While there wasn’t much to celebrate from Tottenham Hotspur’s perspective after their sad 1-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion last Sunday, the result made one fan happy.
Sahil Arora, a Manchester United fan from New Delhi, India, won $ 6,790 for Spurs’ loss to a team near the relegation zone.
Arora decided to spend part of his winnings on a message to the coach responsible for his windfall. The Red Devils fan published an ad in an English newspaper to thank Spurs coach José Mourinho.
So, I put an advert in @SpursOfficial‘s local newspaper to thank Jose Mourinho for winning me £5k on @ Fantasy5Jackpot lmao 😂😂😂
My friend in London just sent it to me pic.twitter.com/8FXijTE2tR– Coast (@WigginSanity) February 3, 2021
Arora bought advertising space in the Enfield Independent, a north London newspaper, to thank Mourinho, who spent two and a half years in charge of United before being fired in December 2018.
“Dear Jose, this ad was paid for with the £ 5,000 I earned from the Spurs loss to Brighton. Here’s a special trophy * to thank you.”
“It may be the only title you win this season.”
Of course, we may never know if Mourinho saw the ad while flipping through a copy of the Enfield Independent. But, given that he has racked up 25 major awards throughout his career – including three at Arora’s Manchester United – we doubt that the Portuguese is upset.
Mourinho certainly seemed unconcerned by any mockery during his press conference leading up to Thursday’s clash with his former team, Chelsea. The Lusitanian joked about the arrival of Thomas Tuchel to the Blues by pointing out that any coach should easily win titles at Stamford Bridge.
“It can’t be very, very difficult because we won titles there.” Mourinho said. “In my case, I was there in two different periods and I was champion in two different periods.”
Tottenham coach too He reflected that coaches should only be considered at a higher level once they have won a title like the Premier League.
“What I think makes an elite coach is succeed in the top leagues, succeed in leagues of a different dimension,” he continued. “I’m not talking about Thomas, the French league is a very competitive league, apart from PSG because they play in a different league.”
Newspaper ads
Villa fans pay for ‘Anti Mcleish’ advert in the Birmingham Mail! pic.twitter.com/0ZdiqYRy
— Tom Witcherley (@tomwitcherley) May 5, 2012
Mourinho He is not the first coach to be criticized in the newspapers. In 2012, a group of Aston Villa fans came together and paid to post a message on the last page of the Birmingham Mail to express their dissatisfaction with Alex McLeish’s work. Villa fans posted “We told you!” as they watched their club flirting with relegation. McLeish made sure that Villa avoid the descent on the last day of the season.
Video
“Mark Hughes – Thanks (for nothing)” – message from #QPR fans posted in Stoke. Brilliant. Well done, @QPRPodcast pic.twitter.com/FYS56MF5Ir
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) May 31, 2013
Fans of the Queens Park Rangers they were still so upset by the mediocre performance of Mark Hughes as a coach that, when Hughes was hired by Stoke City two years later in 2013, they paid to display messages at local gas stations thanking the Welshman “for nothing.”
Airplane posters
Another plane banner protesting Arsene Wenger has flown over the bet365 Stadium.
It reads: “Wenger – Out Means Out.” pic.twitter.com/ZbJLDXig4o
— Standard Sport (@standardsport) May 13, 2017
Some fans are so determined to get their message across that they go to great lengths to get it across. Some fans chartered planes to display posters in the sky and it even became a fad in English football a few years ago, and perhaps the most memorable target was Arsene Wenger. Arsenal’s most successful coach was subjected to several aerial advertisements in 2017.
Thoughts Arsenal fans?
A plane has just flown over The Hawthorns with the following banner…#WBAARS on https://t.co/NI1sjtGRxI pic.twitter.com/V1nirFzbQS
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) March 18, 2017
Wenger finally it was overthrown in 2018, a year after those banners were unfolded and not before he and the Arsenal become the most successful coach (7) and club (13) in the FA Cup respectively by winning the 2017-18 final.