Ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s match against Sheffield United head coach, Ange Postecoglou offered a candid insight into the club’s transformation, the challenges faced, and his vision for the future.
The Transformation Journey
Postecoglou began by addressing the club’s ongoing transformation. Despite a whirlwind summer transfer window, he believes there’s still work ahead. He stated, “It depends on the development of the players within this context. We’ve got a lot of young players. So if they develop really quickly, probably not too much. But I definitely think we need at least two more windows to get to a space where I think ‘okay, we [are happy] as a squad’.”
The Squad’s Resilience
The Australian coach highlighted the squad’s resilience amidst challenges. He expressed, “We want to have games, we want to be in Europe, we want to be in cup competitions. So we’re going to need a stronger squad and I don’t think we’re anywhere near that point where we’ve got a robust enough squad at the moment.”
The Impossible Job?
Addressing the notion that managing Tottenham is an ‘impossible job’, Postecoglou firmly dismissed such a belief. “I don’t think there is. The biggest enticement for me to come here was the fact that it seems like a real difficult challenge. I wouldn’t say impossible because it can’t be impossible – when you look at the facilities, you look at the resources this club has, you look at the football this club has, it can’t be impossible,” he elaborated. He further added, “Is it difficult? Yes. You can’t just then roll up and not change things and not be different and expect different outcomes. So my role within that is to say: ‘Okay, well, I’ve taken on this challenge. So I’m going to do it in a way that hasn’t been done before and take it down a different road now’. That may end up on the road again where we don’t get anywhere, and that’s on me, but I really don’t think it’s impossible. There’d be managers out there with clubs who have got a hell of a lot more challenges than this football club has. They’d be looking at me saying ‘I wish I had his job with the facilities we have, the football we have and the resources I have’. So it’s all a matter of perspective. Do I believe it’s a difficult challenge? Yeah, because when a big football club doesn’t win something for a long period of time, there’s obviously things that need to be done differently, but I think it’s far from impossible and I enjoy the fact that the harder it is, I love being in that space.”
Early Days and Challenges
Reflecting on his early managerial days at South Melbourne, Postecoglou shared a personal anecdote. “In my first job 1997, I took over South Melbourne, the first club I played for. I was 30 years old, I quit my job at the bank. I was a bank teller. What a bad job. If you ever want perspective, like, that’s the only thing that’s driven in my whole career, something I never wanted to go back to,” he reminisced. He further shared, “It was our fifth game and I remember waking up that morning knowing if we’d lost that game we would have been last on the ladder. The club I took over was the biggest club at the time. We won that game, a scrappy game, 1-0. Somebody tells a story that there was supposed to be a board meeting that night, but our president who’s a pretty smart cookie said he was sick and there was going to be a vote of confidence in me apparently, and they didn’t have it. We went on the rest of the year and we finished well. At Brisbane in my first year, same thing. Yokohama, we just avoided relegation in my first year there. Now all these things you can look at and say ‘geez, you’re a lucky bugger because people stuck by you’, but I’d like to think that people didn’t stick by me because I was lucky. They stuck by me because they saw something there that they didn’t want to miss out on, and every one of those clubs – Celtic the same – they’ll get rewarded for that show of faith. So all the beginnings have been difficult. I haven’t had one that’s been smooth, but when I reflect on it, they’re the stories I tell.” He added with a smile: “I don’t tell the stories of us winning things, they tell themselves. I love telling the stories of the beginnings and…honeymoon periods.”
Richarlison’s Involvement
On the topic of Richarlison’s recent off-field issues and his involvement in the upcoming Sheffield United match, Postecoglou confirmed, “He’ll be involved. He trained today and he’s fine. He looks fine. We’ll provide all the support he needs and we’ll try and help and sort of guide him to be in a place where he’s happy about himself, but he’ll be involved tomorrow. Absolutely.”
In Conclusion
Ange Postecoglou’s press conference provided a clear window into his mindset and the direction he envisions for Tottenham Hotspur. With a blend of candid reflections, humor, and determination, the Australian coach is set on steering the North London club towards a promising future.
