Former Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has said his former side “are not a big club” in terms of their expenditure and wage structure.
Postecoglou was in charge of the north London club for two seasons before being dismissed in June 2025. They finished fifth in the league in 2023-24, earning qualification for the Europa League. Tottenham finished 17th in his second season, however, their worst final league position of the Premier League era, but Postecoglou led Spurs to Europa League triumph, their first trophy in 17 years.
In an interview with The Overlap, the Australian reflected on his two years at Tottenham, recorded shortly after his successor, Thomas Frank, was sacked with the club in 16th place, five points off the relegation zone.
“It’s real curious in terms of understanding what they are trying to build,” said Postecoglou, who last managed Nottingham Forest before being fired after just 39 days in charge.
“They’ve obviously built an unbelievable stadium, unbelievable training facilities, but when you look at the expenditure, particularly the wage structure, they’re not a big club. I saw that. Because when we were trying to sign players, we weren’t in the market for those players.”
Tottenham’s fifth-place finish in 2023-24 would have been enough to earn qualification for the Champions League in the following season, but due to the performance of English clubs in European competition that term, the extra slot based on coefficient went to Italy and Germany.
“At the end of my first year, when we finished fifth, for me, how do you go from fifth to really challenging?” Postecoglou added. “Well, we had to sign Premier League-ready players. But finishing fifth that year didn’t get us Champions League, we didn’t have the money, so we ended up signing Dom Solanke. I absolutely was keen on signing him, I really like him, and three teenagers.
“I was looking at Pedro Neto and (Bryan) Mbeumo and (Antoine) Semenyo, at the time, Marc Guehi. Because I said, ‘If we’re gonna go from fifth to there, that’s what the other big clubs would do in that moment’. And those three teenagers are outstanding young players, and I think they’ll be great players for Tottenham. But they’re not going to get you from fifth to fourth to third. What was coming out from the club was ‘No, we’re a club that can compete on all fronts’.
“You walk into Tottenham, what you see everywhere is ‘To Dare is To Do’. It’s everywhere. And yet their actions are almost the antithesis of that.”
Postecoglou won the Europa League with Spurs before being sacked last June (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Tottenham’s interest in Pedro Neto was well publicised that summer, but the Portugal international went to Chelsea. Mbeumo left Brentford for Manchester United last summer, before Guehi and Semenyo joined Manchester City in January.
Solanke was signed for a club record £65million deal from Bournemouth in 2024, but had an injury-interrupted debut season at Tottenham. He was joined by Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert (the three teenagers referenced), the latter of whom sustained an anterior cruciate ligament in the 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United on Tuesday.
Last season, Tottenham had the seventh-highest wage bill in the Premier League, the second consecutive season in which their salary expenditure was outside the top six. Their underperformance from wage expenditure to final league position (10 places) was the second-highest for the club in the Premier League era, only surpassed by 1993-94, when they finished 11 spots lower. Tottenham’s revenue in 24-25 was around £565m according to Deloitte, the ninth-highest in the world and fifth-highest in England.
Spurs’ poor league form has continued into this season, with relegation to the second tier for the first time since 1976-77 becoming increasingly possible. Tottenham have remained competitive in Europe, however, finishing fourth in the league phase and qualifying directly for the last 16. The club have not yet announced their plans to replace Frank, who was removed on Wednesday.
In September, long-serving executive chairman Daniel Levy was sacked by the controlling Lewis family and replaced in various capacities by non-executive chairman Peter Charrington and recently appointed chief executive Vinai Venkatesham, with co-sporting directors Johan Lange and Fabio Paratici involved in football operations. There is also an increased presence from the Lewis family, including Vivienne Lewis and Nick Beucher, the daughter and grandson-in-law of Joe Lewis, who was previously the majority owner of the controlling ENIC Group.
Paratici left Tottenham at the end of the January transfer window, joining Fiorentina in Italy, his home country. In a statement upon his arrival at the Serie A club, Paratici said that “Fiorentina have a serious set of owners, a very serious set of owners who are of great value”.
“It’s a curious club Tottenham, it’s made a major pivot at the end of last year, not just with me but with Daniel leaving as well,” said Postecoglou. “You’ve got to understand there’s going to be some instability there.”