By Tim Stannard

Tottenham take 180-degree personality turn in swapping Pochettino for Mourinho as coach

Wednesday is witnessing another breakout of an illness which rapidly takes over hundreds of thousands of victims across the world at a time and leaves them unrecognizable from the folk they once were. 

The Mourinho Syndrome is a virulent disease that has previously impacted supporters of Real Madrid and Manchester United. 

Now, fans of Tottenham Hotspur are the latest victims.

On Tuesday, the same set of supporters would have seen Jose Mourinho as poison in the locker room, a home-wrecker, an exponent of drab, defensive dour football on the pitch, a media-trolling toddler.

A day later with Spurs having had a remarkable 14 hours which saw the firing of Mauricio Pochettino and the appointment of the Special One and everything looks different for many with selective amnesia rapidly taking hold. 

For those suffering the full effects of the Mourinho Syndrome, there is nothing left of who they once were. They are now footballing zombies, clutching white and black scarves muttering cliches like "serial winner...shake things up...ambitious...make his mark."

"He has a wealth of experience, can inspire teams and is a great tactician. We believe he will bring energy and belief to the dressing room," said club chairman, Daniel Levy. 

Tottenham needed a coach to keep up with a tradition of expansive, attractive football, heal the rifts of a locker room that Pochettino admitted was fractured, turn the frowns upside down of players who openly don't want to be at the club. 

Tottenham needed Mauricio Pochettino. Instead, they have a chosen a manager who has none of the skill sets for the job requirements in North London with the memory loss of the Mourinho Syndrome striking once again. 

The Sports Burst live show will be all over this one on our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page at 12PM ET. 

Pochettino becomes front runner for all coaching jobs in the world

The question now is what Poch will do next.

For many, the Argentinean overperformed at Tottenham in the league and Champions League, developed young players, was shrewd in the transfer market, spent very little money and appears to be a very pleasant person to boot.

The first club in line for snapping up Pochettino could well be Bayern Munich should the manager want to get straight back into the game. The Bundesliga mega-club currently have a vacancy and are looking to fill it sooner rather than later. As an extra bonus, Poch would look mighty fine in lederhosen.

Manchester United reportedly had a good look at Pochettino last summer but decided that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was still the one for them. Now that the former Spurs boss is free and single, the situation of the Norwegian may a little less stable.

And there’s always Real Madrid, another team that has been linked with Pochettino in the past and would be a very pleasing candidate – very much a company man, easy to get along with and experience of working in La Liga. While that move is unlikely this season, don’t be too sure if Poch is Real Madrid’s next pick next summer.

Bale sets priorities in return to Real Madrid 

It's quite likely that Jose Mourinho will be able to bring in a very good former Tottenham player in the winter transfer window for a very low price. 

Gareth Bale not only appears to have burned his bridges with Real Madrid but destroyed the city's supply of building materials to ensure that no others can be constructed in the near future. 

The Real Madrid man's commitment to his club's cause was already in doubt after the Welshman suddenly recovered from an injury that meant that he could neither train nor play for Madrid, but was just fine to help lead Wales through to Euro 2020 in a couple of matches. 

Then, there was the confession from Bale that he preferred hanging out with his international buddies rather than his Madrid brethren. To further make a point, a photo of Bale is now being flashed all over the Madrid press which has him standing behind a flag while celebrating Wales' clinching win over Hungary on Tuesday night.

The flag has the words "Wales, Golf, Real Madrid - in that order" written on it. Amusing, and it is quite possible that Bale had no idea of what was being held in front of him. However, that will not stop a frosty reception and then some as Bale returns to club duty in the Spanish capital on Wednesday.