Newcastle United once made manager target Mauricio Pochettino want ‘to kill’ his Spurs players

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Newcastle United are reportedly hoping to lure Mauricio Pochettino to be the club’s next manager after their proposed Saudi-backed takeover is concluded. That is according to a report from ESPN, who claim the Argentine is number one on their list of potential replacements for Steve Bruce. 

It would certainly be an eye-catching move for Newcastle, who have always been something of a bogey team for Pochettino.

Only Chelsea (9), Liverpool (9), Manchester City (8), and Manchester United (7) have picked up more wins against Pochettino in English football than Newcastle (5). Their last meeting ended in a shock 1-0 away win for Newcastle whilst the Toon Army famously did the double over Spurs in 2015-16, despite being relegated to the Championship that season and Tottenham battling for the title. 

Indeed, they dealt out a shock 5-1 thrashing on the final day which had Pochettino fuming at his players. 

As the Argentine later told the Daily Mail, he wanted ‘to kill’ some of his players after the result. 

“The feeling after Newcastle was horrible. It is true that after a couple of months you move on, but it put me in a bad mood for the whole of the summer. It killed my holidays. Seriously. I went to Barcelona and the Bahamas with my family, but all the time I was in a bad mood.

“There was no time to assimilate the defeat at Newcastle because the season finished at the end of the game and I did not have the chance to share my feelings with my players the day after and kill them!”

Despite Newcastle’s fairly decent record against Pochettino, they will be acutely aware of the brilliant job he did at Tottenham during his time in North London. 

Whilst many Newcastle United fans will have fond memories of that oasis at the end of their torrid 2015-16 campaign, they will know Pochettino would be a great get for the club.