Spurs boss Daniel Levy comes clean on why he sacked Ange Postecoglou
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has gone public to share the reason Ange Postecoglou needed to be shown the door.
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Daniel Levy wants more European glory for Tottenham Hotspur and has targeted winning the Champions League.
The bullish Spurs chairman is also eyeing a Premier League title after declaring last month’s Europa League triumph as “not enough” to satisfy the club’s sky-high ambitions, The Sun reports.
Levy backed his call to sack Australian manager Ange Postecoglou - the man who ended the club’s 17-year trophy drought - and hailed replacement Thomas Frank as a “super human being”.
“We’ve won a European trophy, but it’s not enough. It’s what we haven’t done that’s more important,” the 63-year-old said.
“We need to win the league. We want to win the Premier League, we want to win the Champions League.”
Levy is into his 25th year of running Spurs, having won just two trophies in that time.
Postecoglou delivered the most recent of those by beating Manchester United in last month’s final in Bilbao, qualifying Spurs for the Champions League.
But the Aussie, 59, became the 13th permanent boss to be fired by Levy after a disastrous 17th-placed finish in the Premier League.
The club then turned to Brentford chief Frank, 51, who new Spurs CEO Vinai Venkatesham said was “absolutely the number one” choice out of a list of more than 30 candidates.
Speaking in an in-house interview alongside Venkatesham, the ex-Arsenal CEO, Levy added: “We want to build on the success of winning a trophy last season.
“One of the things that stood out to me with Thomas is he’s clearly highly intelligent, a great communicator, a super human-being, plus all the other technical aspects which are obviously important.”
Levy, who has had supporters taking to the streets protesting against his running of the club this season, claimed he had “very broad shoulders” to deal with criticism and that “failure is not an option”.
He claimed it was not his decision alone to fire Postecoglou and insists he still has an
“excellent relationship” with the ex-Celtic boss.
The highest-paid director in the Premier League added: “I’m very grateful to Ange. I don’t regret appointing Ange.
“In his first season we finished fifth. In our second season, we were over the moon to win a trophy.
“But we need to compete in all competitions and we felt we needed to change.
“I’ve got an excellent relationship with him. I told him, ‘You’re always going to be part of our history’. Himself and his family are always welcome back.
“It was a collective decision, it wasn’t my decision. We do everything together.
“Emotionally it was difficult, but we believe we’ve made the right decision for the club.”
Levy also insisted that any funds brought in by the club’s non-football use of the stadium - such as pop concerts, NFL matches and boxing fights, is for reinvesting in the team.
“We’re very proud of the stadium, but we need to win on the pitch. There’s no point in having a wonderful stadium if you haven’t got a wonderful team winning,” he added.
“The reason we do all these other events is to provide additional financial resources to the club which in turn, goes back into the team. Everything is about the team, everything.”
Meanwhile, it is understood Tottenham are not planning to sell goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario this summer despite suggestions of interest from AC Milan emerging from Italy.
Originally published as Spurs boss Daniel Levy comes clean on why he sacked Ange Postecoglou
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