Just how much have Amazon paid for this season’s Spurs documentary? Is this the first football reality show – Made in Tottenham – where if things aren’t quite interesting enough the producers can suggest things to keep it interesting?

It was already turning into a reasonably interesting show. Did they have to go this big this early? Perhaps they were bored by the Manchester City one. Teams starting at the top and staying there doesn’t make interesting TV. Or the Leeds one, where the star Marcelo Bielsa didn’t appear until the final scene. The only good ones are bad for the teams involved. And that team is always Sunderland. Until Spurs got on the Amazon train.

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And much like reality shows these days, the best way to freshen up the cast is to get someone who was a big hit in a different reality show about 15 years ago. So from Made in Chelsea to this – welcome José Mourinho.

The word “Tuesday” appears on the screen in bold luxurious italics. Mauricio is in a north London wine bar complaining to his funny little mate Jesús. “I just don’t know if I like Daniel any more. I mean I love what we’ve built, but I don’t know if I’m in love with it you know?” Jesús nods. He isn’t paid enough for a speaking role. The show doesn’t have the budget after spending millions on this fancy new set.

“And I just feel like Danny and Jan and Christian and Toby aren’t who they used to be? You know?” Again Jesús nods. Mauricio looks off camera, wondering whether they could give him someone else to bounce off. The producers hand Mauricio another card of bullet points to memorise before they start filming again.

“I mean Harry is Harry. And Sonny is Sonny. I’m not going to just leave them. And I’d miss Eric. I like his politics. And what about Moussa? What if someone new realises? No. I’ll stay. I can turn this around. We can find the love we once had. And if Daniel doesn’t think so then he’s going to have to end it. I’m seeing him tonight at a similarly nondescript but luxurious bar.”

“Tramps?” asks his other mate who looks like Ricky Villa – silent for the whole series up until now.

“No, that’s a different show,” says Mauricio. But the die has already been cast. The deal already done. Daniel already has a new man. The scene cuts to a third velvet lounge. Two men sit close to each other. Their names appear in big diamond encrusted Helvetica Neue below them. José. Daniel. The producer hands Daniel a Post-it note he can hide under a mahogany coaster with some questions. He’s already been through them with José.

“OK, quiet everyone on set – let’s just get these right José. Who will you publicly shame on a daily basis?”

“Harry Winks.”

“Good. Who will you leave out in the cold for no reason?”

Play Video 2:33 Mauricio Pochettino: the road to his Tottenham sacking – video report

“Érik Lamela.”

“Excellent. What’s your emotional journey?”

“Happy for two weeks. Then angry forever.”

“Perfect. And what’s your catchphrase this time.”

“No catchphrase. This José Mourinho is just going to be José Mourinho. I am José. José is José.”

“I LOVE IT! … running at speed, Made in Tottenham. Episode five. Scene one. Action.” Back to real actual normal reality and despite how long the writing was apparently on the wall, this does all seem to have happened very quickly. Too quickly for the Spurs website – which understandably struggled to cope with the number of people trying to read the statement detailing the end of the Pochettino era.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tottenham’s Érik Lamela. Could he be left in the cold by Mourinho for no reason? Photograph: Ian Walton/AP

The following morning’s announcement gave anyone who hasn’t watched football before a list of José’s considerable achievements. “One of the world’s most accomplished managers having won 25 senior trophies … renowned for his tactical prowess and has managed FC Porto, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United. He has won a domestic title in a record four different countries (Portugal, England, Italy and Spain) and is one of only three managers to have won the Uefa Champions League twice with two clubs, FC Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010. He is also a three-time Premier League Champion with Chelsea (2005, 2006, 2015).”

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Below the article it linked to the “Mauricio leaves the club” statement with the quite brutal “You might like this”. Algorithms can’t always read the room.

A more nuanced statement might have read: “Despite huge success in the early 2000s, José has lost his way recently, leaving Chelsea after a row over a doctor doing their job properly and overseeing the continued malaise at Manchester United – while introducing a consistently tepid, slow brand of football out of step with the leading managers of the time – including the guy we’ve just sacked. Lol. He is however tremendous value when sitting next to Roy Keane and Graeme Souness in an alpha male-off in the Sky studio. He has signed until the end of the 2022-23 season. We all know it won’t last that long – José and the chairman have wildly different approaches to spending money. But you just know he’ll get us an FA Cup or something.”

It would be peak Spursy to hire a serial winner and still win nothing. But you wouldn’t put it past José getting Spurs their first trophy since Jonathan Woodgate nipped in front of Petr Cech and headed home Jermaine Jenas’s free-kick in the 2008 League Cup final. Even if that happens it feels like a step backwards. As someone tweeted me on Wednesday morning, trading Pochettino for José is like swapping your iPhone 11 for a Nokia 8210 just because the battery ran out.

Quick guide Mourinho's club-by-club record Show Hide How his career has unfolded Porto (23 January 2002 to 1 June 2004)

Trophies: Primeira Liga 2002-03, 2003-04, Taca de Portugal 2002-03, Champions League 2003-04, UEFA Cup 2002-03

Win rate: 71.7% Chelsea (2 June 2004 to 20 September 2007)

Trophies: Premier League 2004-05, 2005-06, FA Cup 2006-07, League Cup 2004-05, 2006-07

Win rate: 67% Internazionale (2 June 2008 to 28 May 2010)

Trophies: Serie A 2008-09, 2009-10, Coppa Italia 2009-10, Champions League 2009-10

Win rate: 62% Real Madrid (31 May 2010 to 1 June 2013)

Trophies: LaLiga 2011-12, Copa del Rey 2010-11

Win rate: 71.9% Chelsea (3 June 2013 to 17 December 2015)

Trophies: Premier League 2014-15, League Cup 2014-15

Win rate: 58.8% Manchester United (27 May 2016 to 18 December 2018)

Trophies: League Cup 2016-17, Europa League 2016-17

Win rate: 58.33% Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/X00446

It seems brutally unfair that Poch didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to the fans. How you judge his tenure comes down to what you really think football is about.

There will be radio shows on right now with countless pundits suggesting success can only be judged by trophies, and therefore Poch has failed. It’s an argument. But football and sport is about more. It is about joy and it is about hope. It’s about those few matches where you do actually want to analyse the life out of it in the pub afterwards. That Manchester City game, the Agüero/Sterling VAR. Breathless. Lucas Moura running on to that flick from Dele Alli. Those fans who were at the Etihad or in Amsterdam will always have that. That Alli goal at Crystal Palace. A masked Harry Kane’s curler against Arsenal. Not from there. Lamela’s rabona. Son Heung-min, Winks, the rebirth of Sissoko. SHOOOT. It all happened under Pochettino.

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Spurs overachieved. Expectations naturally changed. Things were not right – and perhaps the summer was the best time for him to go. But Spurs do not have a better manager now. It might not have been the reign of a Ferguson or a Wenger – in terms of trophies or time. But Poch changed so much, and the biggest fear must be a similar period of stagnation – a procession of not-quites and maybes. In many ways that’s what Spurs are. A team that do not often challenge for titles, but excite and entertain on the way to the odd cup. Excite and entertain don’t necessarily figure highly in the José playbook. But it’s not too long until the year ends in a one – you have to hope.