Tottenham: How social media reacted to Mourinho replacing Pochettino at Spurs

Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino — Jose Mourinho has taken over at Spurs after Mauricio Pochettino's departure

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After five years in charge Mauricio Pochettino's spell as Tottenham manager has come to an abrupt halt.

The international break is always a worrying time for a manager under pressure but despite Spurs' disappointing start to the season - they are currently 14th in the Premier League - not many saw this sacking coming.

After all, Pochettino is the the man who led Tottenham to the Champions League final last season.

As you'd expect, this sort of news is manna from heaven for the social media world. With under 12 hours between the announcement of Pochettino's departure and the confirmation of Jose Mourinho's appointment it was a rollercoaster on social media. Here's a look at the good, the sad and the remarkable from an extraordinary few hours on Twitter.

First rumblings of news

Credit where credit's due, Matt Law and John Percy of the Telegraph had been reporting that Pochettino's days might be numbered before the news officially broke. At 22:36 GMT on 18 November Law tweeted:

Not that some fans were having it, mind.

Am sure you guys witnessed the meeting and had access to the agenda and the minutes of the meeting. Good work.

Not often you're right..but you're wrong again

You have to say; both journalists deserve even more credit for not going the full Alan Partridge with a series of "needless to say, I had the last laugh" messages after being proved right.

Official confirmation

But then, it was true! At around 19:30 on Tuesday, Spurs announced the news: Poch out!

The immediate reaction

Shock. Anger. Disbelief. And gifs. So many gifs.

Plenty of people were pretty upset.

You’ve embarrassed me plenty of times over the years but this is right up there.

What have you done Levy 😡😡😡 the man who has brought us the best football we have played in decades. Poch was never the problem and this will come back to haunt us I’m sure. Thank you for everything Poch and all your staff 😢

Well done Levy. Back to mediocrity. Pochettino took a team on a limited budget to regular top 4 and a Champions League final. Hope he gets a club who back him and allow him to complete what he starts. Thanks for the good times.

It does make me laugh. Mauricio Pochettino takes Spurs to 3/4 of their best seasons ever and he gets sacked...Where is the accountability of the chairman Daniel Leavy. football is so weird..

Fans of other clubs, not so much.

CFC Daily replying to Tottenham's tweet with a gif of Mourinho laughing

There is no need to be upset. Jose's coming

And of course, several thousand people made the inevitable joke:

A tweet by Marc Summer of Tottenham player Son Heung-min crying

'Good luck and hope to see you again my friend'

The player reaction was, as you'd expect, far more measured, with heartfelt messages from Dele Alli and Harry Kane as well as a message from the departing assistant manager Jesus Perez that really tugged at the fans' heart-strings.

Jose in?

As one door closes, another one opens. And so the rumours of who would come in began circulating. Some were more, shall we say, realistic than others.

IMAGINE!

JOSE ANNOUNCED!

And then in the morning, at just after 06:30, the news that was pretty much known the world over already: Spurs had sent for the Special One!

'New manager. New era. New beginnings.'

The man who, lest we forget, has won three Premier League titles (three: respect, respect, respect) is in the hot seat. There's a definite difference of opinion on whether this is a good or a bad thing.

Some are not too impressed: