FOR some reason that day in early 2009 made a big impression on me. Mauricio Pochettino, a hero to Espanyol fans from his playing day, had just been appointed coach of the less heralded team in the great city of Barcelona.

I was commentating on his debut for ESPN viewers around the world. It happened to arrive in a Catalan derby against Pep Guardiola’s star ensemble who four months later were to lift the Champions League trophy at the expense of Manchester United.

Pochettino, briefly an assistant to the Espanyol women’s team to gain coaching experience, somehow guided his upstarts to a 0-0 draw in the cup. In truth, he looked as though he should still be playing himself, such was his apparent youth.

A few weeks later, he went one better and beat Barca on their own patch, 2-1 in the league, ending a 27-year jinx at the Camp Nou. To this day, Pochettino doesn’t quite know how Espanyol did it. He was their third coach in that stressful season and inherited a side that looked doomed to relegation. Yet under his stewardship, he preserved their Primera status with Espanyol finishing comfortably mid table.

Since that first day, I and many others have watched with interest as the farm labourer’s son from Murphy in the north of Argentina has vaulted himself into the upper stratosphere of world football thinkers.

There has always been an admirably fierce independence about him. At Southampton he was mocked at times for initially conducting television interviews only in Spanish to be translated into English. It turned out, he had a working knowledge of English but wanted to be exact as regards his answers. It spoke a lot about the Argentinian’s attention to detail.

Tottenham fans know they have someone special at the helm. The football is dynamic and eye-catching with the emphasis on a demanding but brilliantly executed high pressing game. Pochettino has visibly improved younger players who tend to come through the Spurs ranks in greater volume than elsewhere in the Premier League.

The big question is, will he stay in north London for the medium or long term? On the one hand, it is tempting to remain where you are revered. This is a special season for Tottenham, with the new stadium (eventually) to be opened.

But after that, a cold hard analysis of the situation might point to a desire for departure. Pochettino for all the plaudits we have bestowed on him, has not won a trophy with Spurs in his four-plus years there. Every manager is ambitious to write their name in history and it could be that at the end of this campaign, he feels the pull of another club.

Which club might that be? Real Madrid stand above all the others. In Argentina there has always been a magnetic attraction to La Liga’s big two. Plus let us remember Espanyol have something of a little brother relationship with the merengues.

Pochettino was the man Real Madrid really wanted to succeed Zinedine Zidane in the summer. Many thought it would be hard for him to reject their advances but he did, while not ruling it out in the future. A few months from now, it is reasonable to envisage a different scenario.

Manchester United will also be monitoring the situation closely as Jose Mourinho clings on by little more than his fingertips. Ed Woodward is known to be an admirer of Pochettino’s work and it is easy to visualise him occupying the United hot seat.

But is this an opportune time to head north? There is considerable reconstruction to be carried out, hand in hand with a sporting director. That would not worry Pochettino. More concerning might be the time required to get United back into shape.

Pochettino recently signed a new five-year contract with Tottenham and Daniel Levy is a man who often gets his way. But as we know, high profile managers and players usually get what they want in the end.

Exactly what Pochettino wants for himself remains unclear.

WE all know club football at the highest European level has long been an elite sport. Still it rankles to hear representatives of that elite carelessly flaunt their artificially elevated status.

Uefa, although oft criticised, are examining ways of trying to lessen the gap between the rich and the not so wealthy. But Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, speaking at an event in London on Thursday, must have thought he was only talking to the already comfortable.

Railing against moves towards a more even playing field, Buck made the case that big clubs should not be forced to join “the great unwashed.” Really? Is that how he sees clubs like Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Red Star Belgrade and Steaua Bucharest? Or even Hamburg, Sampdoria and Nottingham Forest?

The clubs listed have all won European trophies and many others can be mentioned by the same token.

Let us not forget that while Aberdeen and Dundee United were reaching the business end of Uefa competition in the 80s, Chelsea were spending much of that decade toiling in the second tier of English football. But he seems to think an injection of cash in the early 2000s gives him and his club a guaranteed seat in the upper house for life, rather like a peerage.

The Chelsea chairman expressed his belief that there are 10 to 12 big clubs in Europe right now and that in five to 10 years, those 10 to 12 teams will still reign supreme. They certainly will if he continues to use his power and influence to keep out the “great unwashed”.

Buck, an American who has lived in London for much of his life, would be well served looking at the sporting model in his country of birth. The NFL goes the opposite way, punishing the most successful as regards player choices and giving hope to teams who have struggled.

Buck, in his use of language last week, personifies what fans in many countries rightly see as nothing short of privileged arrogance.