Sacking Ange Postecoglou Proves One Thing: Spurs Will Always Be Spursy | OneFootball

Earlier today reports emerged that Daniel Levy had decided to sack Ange Postecoglou, despite the Australian completing perhaps the greatest achievement of a Tottenham manager in the last 30 years – winning a trophy, a European trophy.

Yes, Tottenham Hotspur did finish 17th; they lost 22 games, and if the three bottom sides weren’t as bad as they were, the London club could have been relegated. But they weren’t. In fact, this will probably be the season that Spurs fans will remember for years; they have arguably had a better season than their rivals Arsenal and are once again competing in Europe’s biggest competition.

Getting rid of the man who made all of this possible is the definition of a bottle job; it is “Spursy” from Daniel Levy.

Ange Postecoglou Is THE Standard

Many fans will point out that Manchester United’s decision to keep Erik ten Hag after winning a cup and having a terrible league campaign is a blueprint for Tottenham not to follow, but the two situations couldn’t be further apart.

At Manchester United, Erik ten Hag was reaching to compete at the standards the 20-time Premier League champions aspire to be at and ultimately performed well below par.

At Tottenham, Ange Postecoglou has just set the standard. For years, securing Champions League football was the goal for the club. For years, the idea of a trophy in the hands of a Tottenham player was bizarre; it was laughed at. Ange Postecoglou has achieved the first point and completely destroyed the idea in the second.

Spurs are now champions. They have won a trophy. They have their hands on the one thing that has eluded them since 2008. Ange Postecoglou is completely deserving of overseeing this new era of Tottenham. He is the man who has laid down a new foundation; he has set the standard for the Lilywhites; they will be hungrier than ever to relive the moments they felt in Bilbao, to feel more moments of lifting trophies.

Tottenham have gone down the path of bringing in “serial winners”. Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho couldn’t do what Ange Postecoglou has – albeit Mourinho wasn’t given the chance to manage in a final. But as Ange said, he is also a “serial winner”, but what he brings different to the table is a personality that players are emboldened by; they run through walls for him.

The Australian should be celebrated; he should be applauded; he should be rewarded by being given the chance to oversee this new evolution of Tottenham, the one that now knows what it means to win.

The Unquantifiable, The Connection

When it comes to Ange Postecoglou, from the outside looking in, it is the first time in a while that Tottenham fans have truly connected with a manager. While the season has not gone how they wanted domestically, you have to factor in that they have had a major injury crisis throughout.

James Maddison, Micky van den Ven, Cristian Romero, and many others faced sustained periods on the treatment table. In fact, only Brighton (48) had more separate injury cases than Spurs (41). And only Brighton (1,944 days) had more days missed by players due to injuries than Spurs (1,553 days) as well.

Ange Postecoglou had to manage in chaos and still came out the other side as a winner. The fact they still lifted silverware and secured Champions League football shows what Ange can build from chaos. Let him show what he can do when that chaos is no longer there.

The Australian manager plays some of the most exciting and recognisable brands of football in the league. It is a style that requires specific profiles, and when those players are unable to play, of course there will be a major drop-off. Ange does not need to be sacked; he needs to be backed.

Tottenham have the chance to restart the identity of the club. Give the manager the financial backing to bring in the correct profiles; let him build on what he has achieved this season.

Ange has given Spurs the launchpad for that identity; he has given the fans a connection to the man in the dugout in a way that no manager has managed since Mauricio Pochettino.

You can argue that 17th place wasn’t good enough. That is fair. But this season represented a breakthrough, not a breakdown. How many clubs finish that low and still come out of it with a European trophy and Champions League football? In a season where everything seemed to fall apart, Ange still built something worth remembering.

If the reports are true, for the first time in a while, it won’t be the players on the pitch that have been “Spursy”; it will be Daniel Levy.