Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole believes Tottenham have made a bad decision to sack Jose Mourinho before the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.
Spurs confirmed the departure of the Portuguese head coach on Monday, with Tottenham seventh in the Premier League and facing an uphill battle to finish in the top four to qualify for the Champions League.
Spurs have since won their first game without Mourinho to move up to sixth place, with Gareth Bale and Son Heung-min scoring to help Tottenham come from behind to beat Southampton in interim head coach Ryan Mason's first game in charge.
But Cole, who worked with Mourinho at Chelsea, has said he feels there must be a deeper reason for the decision to sack him just six days before facing Manchester City at Wembley, where Spurs could win their first silverware since 2008.
Speaking on BT Sport’s Premier League Tonight, Joe Cole said: “[I was] Surprised at the timing, I think like most people. A week before the cup final, they don’t come around every year for Tottenham, to make that decision, there must have been a monetary reason in terms of the settlement when you leave a club.
“Obviously the relationship was fragmented, Daniel Levy, Jose Mourinho, the players, it just wasn’t flowing, but you have to say, if you had taken the amount of points from when Jose got the job, there were only three clubs with more, and he is in a cup final.
“He does what he says on the tin, but I think they have pulled the trigger too early on him, I really think they have made a mistake. I think it is a bad decision."
However, Cole feels that Mourinho underestimated the size of the job at Tottenham, having replaced Mauricio Pochettino just a few months after Spurs had lost to Liverpool in the Champions League final.
And Cole reckons that while Tottenham were criticised for the style of play under Mourinho at times, the former Chelsea and Manchester United manager was trying to protect his players.
He said: “I think, personally, he misjudged how good the squad was when he got in there, I think he thought they were better and after four or five weeks, he would have gone, ‘this is a big job for me.’
“I don’t think he realised the holes that are in the squad, because clearly there are because of where they are in the league.
“When they got to the Champions League final with that team under Poch, there were a lot of holes in that team and I think he inherited a team, and there were players brought in that he didn’t want, I am convinced of that because of how he managed his squad.
“I think the style of play, I don’t think he could ever let them off the leash, he was always trying to protect them more than they needed.
“I think he would have done what he did at other clubs and been trying to get the best out of what he got, but I just think it wasn’t right from the start, the relationship.
“He needs to bring the players in that he wants when he goes into a club, and if he doesn’t do that, it doesn’t end well.”
As for who Spurs turn to next, the former West Ham and Chelsea midfielder aimed a dig at the north London club as he made a cheeky suggestion.
“Who would I like to see in there? Frank Spencer," Cole added, referring to the character in the classic BBC comedy show Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.
