Tottenham Hotspur are searching for a seventh head coach in a little more than nine years after Antonio Conte's sacking - and it is proving an expensive business for chairman Daniel Levy.
Since Andre Villas-Boas was sacked in December 2013, Spurs have forked out approximately £55.5m in compensation on five of the half dozen to have been dismissed.
The Portuguese lasted until the midway point of a three-year deal at White Hart Lane before patience ran out following thumping losses to Manchester City and Liverpool. And that mean Spurs had about £4.5m left to pay.
His replacement, Tim Sherwood, was given an 18-month deal after a short spell in interim charge. But the Gilleted One lasted five months with Levy confirming at the end of the 2013-14 season that the club had inserted “a break clause at the end of the season [into Sherwood’s contract] and we have now exercised that option.” That meant he left without a pay-off.
Next came the Mauricio Pochettino era, a spell that brought relative success in terms of a Champions League final and a belief that, as Giorgio Chiellini put it, “the history of the Tottenham ” was on the cusp of change.
Yet the Argentinean, who had initially signed a five-year deal, ended up receiving about £12.5m when dismissed following a dismal run of domestic form 18 months into a new five-year contract.
"We were extremely reluctant to make this change. It is not a decision the board has taken lightly, nor in haste," Levy said when confirming Pochettino’s departure, before the chairman then made the most expensive mistake of the lot.
Jose Mourinho ’s arrival was viewed as a blockbuster appointment coming midway through the Amazon All or Nothing series but the former Chelsea and Manchester United manager’s spell in north London went along familiar lines to his previous jobs as players became disengaged, the mood plummeted and results cratered.
Predictably, after signing a four-year contract, he lasted 17 months before departing at the end of weeks of acrimony. Levy reflected on the pandemic having an influence when confirming Mourinho’s departure but it cost Spurs an estimated £20m.
Ryan Mason was then placed in interim charge before another costly error, which the club’s hierarchy twigged within a few weeks. Tottenham had spent much of the summer being rejected by targets and were even close to appointing Gennaro Gattuso before his views away from football were met with some backlash, thus scuppering the potential of him signing on.
So in came former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo, far from the top of their shopping list, only to lose five of his 10 league games and receive compensation in the range of £14.5m four months into a two-season contract.
Conte’s arrival brought excitement and a belief that his track record of winning trophies could provide the club with a first piece of silverware since the 2008 League Cup. Yet things turned sour this season and with just over three months to go on his deal the payoff will be worth about £4m.
