“20 years at a club is impossible” – Jose Mourinho says there will never be another Arsene Wenger
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho does not expect another manager to match Arsene Wenger's 22-year tenure as manager of the same club.
Unai Emery, Wenger's successor at Arsenal, was dismissed on Friday after less than 18 months at the helm.
And Mourinho does not think another coach will ever match Wenger or former Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson in taking charge of the same side for more than two decades.
“Twenty years in a club? I don't think it's possible," he told reporters ahead of Tottenham’s clash with Bournemouth on Sunday.
"Modern life, new technologies, social media - I think everything has an influence, even people's mentality, faster relations, getting tired easily, so many things that are changing.
"Not [just] football but [these things] are changing the world and the perception of things that I think Wenger was the last 'man/one'. It's a bad thing for us.
"We have to adapt and we have to try to prove that we are the man for the job. We have to fight for our job every day.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
"I think the times where people know the job is going to be mine for X amount of years [are gone]. You have to fight for your job every day. Not just with the football results but with everything you do in the club.
"I think it's normal. It happens in society in so many areas. I can imagine even yourself in your newspaper and your radio you have to not just sleep on what you did previously. I think you have to show every day you have that you are the guy for the job. I think it's just life."
Mourinho will be looking to make it three wins from three games as Spurs manager when his side welcome Bournemouth to north London on Saturday afternoon.
READ MORE
How one 1957 England friendly still leaves its mark across the country
Time-wasting really is a scourge on football – here's how to fix it
Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).