Documentary Review | All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur is an intimate portrait of the club, behind-the-scenes action

 Tottenham Hotspur kicked off its last season as the Champions League runner-up. And a jaw-dropping new stadium, a one-billion-dollar project, beckoned them to one of the defining seasons in the history of the nearly one-and-half-century-old English football club.

Mauricio Pochettino had given the club an attitude and ambition lacking before the soft-spoken Argentinian had assumed charge as manager five years ago. Meanwhile, Spurs fans were still tuned to Brazilian Lucas Moura's stunning 96th minute goal against Ajax in Amsterdam to win their first Champions League semifinal.

But three months after the start of the 2019-20 Premier League season, Spurs found themselves 14th on the table. Their new Champions League campaign had faltered, conceding seven goals to Bayern Munich in the group stage and finally bowing out in the Round of 16 to another German, club RB Leipzig. After a league match against Everton ended in a dull 1-1 draw, a Tottenham fan compared the club's performance to Sunday pub football in London.

Suddenly, Mauricio was out and Mourinho was in.

The fall of Pochettino and the arrival of José Mourinho at White Hart Lane is the subject of a new TV documentary series, All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur. The nine-episode series, an Amazon original, shows action on and off the pitch in a riveting chronicle of the club's roller coaster last season.

Directed by British filmmaker Anthony Philipson, who directed The Million Pound Footballers' Giveaway, a 2007 documentary about a doctor's mission to find footballers willing to donate to a nurses' hardship fund, the new TV series on Spurs explores life inside a sport filled with drama, emotion and passion.

Filmed over a whole season, the documentary is as much a study in sports management as it is an analysis of high-profile personalities trying to balance fame and pressure.

Mourinho and Tottenham chairman and businessman Daniel Levy share most of the focus as the series move from matches to massage tables and dressing room to boardroom.

The series begin with the travails of the club and its manager as both are unable to recover from the defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League final. The impact of the loss comes into play as the club's fortunes tumble in the new season. While the club win just two of their first eight league matches, cracks appear in the team. At least three players, including the influential Christian Eriksen, have issues with contract extension. "I am only the coach, maybe the club needs to change my title description now," answers Pochettino, when asked by reporters about player contracts.

Instead of changing Pochettino's title description, chairman Levy decides to sack him. "I have lots of business. But running a football club is the hardest business I have ever run," says Levy, who goes on to sign a 45-page contract for Mourinho as the new manager.

Mourinho arrives at White Hart Lane on November 10. "I didn't know I had lots of friends at Manchester United. Lots of nice messages," says the elite Portuguese coach who had been sacked after failing to reverse the fortunes at Old Trafford. "It is like a wedding," says a smiling Mourinho as he poses for a picture with Levy.

Arriving mid-season, Mourinho, who won 25 trophies with different clubs, has only 72 hours to prepare for his first game. "We come together one minute, one minute," he says while gathering the players for a quick introduction to his coaching staff --- assistant coach João Sacramento, who came from French club Lille, goalkeeping coach Nuno Santos, fitness coach Carlos Lalin, and tactical analyst Ricardo Formosinho and technical analyst Giovanni Cerra (both from his Manchester United staff). "Okay let's go." And his first training session begins.

The series pack rare insights into Mourinho's interactions with his players where he comes off as a manager who is willing to listen. At the end of the first training session, Mourinho tells striker Harry Kane to go home. "Two kids? Go home. If you are late, they are sleeping."

Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane.

He is also eager to say the names of his players correctly. "I hate to say the wrong names, man," he tells a player. "Everybody says my name wrong, because I am not José. José is Argentinian, I am not Argentinian," he says. "I am José," he adds, stressing on the Portuguese pronunciation of his name as 'Joe say' in contrast to José in Spanish where J is pronounced as H.

Soon his coaching staff give him their assessment of the dressing room. "One of the things that caught my attention is (Moussa) Sissoko has great influence in the dressing room," says Sacramento about the towering French international. "(Jan) Vertonghen is a warrior."

Mourinho's analysis is blunt. "What I have gathered is it is a team that is too nice. That these are nice boys, even in a competition they are nice." He doesn't stop there. "You are nice guys, but for 90 minutes you can't be nice. You have to be a bunch of bastards," he tells the players at a team meeting before adding for good measure," The most important thing in life is courage, honesty, being friends, being family."

When Levy walks into his office on the second day of his new job, Mourinho shares an anecdote from his days at Old Trafford. "Alex Ferguson gave me only one advice in two and half years: 'Buy Dele Alli. That guy, that mentality, the way he plays, the aggression he has in his mind. This guy is the Manchester United player. Buy that guy.' "

Sacked from his last two jobs, Mourinho is eager to connect with his players. "I ask you to trust me and believe me," he says at a meeting to announce the team selection for his first match in charge. "The day I am not happy with any player, the day I don't believe in a player, the day I want a player to leave as soon as possible, you will not feel it, you will know from me."

Mourinho's first game is a London derby against West Ham. "At 2-0, minute 85 in England, the game is not over," he tells the players at half-time with the team in front. Winning 3-2, Tottenam, who were without an away victory for almost a year, move to 10th place from 14th.

Both the club and the manager are aware why he is in town. Spurs haven't won the FA Cup since 1991, no European trophy since 1984, no League Cup since 2008 and no league championship since 1961. "To reach a Champions League final was amazing, but it is not history," says Mourinho. "History is winning."

The series fills in the scenes after a curious incident at White Hart Lane involving a ball boy who quickly returned the ball for a throw-in that led to Kane's equaliser during the club's Champions League match against Olympiacos.Callum Hynes, the sharp ball boy, is later invited to a meeting with the first team where Kane introduces him to the players. Mourinho comes in. "If we are winning and the opponents want the ball fast...," he winks at the boy.

There are dressing room jokes like 'Why is it difficult to train dogs to dance? (because they have two left feet) by Eriksen and breakfast banter by Mourinho, who teases Heung-min Son as the 'King of Korea' for his popularity in his country. The camera captures the breathtaking beauty and expanse of the new Spurs stadium, which draws thousands of visitors from around the world.

The documentary returns at regular intervals to the club's dream of winning silverware (last trophy was a League Cup in 2008). "I asked Father Christmas for two presents," says Levi at a Christmas party hosted by the club last December. "To finish in top four and win a trophy."

The camera also zooms in on emotional moments like Tottenham academy recruit Japhet Tanganga's debut for the first team. "I want these rewards to help my family. They have sacrificed for me, I want to repay them," says Japhet, a British citizen of Congolese origin as he signs a five-year contract with his father by his side.

Defender Toby Alderweireld is anxious about his family's well being while waiting for news about his new contract. "My daughter loves her school. She can't wait for the next year. I have to sell my house and move my family (if the contract is not extended)," says the Belgian international. In another scene, an angry Danny Rose confronts Mourinho in his office. "If you want me to stay home, I will stay home," says Rose, who is upset at the manager for not giving him enough playing time.

Mourinho, who wears a T-shirt emblazoned with the letters JM while at work, is seen in an episode mourning the death of his dog, a 13-year-old Yorkshire Terrier, who travelled with him everywhere.

Tottenham first team players take their work with the local community as seriously as their game, delivering food supplies to North Enfield community food bank and visiting homes for the elderly.

The series also captures the uncertainty when coronavirus brings sporting activities to a standstill. The club quickly conducts full medical assessment of each player before sending them home. "After two decades in football nothing is new for me, but this is new for me," laments Mourinho. When the league resumes on June 17, posters announcing Practise Safe appear inside the Spurs stadium along with NHS dos and don'ts. The dressing room moves out to a bigger lobby with social distancing in place.

Narrated by British actor Tom Hardy, the documentary series succeeds in bringing the fans closer to their team. It offers a rare opportunity to feel the intense moments that create the matches---inside the dressing room, daily medical meeting, practice session and fitness hall. The nine episodes, over 45 minutes each, sustain the drama and suspense with an engaging narrative that fluctuates between action on glossy floors and grass.

 (Faizal Khan curated India’s first football films festival with artist Riyas Komu at the 2011 International Film Festival of India, Goa. He was the curator of a football films programme in the Artists Cinema section of the second Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2014.)