What Next for Jose Mourinho?

Well, I clearly picked the wrong big piece of football news to write about last week. At the very least, if I'd waited 24 hours I could have dissected why the European Super League collapsed (or rather, repeated everything that I heard on the football podcasts for the next few days).

Instead we're left with the actual big news, which is that Jose Mourinho got sacked by Spurs, in a continuation of the trends from his late-period career. Who couldn't have foreseen this when the team unveiled him less than two years ago? His time at Manchester United was still alarmingly fresh in mind, and there was no reason to expect anything different here.

It's interesting the extent to which he's become the Premier League's greatest villain, but then, among the elite coaches he's probably the one that shows the most personality. Ole Gunnar Solskjær is this genial presence that was previously a little creepy in his devotion to Alex Ferguson's legacy; Jürgen Klopp makes the odd reference to heavy metal music and "this means more", whatever that means; Pep Guardiola is the tactics-obsessed nerd; and both Mikel Arteta and Thomas Tuchel are probably too new to have carved a niche for themselves (though who really thinks they'll come out with the types of zingers that Mourinho used to?)

No, this bunch is too nerdy to really go for the good wars of words that Mourinho used to have with the likes of Arsène Wenger, Rafael Benitez and Alex Ferguson (though of those three only Ferguson is notable for his own mind games and zingers). Who, for example, can forget when Mourinho suggested that Benitez's wife should look to her husband's diet instead of criticizing Mourinho?

Though it must also be said that the Mourinho we saw at Spurs, Man United and even the second time at Chelsea is not that same man as years earlier. Back then, he was fun to hate, because his teams won stuff - but as time has gone by all he's done is turn his negative energies on his own players. He alienated Eden Hazard at Chelsea, Paul Pogba at United and Dele Alli at Spurs, among others. At least for those first two he actually won some trophies - but now when's that going to happen again?

I can't say I entirely miss him when he's gone, but I am curious to see what he ends up doing next. It feels like he's burned his bridges with the elite teams of England (and there aren't any openings anyway), and with Real Madrid, so it'd be interesting if he popped up in Italy again... though again, it's hard to see who might take him. Maybe Napoli? I think I would be disappointed if he ended up at Wolves (though that would be hilarious if Nuno Espirito Santo swapped with him and took over at Spurs), or any of the other also-rans that rarely get into Europe.

The other question is, who will replace him at Spurs? Or indeed will want to? I don't know if there's a legendary ex-player that they could hire, or a German tactical genius - or they could split the difference and get Jürgen Klinsmann. Though if he paired up with Joachim Löw again, they might be on to something...