Ange Postecoglou will have his hands full when he takes over as manager of English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur on a four-year contract next month.
Here are five things the Australian must achieve at a club steeped in history but reeling from a string of misfortunes.
Steady a club in crisis
Less than two months ago, Tottenham’s players released a collective statement promising to refund the tickets of supporters who travelled to Newcastle to watch their 6-1 humiliation. It was a new low – after the one from the previous week, when Spurs lost 3-2 at home to Bournemouth. By the end of May, the team had finished the 2022-23 English Premier League season in eighth – 11 points adrift of the top four and with no European football on the horizon. With the benefit of hindsight, supporters have been pining for the return of Mauricio Pochettino, who was sacked in 2019 – five months after taking Spurs to the Champions League final – and replaced by Jose Mourinho (no, Jose did not make it all better).
Long-standing chairman Daniel Levy had to get this next appointment right to appease a furious and fractured fan base. Ange Postecoglou’s mere presence could prove the calming influence required to wrench the club from the mess in which it finds itself. The Australian’s composure while facing pressure and questions from detractors upon his arrival at Celtic in 2021 was remarkable, as were the trophies he subsequently delivered. Postecoglou’s success – both for Tottenham and for his personal brand – will rely at least partly on his capacity to maintain his straight-shooting, self-assuredness in a new environment. The unapologetic passion which won over Celtic fans will help, too.
Solve the Kane quandary
Will he stay or leave? In any case, Harry Kane’s future must be resolved this summer. The club’s all-time leading scorer’s contract expires next year, and Levy is hesitant to trade him to a Premier League competitor. He could be enticed by Real Madrid’s current interest, which needs a striker after confirming the exit of Karim Benzema. They are apparently willing to pay a €100 million ($160.6 million) transfer fee.
The England captain has scored 280 goals in 435 appearances for Spurs, including 30 in the league this past season, with more left in the tank. He also turns 30 in July and faces the prospect of his value diminishing in the coming years. Should Kane stay, Postecoglou will have the pleasure of working – if only briefly – with one of the world’s best forwards, but could lose him for free after next season. Should he go, Postecoglou will be without the squad’s biggest star but, with a lot more cash, there would potentially be an opportunity to …
… implicitly demand patience
It is an opportunity seldom granted to many Premier League managers, especially those working under Levy, who has whipped his club into a frenzy of turmoil and panic by appointing and then terminating 11 full-time managers during his 22-year career. This includes Antonio Conte, who was fired in March, but excludes succeeding caretaker manager Cristian Stellini, who was fired in April. To put it simply, Postecoglou is entering an unstable scenario.
Regardless, history suggests he will test the patience of powerbrokers and fans as he beds in the philosophy which yielded the Scottish domestic treble this year with Celtic. “Wherever I’ve been, the initial part is always rocky, because my ideas are … well they’re not extreme to me but I can see how they can be seen as extreme from the outside,” Postecoglou said three years ago. “It takes a while. Usually, it can take me six months, it can take me a year to really bed them in, depending on how many opportunities I have to change the playing squad and the staff and all those kinds of things.”
Slim down the squad
Before he can start renovating, he must first demolish. Spurs’ squad is extremely bloated, with nine players returning from loan and no European football to contend with. With several others coming off contract, Postecoglou has the opportunity to make the group his own pretty early on. Hugo Lloris and Ivan Perisic, both goalkeepers, are in the final year of their contracts and might be released. Eric Dier, Davinson Sanchez, Ryan Sessegnon, and Ben Davies’ futures are also uncertain. Most things (save, let’s be clear, Son Heung-min) are on the chopping block under Ange.
Concerned Spurs supporters can take comfort in having watched Postecoglou’s success during his two years at Celtic, during which he tore down the squad and reshaped it completely, replete with excellent, inexpensive signings. Within months, he had them playing “Angeball”.
Fortify development pathways
While the first squad was in disarray, Tottenham’s under-17 and under-18 teams both won the Premier League Cup in their respective age divisions. Their achievement gives a glimmer of optimism that a new generation of talent, comparable to Kane, will emerge through the academy. The primary missing link is the under-21s, who were relegated from Premier League 2 Division 1 last month. Pochettino was keen on developing young players, but that has eroded under Conte, who appears to favor bringing in players rather than developing them.
Interestingly, Levy expressly emphasized Postecoglou’s “strong track record of developing players and an understanding of the importance of the link from the academy” when the club announced his appointment on Tuesday.
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