Conte was appointed Spurs manager like 1 day after they sacked Nuno. Given that we had just been linked with Conte the week before, it would suggest they had sorted it out pretty quick and had him in place before Nuno was sacked, so it definitely is possible. Indeed we already did this, when Moyes was sacked, LvG was already lined up, same might have happened with LvG and Mourinho, but I forget now. If we've really not been sounding out managers for weeks then it's plain incompetence, though it's plain incompetence in the first place to end up in this position of just having an international break to sack the manager, then sacking him the game after the international break 3 days before the biggest game of our season.