Jose Mourinho refused to get hot under the collar regarding jokes made at Tottenham's expense by a new sponsor on social media.

Spurs announced Dulux as their new "official paint supplier" in a Twitter post on Thursday morning, with the decorating company's brand ambassador – an old English sheepdog – pictured inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

While Spurs will have presumably expected jokes to be made by fans of other clubs, such is Twitter, they may not have predicted Dulux's own social media team to make a dog's breakfast of the situation by getting involved themselves.

One tweet from Dulux suggested the dog would be a better option than any of Spurs' current centre-backs, another said the club's trophy cabinet was too dusty to paint – both posts have since been deleted.

Dulux later released a statement to say it is investigating the circumstances behind the tweets and issued an apology to Spurs fans.

Jose Mourinho was asked about the incident at a news conference on Thursday. After being initially shut down by Spurs' press officer, the dogged reporter dug his heels in and again pressed Mourinho for a response, pointing out the Portuguese coach had called the media out at the weekend for failing to ask pertinent questions of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following disparaging comments about Son Heung-min.

But still Mourinho could not make heads or tails of the Dulux incident as he claimed ignorance, essentially telling the journalist he was barking up the wrong tree.

"I don't know what you're speaking about," Mourinho replied. "But maybe it's an amazing strategy move.

"So maybe, if I'm going to criticise something and then I realise it was a strategic commercial situation, then I'd be in a bad situation.

"In any case, it's not a football-related thing. I don't know."

Spurs return to action in the dog-eat-dog Premier League on Friday at Goodison Park, as they continue to chase down the top four.