Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham are “not a big club”, questioning their hypocrisy in demanding dare yet acting in ways that are “the antithesis of that”.
The Australian was sacked last year after winning a European trophy with the Premier League side axing his replacement Thomas Frank on Wednesday (AEDT).
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Spurs sit 16th in the top flight facing a genuine threat of relegation after winning just two of their last 17 matches.
In a case of remarkable timing Postecoglou was scheduled for an interview with the Stick to Football podcast on the morning of Frank’s sacking, and turned up willing to discuss both his exit and the state of the club as a whole.
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“Having been in that position twice in the last six months, it’s tough. You know that he can’t be the only issue at the club and that’s probably every manager,” Postecoglou said.
“But, ultimately that’s what we get judged on. But it goes back to me – 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 (Levy) leaving as well.
“You’ve created a whole sort of environment of uncertainty because there’s no guarantees, no matter which managers you bring in because they’ve had world-class managers there and not had success and for what reason?
“What was the reason for such a major pivot, you know Thomas was walking in, what’s his objective? What’s the club’s objective? At the start of the year, obviously to compete on all fronts but the club hasn’t competed on all fronts for a long time.
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“Also the most influential person at the club for the last 20 years is also going so if you’re going to do such a major pivot, you have to understand there is going to be some instability there. Did Thomas know he was walking into that? I don’t know.
“It’s a fair departure from me, anyone who studies the game, it wasn’t like it was a progression from me. I built that sort of squad for want of a better term to play a certain way for a number of years, and he’s sort of coming in… and like I said, it’s a curious club Tottenham.”
He later added: “By the way, we were never in a relegation battle last year. We never got even close.”
Asked to expand upon the ‘curious’ comment, Postecoglou said: “It’s real curious in terms of – what are they trying to build?
“They’ve built an unbelievable stadium, unbelievable training facilities. But when you look at the expenditure particularly you know in their wages 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.
“They’re always there or there about (on transfer fees but there’s a cap on wages).
“At the end of my first year, when we finished fifth, how do you go from fifth to really challenging? 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 — who I was really keen on — and three teenagers [Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert].
“I was looking at Pedro Neto, [Bryan] Mbeumo, [Antoine] Semenyo, and Marc Guehi, because I said, if we’re going to go from fifth to there [gestures higher], 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 and third.”
He later said: “Tottenham as a club were saying we’re one of the big boys. And the reality is I don’t think they are, in terms of my experience over the last two years.
“When Arsenal need players, they’ll spend 100 million on Declan Rice. I don’t see Tottenham doing that.”
Postecoglou also proclaimed if he had Harry Kane at his disposal during his tenure they would’ve finished in the Champions League spots.
“When 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, right?” he said.
“I think what they didn’t realise that to actually win, you’ve got to take some risks at some point. And that’s the DNA of the club.”
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Postecoglou argued even players coming into the club had a lack of belief they could actually succeed at Tottenham — recalling a bizarre exchange he had before the Europa League final with infamous long-time chairman Daniel Levy, who has also subsequently left the club.
In the parlance that has dogged the club, it was the definition of ‘Spursy’.
“That was the thing I was trying to break. And you know, my whole statement about winning things in the second year – I was doing that for the club because no-one internally would be would dare say that because they were just scared,” he said.
“They’ve been close a few times and oh no – even I remember the day of the Europa final. By that stage the players were brilliant, you know, and I knew we’d win that day. I was just convinced the path we’d taken, everyone in the sort of hotel was really calm and I remember it was one of the few times actually Daniel came in and we had a coffee in the morning.
“And he said everyone’s really relaxed, even he was, and the only thing he said to me, which was bizarre as a motivational point, he said something like, ‘Oh, you know what? I’ve been in seven finals or semi-finals and we haven’t won one’.”
Levy ultimately ended Postecoglou’s reign despite the trophy triumph, with the decision finalised in early June last year. Remarkably, the Aussie reckons he knew more than four months beforehand that he was toast, having made the decision to forgo the club’s league position in pursuit of Europa League glory.
“I knew I was gone probably around the end of January, early February,” he said.
“I said to the coaches, ‘Look, we weren’t in a relegation [battle], we’re in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, I think we can win it’. And that means not just winning a trophy, but that also means Champions League football.
“I said, ‘But the reality is, get your helmets on because every week we’re going to be copping it. I’ll take that. Don’t worry, I’ll take the responsibility for that’. But also, if we get knocked out of any stage of the Europa League, I said, I’m pretty much sure it’s over.
“So I knew I was gone, because you get a sense of that with the conversations you have about people. No one was talking to me about the transfer window or pre-season next year, so you kind of know, and that was fine. I didn’t understand it.”