Football: Tottenham sack manager Mauricio Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino. Photo / AP

Tottenham have announced they have sacked manager Mauricio Pochettino with the Argentinian being relieved of his duties after five-and-a-half years in charge.

Spurs, who were in the Champions League final only six months ago, have endured a tough start to the season and are currently 14th in the Premier League table.

Chairman Daniel Levy, who appointed Pochettino in June 2014, said: "We were extremely reluctant to make this change and it is not a decision the board have taken lightly, nor in haste.

"Regrettably domestic results at the end of last season and the beginning of this season have been extremely disappointing.

"It falls on the board to make the difficult decisions - this one made more so given the many memorable moments we have had with Mauricio and his coaching staff - but we do so in the club's best interests."

Pochettino was at the helm for 293 games and delivered four successive top-four Premier League finishes, challenging for the title in 2015/16 and 2016/17.

He also memorably guided the club to their first Champions League final last season, but they fell short in the Madrid showpiece in a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.

His assistant Jesus Perez, and coaches Miguel D'Agostino and Antoni Jimenez have also left the club.

Pochettino, who had to contend with playing home games at Wembley for 18 months, viewed the run to the Madrid final as the end of a chapter and warned of a "painful rebuild" this summer.

However, Spurs, whose transfers are controlled by Levy, were unable to move out a host of players who either wanted to leave or Pochettino wanted rid of and results suffered.

They won just three of their first 14 games of the Premier League season, were hammered 7-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League and lost to League Two Colchester in the Carabao Cup.

Former Tottenham striker Gary Lineker questioned his former club's decision, saying on Twitter: "He helped the club to punch massively above their weight for years. Good luck with finding a better replacement....ain't gonna happen."