Pochettino issued an open invite to his house to Tottenham players (Mail)

The abrupt nature of Mauricio Pochettino's departure from Tottenham was illustrated by the fact that the Argentine was forced to leave a farewell message on a flip chart for his players rather than arrange a face-to-face goodbye.

Sports Agenda understands Poch privately went a step further, asking Spurs' goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, one of the players closest to the manager, to post a message on a WhatsApp group used by the squad with an open invite to his house. The likes of Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Dele Alli have already taken their ex-boss up on the offer.

Meanwhile Jose Mourinho's claims that he had received 50 texts of support from Manchester United staff after taking over from Pochettino at Spurs caused much spluttering at Old Trafford.

One United insider remarked: 'The sentiment here when he left was very much "don't let the door hit your backside on the way out".'

They also pointed out that Mourinho's comment to BT Sport — in which he said that when he arrived at United their Under 23s had been relegated — had not gone unnoticed and had given them a reminder of his true colours.