Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham Hotspur are held to different standards from other clubs, saying on Wednesday that “Spurs does crazy things to people”.
Postecoglou was responding to Arsene Wenger’s views that the Europa League winners should not necessarily get a Champions League place, and suggested that the issue had only been brought up because Tottenham were on the brink of the Europa League final.
Wenger, who is world governing body FIFA’s head of global football development, had said that UEFA should reconsider the rule that allows the Europa winners to play in the next season’s Champions League. Tottenham will be in the Europa League final on May 21 if they defend their two-goal lead against Bodo/Glimt on Thursday evening, meaning that they would be one game away from qualifying for the Champions League.
Postecoglou, speaking at his pre-match press conference in Bodo on Wednesday, said the debate was an attempt to “diminish” Tottenham’s achievements, by raising an issue that had never been raised for other clubs.
“Well that’s a debate that’s been raging for years, mate,” Postecoglou joked in his pre-match press conference. “At least the last eight days! I’ve never heard that before. I have said it before, mate: Spurs does crazy things to people. It does, it does.”
Postecoglou’s contention was that Tottenham’s proximity to the Europa League trophy had created the issue about Champions League qualification. He suggested that whenever Tottenham are in the news, people try to put them down. “You put that club (Tottenham) into any sentence or issue, and invariably they all come out and try and diminish us as much as they can,” Postecoglou said.
“Why wasn’t it an issue before but it’s an issue now? What’s the difference? I don’t understand what the difference is. Last year, fifth (in the Premier League) didn’t get you into the Champions League, and now it does. What does that mean?”
Europa League winners, Postecoglou wanted to remind people, have qualified for the Champions League since 2014. “There are competition rules and the rules say that the winner goes into (the Champions League),” he said. “And it’s not the first year. And there isn’t an asterisk against it that you have to do something else as well. But it’s Spurs, mate, they love it. They love it. You love it, don’t you?”
Postecoglou made clear that he was not accusing Wenger of having a personal agenda against Tottenham, the local rivals of Wenger’s old club Arsenal. “I’ve got great respect for Arsene,” he said. “He’s one of the legends of the game. But Spurs does do crazy things to people, I love it. Bring it on. It’s going to upset people, so that makes me happy.”
If Tottenham survive on Thursday night, it will be their first European final since 2019. If they win the final, it would be their first major trophy since 2008, and their first European trophy since 1984. Postecoglou hopes that victory might help to change the narrative around the club.
“I don’t know if it will change it, but certainly some of it becomes redundant for sure, because a big part of the narrative around the club is that we haven’t won for a very long time,” he said.
“Some of it will still exist beyond that. From my perspective, (it is about) how do you create a winning culture? It all starts with winning. The more experiences you have of winning, if you can land a trophy along the way, it certainly gives belief within the whole club that it is capable of doing. We’ve still got a big game tomorrow to even get through to get to a final before we can start talking about that.”
(Top image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)