Snak

Ornstein og Romano melder Tottenham tæt på Postecoglou og da han er på 1 årige løbende kontrakter med Celtic, så kan Levy næsten ikke fucke det op.

Han er næppe nogens førstevalg, men jeg håber han får fansenes opbakning alligevel.

Han spiller flot fodbold og er god til at få spillerne med sig og skabe holdånd, det siger alle der har arbejdet med ham og det er i hvert fald noget vi har savnet i flere år.

It only takes a brief look at Tottenham’s recent managerial appointments to get a sense of what an abrupt change of policy it would be if they complete the appointment of Ange Postecoglou as their new head coach next week.

Tottenham’s last permanent managerial hire was Antonio Conte in November 2021. He arrived with an almost perfect CV: five league titles across three different clubs, each time inheriting a team who had lost their way and turning them into an unstoppable winning machine. He made his name in Serie A but had also triumphed in England. He was the last manager not called Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp to win the Premier League (doing so with Chelsea in 2016-17), something he was not shy about telling the world.

Rewind back another two years and Tottenham appointed Jose Mourinho in November 2019. He too arrived with an almost perfect CV: eight league titles across four different clubs, to say nothing of one UEFA Cup, one Europa League, a stack of domestic cups and, best of all, two Champions Leagues, won with Porto and Inter, neither of them fancied at the start of the season. He had won the domestic title in four different countries but nowhere more than in England, where his three titles with Chelsea across two different spells made him their most successful manager, something he was not shy about telling the world.

(Yes, in between Mourinho and Conte Tottenham did also hire Nuno Espirito Santo, in June 2021, but only after trying and failing to appoint a long list of other more successful candidates, including Conte himself. Nuno lasted 10 league games in charge.)

But the pattern was clear. Tottenham have been shopping at the very top of the market for the most decorated, famous and best-paid managers out there. And it has been a huge waste of time, money and energy.

If Tottenham appoint Postecoglou next week — he is currently in pole position for the job — it would mark a notable change in direction. Postecoglou has a very good CV. He has won the Australian title with two different clubs, the J-League and two Scottish Premierships with Celtic. He could hardly have achieved more with the clubs who have employed him. But he has never worked in England, or in any of the ‘top five’ leagues of Europe. Mourinho and Conte each arrived at Tottenham after more than a decade at the top of the European game. Postecoglou, at the age of 57, is still working his way up.

But then Tottenham changing direction like this is precisely what the fans have been calling out for. The experience of employing big-name managers has not been a happy one. Both Mourinho and Conte gave the impression that they were taking a step down to manage Spurs, and that lowly Tottenham Hotspur should be grateful to be graced by their presence. It has led to tensions with club staff, players and fans. We can say now with certainty that it is not a recipe for a harmonious football club. No one wants a repeat of the last four years.


That is why Tottenham have been clear in their desire to go in a different direction this summer. The buzzwords have been ‘culture’ and ‘ethos’. There is a feeling at the club — perhaps overdue — that they had something special back in the Mauricio Pochettino days, when everyone pulled in the same direction, towards the same shared goals. That is what they want to get back to, a sense of ‘alignment’ throughout the football club. And they know that this has to flow from the manager himself. He has to be someone who can command buy-in from the players and, crucially, from the fans too. He has to be able to be the articulate, authoritative, persuasive voice of the whole institution.


And on this point, Postecoglou stands out as the best of all of the candidates by far. His Celtic team have played fantastic football, not just winning but winning with a sense of style and adventure. But what sets him apart — even more than that — is the way that he has taken on the role as the public face of the club. Celtic is a very high-pressure job, with a huge fanbase, and demands that can not be met by winning alone. When he took over in 2021 there were questions from fans whether he was a big enough figure to take on the job. But no one would say that now.


At Celtic, Postecoglou has shown a remarkable way with words. Everyone remembers his famous line in February 2022 after Celtic had beaten Rangers 3-0. “I said to the players that we had 60,000 in tonight and I’m sure a lot of them walked in with some problems in their life. For this 95 minutes we made them forget that and feel good and that’s something special.”

A few days later, Postecoglou was asked to expand on his words in his next pre-match press conference at Lennoxtown. “’I’m not just manager of a football club,” he explained. “I’m manager of everything that the football club embodies. It was important for me that the people who are truly invested in this club, and that’s the supporters, believed in me as a person more than anything else. When people believe in you as a person, you’re more likely to get an understanding of what you’re trying to achieve.”

That answer sums up so much of Postecoglou’s appeal. The point is not just that he is good with words, articulate and clever, which in part is why he has impressed so much in interviews. It is that he understands the political power of words. He knows that no manager will get anywhere without buy-in from the players and the fans. And he knows that to get that you have to convince them that you are on their side and want to take the team in the right direction.


Tottenham have not had a manager with any interest in this side of the job since Pochettino. None out of Mourinho, Conte or Nuno made much of an effort to engage with the fans or to speak their language. If Postecoglou arrives at Spurs and hits the same notes as he did in his first season at Celtic, that precious sense of alignment could start to creep back.

None of this would work if the football does not click, but Postecoglou’s record on that front stands up too. He has won everywhere he has been, and his Celtic side are one game away from winning the Scottish domestic treble this season. They have done so playing an entertaining 4-3-3 system, always focused on expansive, attacking football, dominating the opposition and creating chances. (The fact that Brighton were interested in Postecoglou in September, when they were looking for a replacement for Graham Potter, points to how highly his own brand of possession football is rated inside the game.)



It is two years now since Daniel Levy promised that the next Tottenham head coach (after the sacking of Mourinho) would be in line with the club’s ‘DNA’. He talked about “free-flowing, attacking and entertaining” football, as well as promoting young players. Obviously that promise was not followed through at the time, as Spurs appointed Nuno and then Conte five months later. But if Postecoglou gets the job next week then Spurs will finally have a manager who is at least committed to playing the game in the way that the fans want to see. After almost four years of negative football since Spurs opened their new stadium, it could prove to be a breath of fresh air.

Of course, there is no guarantee at this point that Postecoglou will get the job, or even that he will succeed if he does. We all know what a hard job Tottenham is right now, with the new manager having to lift the confidence of the players, re-energise the fans, transition away from the old generation while bringing youngsters through, and trying to get Spurs back into Europe. Given the state Tottenham find themselves in right now, any appointment would be a risk — and we know from the examples of Mourinho and Conte that even serial winners are no guarantee of anything.


But if we look back at Tottenham during Levy’s tenure, we can see that sometimes the unlikeliest managers are the most successful. The managers who arrived with the highest profile, and who Levy pursued for the most time, have often been failures. Not just Mourinho and Conte but Juande Ramos, Andre Villas-Boas, arguably even Jacques Santini. None of them lived up to their big reputations at Spurs.

Far more successful were Martin Jol, promoted from being Sanitini’s assistant. Harry Redknapp, recruited in a panic after Ramos’ disastrous start to the 2008-09 season. And even Pochettino, the greatest manager of the Levy era, appointed in 2014 after Louis van Gaal went to Manchester United instead. Those three each appeared to understand Tottenham Hotspur, the fans and the dynamics, better than their more-heralded predecessors. Optimistic Spurs fans will wonder whether Postecoglou, if he gets the job next week, might try to follow in their footsteps.

Ja har godt set skrivet

Tror han vil være et godt valg. Bliver spændende at følge.

Nu skal han bare bakkes godt op rent finansielt.

Så godt at du havde slået det samme opslag op på WhiteHartDanes Facebook 😆

Ja havde faktisk kopieret den herinde fra.

Kunne ikke huske hvor jeg havde set den, så nappede den lige da der var en lignende tråd :-)

Ud fra alt hvad der er blevet skrevet om Big Ange så virker det som en god ide at få ham ind.
Nu har Levy fået lov til at prøve med hans plan om at ansætte nogen store navne og det er gået galt så det er helt fint at komme tilbage til en der forhåbentlig er mere interesseret i at gøre klubben bedre end at sørge for deres eget ego.

Det faktum at det hele sker allerede nu viser også at Levy forhåbentligt har indset hvor slemt det står til og hvor meget arbejde der ligger i at få truppen bragt i orden.
Så få nu bare Ange ind i denne uge og så kan han få dannet sig et overblik over truppen hurtigst muligt og de kan få sat nogen transfers igang.

Fra den anden side af gaden, ligner det en spændende træner i har fået fat i.
En helt anden type fodbold, end Spurs har været kendt med under Conte og Mourinho.

Giver i ham tiden og en stor pengepung og er smarte på markedet, så tror jeg I bliver glade for ham.
Men ser det tage lidt tid, før projektet rigtig tager fart. I mangler en del spillere, hvis han skal spille samme system som i Celtic.

Jeg ved ikke rigtigt hvad jeg skal mene. På den ene side er jeg glad for at vi har ageret noget hurtigere end dengang Nuno miseren foregik. På den anden side er jeg MEGA skuffet over at vi ikke sørger for at det sportslige setup er på plads først. Vi virker som en discount udgave af ManU før ETH, der bare kaster penge i grams uden en solid plan.

Bare efternavnet rimer på "He´s magic you know", så går det nok.
Kender ikke manden, men han kan vel kun overraske og jeg glæder mig til det ubekendte. Hvis pressen har ret denne gang?

Jeg syntes det ser ud til at vi denne gang har lavet en grundig profil type og gået efter en Manager der passer til klubben og ikke som før hvor klubben har prøvet at tilpasse sig efter manageren. Arne Slot var øverst på den liste det tror jeg ikke der er tvivl om, men så har Ange tilsyneladende været 2er.

Personligt drømte jeg om et Poch comeback eller et tysker dynasti med Nagelsmann og en sportsdirektør der matcher ham, men jeg har ofte kritiseret klubben for at skyde fra hoften udenat have en overordnet plan og det tror jeg de har haft denne gang og det er positivt.

Ange Postecoglou lyder til at have mange af de egenskaber vi har savnet under de 3 seneste managers mht fodbold filosofi og menneskelige egenskaber. Bekymringen ligger på CVet med klubber på den anden side af verden og om man kan oversætte den succes til den største liga i verden, hvor han kommer op mod de bedste trænere i verden. Jeg er lidt delt i det spørgsmål for på den ene side, så går der utvivlsomt mange dygtige trænere rundt, som ikke bliver opdaget til den store scene fordi de kommer fra lande, der ikke traditionelt hører til de store fodbold nationer, men på den anden side så er det et stort spring i niveau.

Går vi bare 10-15 år tilbage, så var der praktisk talt kun Michael Laudrup af danske trænere i udlandet og han fik kun chancen pga sit store navn som spiller. Idag har vi flere spændende trænere i Premier League, The Championsship, Bundesligaen og Belgien, så der er evidens for at man kan tage skridtet fra små ligaer til de store. Thomas Frank havde bare erfaring fra danske u-landshold og et forfejlet ophold i Brøndby for eksempel og nu er han Premier League manager med gode chancer for at få et stort job på et tidspunkt.

Til Ange´s fordel, så er forventningerne til næste sæson relativt små, han bør sagtens kunne slutte udenfor top 4 uden at komme i problemer, især hvis spillet på banen er mere positivt og offensivt. Uden Europa har han langt bedre tid til at forme holdet som han vil spille og vi kan for engangsskyld virkelig sætte alt ind på en Cup succes.