Inside Ange Postecoglou’s remarkable rise and how he won over Tottenham’s toughest fans
He was the man no fan wanted but Ange Postecoglou has done the impossible – putting Tottenham in the winner’s circle and reuniting its supporters. Here is how he did it.
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Fans’ hearts sank when Ange Postecoglou, the Aussie with no experience in the Premier League, was touted as the man to turn the struggling Tottenham Hotspur’s fortunes around – now they are singing from every North London pub – “wherever we go I’m loving big Ange instead”.
Postecoglou, while sporting an impressive resume, on paper was ill-equipped to attempt to get the club that had failed to net any silverware for 15 years back in the winner’s circle.
But the classic Aussie never say die attitude, mixed with the right amount of bravery, daring and a stellar recruitment campaign have Tottenham sitting second on the Premier League table – just behind Manchester City.
They have won four of the five top flight encounters – proving Postecoglou’s trademark traits of being a thinker, scrapper and winner – works.
But it isn’t just the results that have turned the fans from tweeting #PostecoglouOut to singing his praises at the tops of their voices in just a matter of weeks.
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
Postecoglou, 57, gives the fans what they want – honesty – even if it isn’t always delivered in the most delicate of ways.
Optus Sports sports editor Jack Austin said Postecoglou was easy to relate to.
“He’s your mate in the pub. I think everybody knows an Australian like him. No nonsense, no bulls***. Just, ‘I’ll tell you how it is mate’ type vibe and I think people love the honesty,” Austin said.
“Football’s becoming increasingly about money and smoke and mirrors and you don’t know what to believe and he kind of cuts through all of that, and it’s refreshing, and people love it.
“Obviously you can do all of that and then if they’re not performing on the pitch, it doesn’t mean anything but he’s backing it up on the pitch as well.”
Austin said the streaming network had seen a huge boost in the number of people wanting to consume Tottenham content either by viewing games or social media engagement.
“I don’t think Tottenham’s really, traditionally a well-supported club in Australia, but I think they’re everybody’s guilty pleasure, their second team,” Austin said.
“He’s stern. You ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer, but it is who he is and I think people are loving his brutal honesty.
“Last week he was asked what would you say to people who say you could win the league, and most managers in that position would say, ‘oh, no, don’t be silly. It’s so early in the season, we are just taking each game as it comes’.
“He’s saying, ‘yeah, get carried away’. That’s what football is all about. It’s about being excited. It’s about the highs and the lows and enjoying it because if you’re not enjoying it, then what are we doing this for?
“And I think it’s kind of just in a world where football now is increasingly about money. I think he’s putting a bit of enjoyment back into it and kind of reminding everybody why they love football in the first place.”
ON HIS OWN PATH
Previous elite coaches Mauricio Pochettino, Antonio Conte, José Mourinho and Christian Gross failed to instil a winning mentality at the club.
Some questioned Postecoglou’s early success – labelling it beginners’ luck or a “honeymoon phase”. The coach was quick to disagree.
“Are you married?” he said.
“I don’t know what your honeymoon was like, but mine didn’t have me losing the greatest player in the history of this football club on the eve of a transfer window, me trying to scramble to get players into the club, fighting for everything I do.
“That’s not what my honeymoon was about.
“My honeymoon was fairly relaxed and stress free, and very enjoyable. And I’m well aware after 28 years of the pitfalls of management, trust me.
“I’ve gone into this with my eyes wide open. I’m not floating along thinking everything’s going to be smooth.
“We’re trying to create a football club the supporters are excited about, what people are talking about, so I’ll take that as encouragement to go down this way.
“I don’t sit here and think this has come to me, or been served on a platter.
“I’ve worked hard, mate, I’ve worked really hard. It’s been a really tough period, nothing like my honeymoon.”
Postecoglou has trekked a tough trail to the Premier League but still lacks the credentials or experience many of his fellow managers in the EPL possess.
Sure he has celebrated many successes – first with Japanese side Yokoma F Marinos, then the Socceroos – including their Asian Cup win in 2015.
He made the move to Celtic in 2021.
His reception was similar to that he received from the Hotspurs fans.
“If you look at Celtic, he started quite poorly and all the Celtic fans were up in arms saying, ‘God who’s this bloke that we’ve got from Japan, someone from a non footballing country who was a manager in another non footballing countries come over here to take on Celtic’,” Austin said.
“Then he won five out of the six domestic trophies he was eligible to win, and left a legend and now at Spurs he’s not even had that slow teething period which is amazing.”
Austin said any player who has played under Postecoglou always rates him as the best.
“I have players that I’ve spoken to who have played under him have said that he is hands down the favourite manager they’ve ever played for,” he said.
ANGE BALL
But it is all just background noise to Postecoglou – named August’s Premier League manager of the month.
“Things have been going well my whole career, I’ve had a lot of success and through that all I’ve just focused on one thing: ‘Is my team playing the football I want, are we training in a way I want, is the environment the way I like it?” Postecoglou said.
“That’s what I’m constantly looking at, irrespective of the short-term, where there may be challenges and where the results aren’t there.
“People are coming along the journey with me, whether it’s right or wrong, and I take comfort from that.”
The former Celtic coach who won five trophies in two Celtic seasons, is reaping the rewards of reshuffling the captaincy group since taking over, snubbing three of last season’s senior figures.
While talisman Harry Kane joined Bayern Munich in a big-money deal, Spurs signed Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest for £47.5m until 2029 to bolster their attacking line.
His unwavering belief in his own football philosophy is universally popular.
“He’s a complete breath of fresh air on the back of two really defensive managers – Conte and Mourinho didn’t play a classic style of Tottenham football; which is attack, flair and entertainment, Ange is very much in that mould,” said Katrina Law, Spurs season ticket holder and Football Supporters Association National Council Member.
“He’s already united a fractious fan base, fans felt the board was too focused on the business side more, rather than football.
“Ange is a refreshing change; he holds the same values as fans: honesty, decency, commitment, he has a dollop of humour, players will run through brick walls for him.
“He’s a manager who will coach and put his arm around a player.
“He wants to be on a journey with us, he doesn’t feel the club is beneath him.”
AND THROUGH IT ALL,
— Spurs Song Sheet 🎶🟠ðŸ¤ðŸ’™Home of Tottenham Chants (@SpursSongSheet) September 15, 2023
WE PLAY THE WAY WE WANT TO,
WITH BIG ANGE POSTECOGLOU,
WHETHER I’M RIGHT OR WRONG.
WITH BIG ANGE BALL,
YOU CAN KEEP YOUR POCHETTINO,
CONTE AND MOURINHO,
AND EVEN CHRISTIAN GROSS…
🎶
‘COZ EVERYWHERE WE GO
🎶
I’M LOVING BIG ANGE INSTEAD
âœðŸ»:… pic.twitter.com/mxPNA6h9vo
Ange Postecoglou 🔊 pic.twitter.com/xFIIEjapsn
— Courtney (@Courtney__Wild) September 16, 2023
THE TEST
The big test of Postecoglou’s mettle will be Saturday’s North London Derby, his first match against Mikel Arteta’s rival team based a few miles down Seven Sisters Road at Emirates stadium.
Having tasted victory against Manchester United, Bournemouth, Burnley and Sheffield United last week (Spurs lost 5-3 on penalties to Fulham in August), Postecoglou is keen to gain the upper hand over the Gunners who they last defeated 3-2 at the Emirates in 2011.
“I’m bricking it, most fans endure – they don’t enjoy – the North London Derby,” said Law.
“Arsenal are our biggest historical and geographical rivals, it is horrific to lose that game.
“Entire families are split between Tottenham and Arsenal, we have a similar demographic, they moved into our catchment area in 1912 and took a lot of our fans – we don’t forget.
“Last season they finished second in the league and we had a dreadful season.
“The manner of victory over Sheffield United last weekend speaks volumes.
“Tottenham no longer has a soft underbelly, the players are a lot more resilient now.
“I’ve got my inflatable kangaroo ready.”
Postecoglou is quietly confident about Saturday crediting his work ethic and love of football to his late father whom he lost three years ago.
They would stay up late at home in Melbourne watching Premier League matches together.
“I love a build, I love a rebuild. That is where I feel I am at my best,” he said at a recent press conference held at the club’s north London training ground in Enfield.
“I’ve come literally from the other side of the world so I’ve just wanted to experience what I can in my career and see where that takes me.
“I’ve never seen it as a step up, it’s just a new challenge for me.”
“He (his father) would be overwhelmingly proud of the dream he had for his son.
“You want to take pride in the fact that you wouldn’t be sitting here today without their support and in my parents’ case, the sacrifices they made.
“My father’s death is a journey I have to live with and one that he can’t be with me on.
“It’s still rocky (at Tottenham).
“But I can tell you the same sort of building stuff I did at Celtic and Yokohama, I’m doing here. The only difference is the results have been better.
“It’s a new start. A new way of training. A new way of playing.
“But I love it. And because I love it, people seem to think that maybe it’s easy. It’s not. But that’s OK. That’s the challenge I took on.
“It’s not just about winning, it’s the manner of how you do it.”
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