Ange Postecoglou: Former Tottenham manager says he is ‘curious’ Spurs are ‘not a big club’ after successor Thomas Frank was sacked | soccer news

Tottenham’s hellish week got even worse on Thursday.

A home defeat to Newcastle on Tuesday put the relegation battle on the line and led to the sacking of Thomas Frank on Wednesday. And now his predecessor Ange Postecoglou has cruelly described “curious” Spurs as “not a big club”.

speaking Soccer expert from The Overlap The Australian’s nearly 18-minute appearance gave the Australian a lot to chew on before the podcast from the day Frank was fired was released on Thursday.

Here’s what we learned from Spurs’ former Europa League-winning manager.

Why Ange believes Spurs are ‘not a big club’

Tottenham’s wage structure has always been a major issue for fans, and the issue has proven to be a big issue for Postekoglou, who has been in charge for two seasons.

“They have built an unbelievable stadium, an unbelievable training facility, but if you look at their spending, especially their wage structure, they are not a big club,” he said.

“I saw it when we were trying to sign players because we weren’t in the market for those players.

“When you finish fifth at the end of your first year, how do you go from fifth to really challenging players? Well, we had to bring in players who were ready for the Premier League. But we finished fifth that year but didn’t get into the Champions League. We didn’t have the money, so we ended up signing Dom Solanke, who I really wanted, and three teenagers (Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odover).

“I was looking at Pedro Neto, (Bryan) Mbeumo, (Antoine) Semenyo and Marc Guehi because I said that if we go up from fifth place there (gesturing higher), at that moment other big clubs will do that.

“And those three teenagers are outstanding young players and I think they will be great players for Tottenham, but they won’t be able to take you from fifth to fourth or third.”

He added: “I still felt like Tottenham as a club were saying we were one of the big boys and the reality is, from my experience over the last two years, I don’t think they are.”

“Arsenal will spend £100 million on Declan Rice when they need a player. I can’t see Tottenham doing that – maybe, I don’t know now – but it’s not just my history, it’s not even before me, a lot of it was that they were building the stadium, so finances were difficult.

“What I didn’t realize was how much of a difference Champions League football makes. I think there was always a sense of urgency because it provided the cat, which means in the first year… we almost got there. We finished fifth the other year, which was probably Champions League qualification.

“If we had done that, we wouldn’t have bought three teenage players last year, but I still wouldn’t have spent the money. It’s not the transfer fees or the wages that are really attractive.

“When was the last time Tottenham signed someone they thought was ‘wow’?”

‘The club’s actions are contrary to its motto’

‘To Dare Is To Do’ may be Tottenham’s club motto, but Postekoglou strongly believes this is not the philosophy of those in charge, including former chairman Daniel Levy, who resigned in September after 24 years in office.

He said: “When you walk into Tottenham, everything you see is Dare Is To Do. It’s everywhere, but their behavior is almost the exact opposite of that.

“Credit Daniel, whether you like him or not, because he took the safe route and got them a new stadium and new facilities.

“I don’t think they realize that if you want to actually win, you have to take risks at some point. That’s the DNA of the club.”

Postecoglou’s big risk was sacrificing a Premier League campaign to end a 17-year title drought by winning the Europa League.

Glory at Bilbao came amid a 17th-place finish in the Premier League, but Postecoglou felt he was living by the club’s motto.

“Last year we never had a relegation battle,” he said. “We have never been closer, we are 13 points above the relegation zone.

“But even at the end of the year when it was clear we were trying to do something different, we still had 64 goals last year. “I was still trying to bring players in but I wasn’t ready to do that (on a variety of fronts).

“But I still felt that was the way forward. If we were to become the team Tottenham wanted to be, this was the way forward.”

Tottenham’s lowest performance since promotion to the top flight in 1978 cost Postecoglou his job. He realized it had been going on for months before it was confirmed in June.

He stated: “I knew I was leaving probably around the end of January, the beginning of February. I told the coaches, ‘Look, we’re not in a relegation (battle), we’re in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. I think we can win it.’ However, I am confident that if we are eliminated at any stage of the Europa League, it will be over.

“So I knew I was gone, because you can tell that feeling through conversations about people. No one was talking to me about the transfer window or next year’s pre-season, so you knew and that was okay. I just didn’t understand it.”

What exactly are Tottenham trying to achieve?

Tottenham are looking for their sixth permanent manager in seven years after Frank was sacked eight months after Postekoglou was sacked.

The Dane has been heavily criticized for his negative playing style, which stands in stark contrast to Postecoglou’s gung-ho approach.

Style was also the downfall of serial winners Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, while Nuno Espirito Santo lasted just four months.

Mauricio Pochettino is arguably Spurs’ best manager of the 21st century, but his failure to win the title that Postecoglo achieved has led to questions about Spurs’ direction.

“Tottenham is a really exciting club,” he said. “It was a big turning point at the end of last year when not only me but also Daniel (Levy) left. And it created this environment of uncertainty because there were no guarantees about which coach we brought in. There were world-class coaches who were not successful. But what was the reason? Why did we make such a big change?

“So Thomas came in. What are his goals? What are the club’s goals? At the beginning of the year they said compete on all fronts. Well, the club hasn’t competed on all fronts for a long time.

“And the most influential person at the club over the last 20 years is also leaving, so if you’re going to make such a big transition, you have to understand that there’s going to be some instability there.

“Now did Thomas know he was doing that? I don’t know. And that’s quite different for me. Anyone who studies the game knows that wasn’t progress for me. I’ve built that kind of squad over the last few years to play a certain way.

“So, Tottenham is a really interesting club, mate.”

He added: “If you look at that list there is no common thread as to what they are trying to do. Part of Tottenham’s DNA is that they like teams to play a certain way.

“I think it’s fair to say that we were on that path with Mauricio… So, if you look at those managers, they changed in Mauricio to play a certain way and fit their DNA. And the important thing is that they didn’t win anything. We need a winner, so I’ll pick Jose. Jose took them to the cup final and they fired him a week before the cup. If you talk about winners, in one-off games I wouldn’t mind Jose. For one-off games, I’m the manager of my club.

“But Antonio was another winner. Antonio goes and I come in and they say, ‘Well, we want football. With Antonio we created the Champions League, but there was no football. So we want football and you have football.’ Even though my DNA is to win too.”

“Then we go down that path. So I mean, I’m really curious in terms of understanding what they’re trying to build.”

Ange’s Levy story shows why the ‘Spursy’ tag ‘100%’ exists.

Success in the Europa League was seen as an important step for the club to shake off the infamous ‘Spursy’ tag, which Postecoglou feels is “100%” present on the club.

The term was back on the agenda just three months later, when Tottenham gave up a late two-goal lead as they lost the UEFA Super Cup final on penalties to PSG in Frank’s first competitive game in charge.

Postecoglou insists he would have “backed himself” to win that game in Italy had he remained in charge.

“We had won two trophies in two months and suddenly the fact that they couldn’t win the big games went out the window. You broke it. That’s what I mean. It’s a curiosity to understand why that is. What are you trying to achieve? The biggest thing that bothered you was the Spurs tag. You all probably thought United would win the final, because they just know how to win.”

The 1-0 Europa League final came after Postekoglou boldly declared at the start of the season that “in the second year you always win”. And he revealed the quote was part of his plan to make the club believe they could end their trophy drought.

“My whole statement about winning it in my second year was that I was doing it for the club because no one internally would have dared say that,” he said. Because they were just scared. They became friendly a few times.

The 60-year-old also recalled how ‘spurs’ Levy’s behavior was on the day of the final.

“I remember the day of the Europa League final. Everyone in the hotel was really calm,” he said. “Actually, Daniel (Levy) came in and had coffee in the morning and he said, ‘Everyone is really relaxed.’ Even he was like that. And the only thing he said to me was this weird motivational thing, which was, ‘Oh, you know what, I’ve been to seven finals and semi-finals and I’ve never seen one before. I won one.’ But I know why he said that.

“So you have it and it absolutely exists. Then you acquire something and you break it, and then what do you do? You tear the whole thing apart and start over.”