It only takes a brief look at Tottenham’s recent managerial appointments to get a sense of what an abrupt change of policy it would be if they complete the appointment of Ange Postecoglou as their new head coach next week.
Tottenham’s last permanent managerial hire was Antonio Conte in November 2021. He arrived with an almost perfect CV: five league titles across three different clubs, each time inheriting a team who had lost their way and turning them into an unstoppable winning machine. He made his name in Serie A but had also triumphed in England. He was the last manager not called Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp to win the Premier League (doing so with Chelsea in 2016-17), something he was not shy about telling the world.
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Rewind back another two years and Tottenham appointed Jose Mourinho in November 2019. He too arrived with an almost perfect CV: eight league titles across four different clubs, to say nothing of one UEFA Cup, one Europa League, a stack of domestic cups and, best of all, two Champions Leagues, won with Porto and Inter, neither of them fancied at the start of the season. He had won the domestic title in four different countries but nowhere more than in England, where his three titles with Chelsea across two different spells made him their most successful manager, something he was not shy about telling the world.
(Yes, in between Mourinho and Conte Tottenham did also hire Nuno Espirito Santo, in June 2021, but only after trying and failing to appoint a long list of other more successful candidates, including Conte himself. Nuno lasted 10 league games in charge.)
But the pattern was clear. Tottenham have been shopping at the very top of the market for the most decorated, famous and best-paid managers out there. And it has been a huge waste of time, money and energy.
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If Tottenham appoint Postecoglou next week — he is currently in pole position for the job — it would mark a notable change in direction. Postecoglou has a very good CV. He has won the Australian title with two different clubs, the J-League and two Scottish Premierships with Celtic. He could hardly have achieved more with the clubs who have employed him. But he has never worked in England, or in any of the ‘top five’ leagues of Europe. Mourinho and Conte each arrived at Tottenham after more than a decade at the top of the European game. Postecoglou, at the age of 57, is still working his way up.
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But then Tottenham changing direction like this is precisely what the fans have been calling out for. The experience of employing big-name managers has not been a happy one. Both Mourinho and Conte gave the impression that they were taking a step down to manage Spurs, and that lowly Tottenham Hotspur should be grateful to be graced by their presence. It has led to tensions with club staff, players and fans. We can say now with certainty that it is not a recipe for a harmonious football club. No one wants a repeat of the last four years.
That is why Tottenham have been clear in their desire to go in a different direction this summer. The buzzwords have been ‘culture’ and ‘ethos’. There is a feeling at the club — perhaps overdue — that they had something special back in the Mauricio Pochettino days, when everyone pulled in the same direction, towards the same shared goals. That is what they want to get back to, a sense of ‘alignment’ throughout the football club. And they know that this has to flow from the manager himself. He has to be someone who can command buy-in from the players and, crucially, from the fans too. He has to be able to be the articulate, authoritative, persuasive voice of the whole institution.
And on this point, Postecoglou stands out as the best of all of the candidates by far. His Celtic team have played fantastic football, not just winning but winning with a sense of style and adventure. But what sets him apart — even more than that — is the way that he has taken on the role as the public face of the club. Celtic is a very high-pressure job, with a huge fanbase, and demands that can not be met by winning alone. When he took over in 2021 there were questions from fans whether he was a big enough figure to take on the job. But no one would say that now.
At Celtic, Postecoglou has shown a remarkable way with words. Everyone remembers his famous line in February 2022 after Celtic had beaten Rangers 3-0. “I said to the players that we had 60,000 in tonight and I’m sure a lot of them walked in with some problems in their life. For this 95 minutes we made them forget that and feel good and that’s something special.”
A few days later, Postecoglou was asked to expand on his words in his next pre-match press conference at Lennoxtown. “’I’m not just manager of a football club,” he explained. “I’m manager of everything that the football club embodies. It was important for me that the people who are truly invested in this club, and that’s the supporters, believed in me as a person more than anything else. When people believe in you as a person, you’re more likely to get an understanding of what you’re trying to achieve.”
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That answer sums up so much of Postecoglou’s appeal. The point is not just that he is good with words, articulate and clever, which in part is why he has impressed so much in interviews. It is that he understands the political power of words. He knows that no manager will get anywhere without buy-in from the players and the fans. And he knows that to get that you have to convince them that you are on their side and want to take the team in the right direction.
Tottenham have not had a manager with any interest in this side of the job since Pochettino. None out of Mourinho, Conte or Nuno made much of an effort to engage with the fans or to speak their language. If Postecoglou arrives at Spurs and hits the same notes as he did in his first season at Celtic, that precious sense of alignment could start to creep back.
None of this would work if the football does not click, but Postecoglou’s record on that front stands up too. He has won everywhere he has been, and his Celtic side are one game away from winning the Scottish domestic treble this season. They have done so playing an entertaining 4-3-3 system, always focused on expansive, attacking football, dominating the opposition and creating chances. (The fact that Brighton were interested in Postecoglou in September, when they were looking for a replacement for Graham Potter, points to how highly his own brand of possession football is rated inside the game.)
It is two years now since Daniel Levy promised that the next Tottenham head coach (after the sacking of Mourinho) would be in line with the club’s ‘DNA’. He talked about “free-flowing, attacking and entertaining” football, as well as promoting young players. Obviously that promise was not followed through at the time, as Spurs appointed Nuno and then Conte five months later. But if Postecoglou gets the job next week then Spurs will finally have a manager who is at least committed to playing the game in the way that the fans want to see. After almost four years of negative football since Spurs opened their new stadium, it could prove to be a breath of fresh air.
Of course, there is no guarantee at this point that Postecoglou will get the job, or even that he will succeed if he does. We all know what a hard job Tottenham is right now, with the new manager having to lift the confidence of the players, re-energise the fans, transition away from the old generation while bringing youngsters through, and trying to get Spurs back into Europe. Given the state Tottenham find themselves in right now, any appointment would be a risk — and we know from the examples of Mourinho and Conte that even serial winners are no guarantee of anything.
But if we look back at Tottenham during Levy’s tenure, we can see that sometimes the unlikeliest managers are the most successful. The managers who arrived with the highest profile, and who Levy pursued for the most time, have often been failures. Not just Mourinho and Conte but Juande Ramos, Andre Villas-Boas, arguably even Jacques Santini. None of them lived up to their big reputations at Spurs.
Far more successful were Martin Jol, promoted from being Santini’s assistant. Harry Redknapp, recruited in a panic after Ramos’ disastrous start to the 2008-09 season. And even Pochettino, the greatest manager of the Levy era, appointed in 2014 after Louis van Gaal went to Manchester United instead. Those three each appeared to understand Tottenham Hotspur, the fans and the dynamics, better than their more-heralded predecessors. Optimistic Spurs fans will wonder whether Postecoglou, if he gets the job next week, might try to follow in their footsteps.
(Photo: Alvaro Medranda/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
