was ridiculous and not predictable at all. That allowed him to keep Kane for longer than we would usually have been able to do. If Everton were doing the same they might have kept some of their top players.
But point is, I don’t think Spurs were suddenly destined to just gatecrash the top 4. I think we might have had the odd top 4 finish under a different manager alongside the occasional 5th or 6th, and I don’t think anyone would have really batted an eyelid. In the same way some people will say Reguillon is terrible now, Rose would have been looked at as a pacey but inconsistent full back, not one of the best in the world.
If he did the same with Arsenal, he would have taken them back to something of the level they had under Wenger. They have a bigger wage budget and commercial income and had over 20 years of regular CL. Of course that wouldn’t be as impressive. But taking a perennial top 6 club and doing what he did with us, that level of achievement was ridiculous and puts him among the best in the world for me, as a managerial talent. Rodgers has also not done similar at Leicester.
He has the full package; modern, up to date coaching methods. Ability to coach well through a league season. Ability to coach well over two legged European ties. I don’t think he gets tactically outclassed (he may get beaten of course, but his tactical capability and strategy over two legs or in big domestic games is on par with the best he’s faced). He needs to win something, but I think he’ll easily win more important trophies at clubs he will manage that are at the level he deserves.
But to go back to the original point, it isn’t just romance, I genuinely think he is top tier and I’d be saying it if he did for Everton or Saudi Sportswashing Machine what he did for us. I think the achievements and how ridiculous they were are being downplayed and I don’t quite get why. We were not a club suddenly expected to make that leap. There’s also a significant delta between Kane becoming a decent PL striker, a good PL striker, and one of the best in the world. He may have made it and maybe always was going to make it, but he could have easily been Danny Ings, it wasn’t obvious he would be this Harry Kane.
