The Australian revolution is in full swing in North London, as Ange Postecoglou and his confirmed backroom staff welcomed back Tottenham Hotspur’s returning stars ahead of the new Premier League season. After officially taking over the first team this month, Tottenham fans are excited by what brand of football Postecoglou will bring next season and are reluctantly allowing themselves to believe again.
Tottenham Hotspur had been without a manager for 97 days following the explosive sacking of Antonio Conte last March. The divisive Italian manager accused his “selfish” players of not taking responsibility after a late collapse at Southampton: “They’re used to it here. Don’t play for something important. They don’t want to play under pressure or under stress. Tottenham’s story is this. 20 years there is the owner & they never won something. Why?”
Conte didn’t just quit, he doused himself and the Club in petrol and lit a match. For almost 100 days, this was the last thing a full-time manager had said about Spurs, and fans were the most disconnected, berated and dejected they had been in the last 23 years since Daniel Levy took over as chairman.
Amid mounting pressure for Levy to relinquish his tyrannical control over the Premier League club, he seemingly found his saviour in the form of 57-year-old Australian manager Ange Postecoglou, who within days of announcing his arrival, made sure that every Tottenham fan knew exactly what to expect from his side: an exciting brand of football to make every fan proud of this great football club. The feel-good factor was back in N17.
A new era at the Lane
Postecoglou and his backroom staff officially started their new positions on July 1, and, with news this week that young winger Manor Soloman will join the Club on a free transfer, Tottenham has already brought in five new faces that fit perfectly into the Australian’s system: James Maddison, Guglielmo Vicario and Manor Soloman all sign on long-term deals, and Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro join permanently after their loans finished. As I’m writing this, talks have advanced with Wolfsburg’s Micky van de Ven, bringing the total to six first-team players four days into the new job – not bad.
For Tottenham, a side that is intrinsically incapable of signing players early on in the window, this is a huge shift in approach. Don’t forget, Tottenham made history in 2018 as the only Premier League club not to make a signing since the inception of the summer window in 2003, with Daniel Levy’s famed reputation for being one of football’s toughest negotiators taking unwanted prominence.
A Postecogolou football team is unwavering in its pursuit of excellence, and by bringing in fresh players so early on, they can quickly bed into the team and get up to speed with what their new manager is expecting from this new-look Spurs side. They’ll have a full six weeks of pre-season and are set to travel to Australia for first-team friendlies against West Ham, Leicester, Shakhtar Donetsk and Roma. To put it simply, it’s a miracle.
“I like to win, that’s the main thing, and I’ve done that wherever I’ve been. The football is designed to bring success.”
Ange Postecoglou
What will Ange Postecoglou bring to Tottenham?
Since leaving his native Australia, he’s joined clubs as a relative unknown, faced with the challenge of transforming these sides in his image – playing fast, attacking, possession-based football that excites the fans and ultimately, wins football matches. Every club side managed by Postecoglou has seen the benefits of adopting his uncompromising style of football, with a band of disciples that wax lyrically about his management wherever he goes.
But this is the messianic aura that has followed Tottenham’s new manager throughout his career; qualities that have become synonymous with a man who holds his players to the highest of standards. Harry Kewell was “blown away” when Postecoglou called him into his backroom staff at Celtic, Pep Guardiola conceded “another exceptional manager is coming,” after his announcement was confirmed and Socceroo’s Tim Cahill told former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp, “Our manager’s fantastic… Harry, he’s top drawer,” when Australia took on Jordan in an international tie.
RELATED: Who is Ange Postecoglou?
Postecoglou’s arrival lifts the dark cloud of doubt that’s persisted over the Club since the days of Jose Mourinho, ushering in a new era of pride and unwavering belief that’s been lacking since 2019. On paper, this appointment is inspired; an accumulation of the positive aspects of the previous managers that have stood before him.
The Australian boasts a coaching philosophy emblematic of Tottenham’s football identity, reflecting Conte’s commitment to a certain style of play, Mourinho’s unrelenting self-belief in his own methods and Pochettino’s ability to galvanise a group of players and the fans to all pull together. A manager in the mould of City’s Pep Guardiola, Postecoglou can bring the glory days back to Tottenham Hotspur with his front-foot football. This is a football man at his heart continuing on an upward trajectory. Postecoglou is on a mission to win the biggest trophies in the game playing a brand of football the fans can be proud of.
“My view on that is, if you are a strict vegetarian, you don’t drop into Macca’s just because you are hungry mate, you know? This is what I believe in.”
Ange Postecoglou
At a time when Tottenham have fallen out of European contention for the first time since 2009, Postecoglou’s introduction could be the best thing for this great football club as it looks to regain a long-forgotten identity.
What should fans expect from Postecoglou’s first season?
A lack of European football for Tottenham, whilst a disappointing reflection of a season that fell off a cliff, won’t completely derail the Club and its ambitions. Of course, teams in Europe’s elite competitions enjoy a myriad of commercial and financial benefits and are provided with another opportunity for fans to follow their side abroad and potentially win that all-important trophy.
This season, Postecoglou will be tasked with getting Tottenham back to where they belong, qualifying for the Champions League the first time of asking. Missing out won’t necessarily define this first season, but fans would expect to see significant progress made on last year’s eighth-place finish, and that the foundation is being built for future success.
“People have been telling me my whole career I’ve only got a Plan A – and they are right! My Plan A is to win things.”
Ange Postecoglou
No European football will mean that Tottenham players will spend more time on the training pitch implementing a new style of play as, for years, Tottenham have been afraid to play with the ball; allergic to the intricacies of possession-based football and incapable of opening up tight defences. Postecoglou will be looking to fix that flaw quickly if this season is to start off well.
It also means that first-team players will have to leave to manage an inflated squad. The incoming of new players, whilst a positive step in the right direction, leaves Spurs vulnerable to tough negotiations from interested buying clubs who will be looking to get players on the cheap. If reports are to be believed, as many as 10 first-team players have been made available in this market. Without the services of Fabio Paratici, Daniel Levy must risk selling players at a loss if this squad is to be ready before the end of the summer window.
This season is crucial for Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham Hotspur. Instant success might not be guaranteed, but with huge statements of intent so early on in the Australian manager’s tenure, fans can surely allow themselves to get excited by Postecoglou’s appointment and his ambitions for this season. One thing’s for certain, there’s something cooking in North London.