Premier League news - Tottenham Hotspur confirm Ryan Mason as interim boss for remainder of season

Ryan Mason has been confirmed as the interim head coach of Tottenham until the end of the season after the club sacked Jose Mourinho.

Mason, a former player at the club, will oversee the Premier League visit of Southampton on Wednesday as his first match in charge.

But the 29-year-old's biggest test at the start of his spell in the dugout will come on Sunday in the League Cup final against Manchester City.

Mason will be joined by Chris Powell and Nigel Gibbs as interim assistant head coaches with Michel Vorm the interim goalkeeping coach.

Ledley King will continue in his role as first team assistant.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said in a statement: "We have great belief in this squad of talented players.

"We have a cup final and six Premier League games ahead of us and we shall now focus all our energies on achieving a strong finish to the season."

Mourinho was sacked just a day after it was announced that Spurs would be part of the controversial European Super League, which is set to get underway in August.

The Portuguese manager, who led Spurs to the League Cup final, has left the club sitting seventh in the Premier League with six games left of the domestic season still to play.

Former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United manager Mourinho had been in charge of 86 games at the club, having replaced Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019.

While completely overshadowed by the lamentable Super League debacle, the sacking of Mourinho just before the League Cup final was certainly astonishing timing from Spurs - a club having a week that can only be described as embarrassing. What they have now been left with is a situation where a 29-year-old will be taking his second match in charge looking to upset Manchester City at Wembley.

But another surprising aspect to this move from Levy is the fact that he has chosen the totally inexperienced Mason to lead the team as interim head coach over Powell. The 51-year-old has experience both as a caretaker and full-time manager. He has spells at Leicester City, Charlton Athletic, Huddersfield Town, Derby County, Southend United and ADO Den Haag on his resume. Why Powell was not given this interim role is frankly baffling.