Ten hours and 59 minutes. That was the length of time that Tottenham Hotspur were without a manager for last month.



The swiftness of Spurs’ decision-making was striking, as was the huge public relations risk taken by chairman Daniel Levy. Sacking the beloved Mauricio Pochettino five months after he had sat in the dugout for a Champions League final was one thing. Replacing him with Jose Mourinho, the widely unpopular former manager of one of Tottenham’s biggest rivals, quite another.



Not since headmaster Albus Dumbledore was briefly succeeded by Dolores Umbridge at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had an organisation made such a sudden lurch from good to evil.



But a month on from Levy’s decision, Tottenham are up from 14th to fifth, knowing that a home win over Chelsea on Sunday will take them into the top four for Christmas.



This column, though, is not predicting whether Mourinho will ultimately be a success at Spurs...