Ange Postecoglou takes aim at job security 'hysteria' as under-fire Tottenham boss claims club is victim of a 'narrative' in build-up to crunch Europa League semi-final
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- Postecoglou is expected to leave Spurs regardless of Europa League success
- The Tottenham boss claimed the reports are part of a 'narrative' against the club
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Twenty four hours before Chris Eubanks Jr and Conor Benn throw down at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou came out swinging himself.
Postecoglou claimed that this week’s ‘hysteria’ around his job security is all part of a ‘narrative to set this club up for some sort of fall’.
Tottenham visit Liverpool on Sunday needing a win to delay the title party and on Thursday face Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final. But this week’s news cycle has been dominated by reports that Postecoglou is set to leave the club even if he does deliver Spurs’ first trophy since 2008.
‘We finished fifth last year. But it’s not a good story. A better story is my tenure has been a disaster and it continues to be,’ said the 59-year-old Australian, whose side sit 16th after a dismal season which could yet end in European triumph.
‘I just think the hysteria surrounding what’s happening at the moment is all premeditated for a certain outcome. Hopefully we can defy that.
‘If you asked any Tottenham supporter what’s the most important thing for them right now: who is going to be the manager next year or whether they win this thing? One hundred per cent of them would say, “Just make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity to make some history”.
‘The rest of it doesn’t matter. It will all take care of itself. The worst thing you can do is focus on what may or may not happen and miss this unbelievable opportunity that’s before us.’
Challenged on this sense of me against the world - when it seems many neutral fans enjoy Postecoglou’s gung-ho style and gruff honesty - he replied: ‘I don’t feel like it’s them against me. It’s more about the club.
‘I’m trying to change the perception of the club.
‘I do think there is a narrative of trying to set this club up for some sort of fall, consistently.
‘And there is no allowance for any kind of building of foundations for something a bit different than before.
‘The one thing you do know is you know what doesn’t work here.’
That last was perhaps a reference to the defensive style of Postecoglou’s predecessors Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Say what you like about Postecoglou but he is certainly not defensive.
‘I’m trying to do things very, very differently,’ he said. ‘It hasn’t all worked out, for sure, some of it has gone disastrously wrong, I accept that.
‘But I said from the start, we need to chart a different course if we are ever going to break the cycle that this club has been in.
‘Bizarrely, we’re still in that position where we can do that.
‘I’ve never taken it personally, I’ve never taken it as against me, even if it was against me.
‘But I think there is a kind of narrative around that this club has been on some sort of downward spiral again or going down the same rabbithole it has in the past.
‘Whereas I think this is totally different and there has been very little acknowledgement of that.
‘Some of it is me poking the bear a bit as well, mate. Maybe it’s my Aussie humour but it certainly gets lost a great number of times when I say things tongue-in-cheek.’
After 18 defeats this season, Tottenham supporters would be forgiven for feeling a change in fortunes is further away than ever - the shot at a European trophy notwithstanding. Postecoglou likes an analogy, and he reached for a parable which is ascribed to Danish-American journalist Jacob Riis.
‘I talk to the players a lot about the stonecutters’ creed,’ he said. ‘The stonecutter … only the 101st blow cracks the rock. But no-one sees the other 100 blows. And they think it’s the last one that does it. It’s not. So time will tell whether what I’ve tried to do over the last two years gets us to crack that stone.’
If the last blow of Big Ange’s pickaxe falls in Bilbao on May 21 and Spurs crack the Europa League, will that buy him another year to continue chipping away? Or would silverware offer the perfect opportunity for him to step away with head held high? As Postecoglou said when asked about his impact on the club: ‘Only time will tell.’
