Spurs’ Son: sometimes nice guys do finish first

DURING one of the episodes of the fly-on-the-wall documentary All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur, then-Spurs manager José Mourinho was seen having a halftime rant about his players being “too nice.”

- JOHN GOLIATH

As this is a family platform, I can’t really repeat the whole monologue, but he basically said that the Spurs players needed to be “bastards” on the field.

Many people in and outside of the Spurs fanbase believe this is why the club never got over the line in a plethora of cup finals over the last decade, including the 2019 Champions League final against Liverpool.

The club also became a footnote in Leicester City’s 5000/1 Premier League title win, eventually finishing third in a two-horse race.

As the saying goes, “nice guys finish last” — and Tottenham were just the personification of this.

When it comes to nice guys, nobody was nicer than their Korean superstar Son Heung-min, who is one footballer universally liked for his wonderful footballing ability and wholesome demeanour.

But he was part of that group of Spurs players who couldn’t get the job done when it mattered. Besides star winger Son, that group featured some of the world’s best players, including striker Harry Kane and World Cup-winning French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Both Kane and Lloris left in the same season, leaving Son behind as the last of the Spurs underachievers.