Postecoglou: “Curious” Spurs are the antithesis of their own motto

 

Ange Postecoglou spoke out about former club Tottenham on The Overlap

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has spoken out following the sacking of his successor Thomas Frank, and how he felt his reign did not pan out the way he wanted, despite winning the Europa League.

Postecoglou, 60, was quick to describe Spurs as “curious”, questioning whether the club has a clear footballing vision, despite boasting one of the country’s best stadiums and a state-of-the-art training facility.

Appearing on The Overlap with Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Roy Keane and Ian Wright, the Australian reflected on his two-year spell in North London, which delivered much-needed silverware, but also further exposed the deeper problems within the ownership structure at the club.

 

Postecoglou pointed out that Tottenham’s club motto, To Dare is To Do, is emblazoned everywhere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and at the training ground at Hotspur Way, but questioned whether the club really acted upon those words.

“When you walk into Tottenham, that motto is everywhere,” he emphasised. “But their actions are almost the antithesis of that.”

While he credited former chairman Daniel Levy for delivering a world-class stadium and training ground, he framed those achievements as the result of “playing a safe game” rather than taking risks.

“Whether you like or dislike the club, you have to give credit to Daniel for delivering a new stadium and new facilities”, Postecoglou stated. “But he delivered them by taking a safe path. I think what they didn’t realise is that to win, you’ve got to take some risks at some point.”

 

A fundamental theme of the interview was the former manager pointing out how Tottenham’s ambition is framed to the public, compared to the reality of their internal operations. He pointed out the club’s statement about “competing on all fronts” and compared it to the behaviour of rivals.

“The summer after we finished 5^th, I wanted to sign Premier League-ready players”, he said. “Dom Solanke came in, and three teenagers [Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert].

“I was looking at the likes of Pedro Neto, [Bryan] Mbeumo, [Antoine] Semenyo and Marc Guehi, because I said if we’re going to push on from 5^th, that’s what the other big clubs would do in that situation – buy players that are going to help us compete.

“Those three teenagers are outstanding young players, I think they’ll be great for Spurs, but they’re not going to get you from 5^th to 4^th straightaway. What was coming out from the club was “we’re a club that can compete on all fronts”, but when Arsenal need players, they’ll spend £100m on Declan Rice. I don’t see Tottenham doing that.”

 

Postecoglou felt that he had to mention the departure of key figures at the club, such as Harry Kane, and was unequivocally clear in what he thought Kane’s loss meant to the club.

“He’s the best player I have ever witnessed up close in my career”, he stated bluntly. “But it’s not like Harry leaves and Spurs go and sign a Haaland – it just doesn’t happen.”

Failure to bring in a striker after Kane’s departure meant that Postecoglou had just one senior striker – the inconsistent Richarlison – in his first season at the club, before Solanke was signed, a whole year after Kane left for Bayern Munich.

Postecoglou delivered silverware back to Tottenham after 17 years with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the 2024-25 Europa League final

 

Though ‘Big Ange’, as he became affectionately known among Spurs supporters, was left frustrated by the recruitment – or lack thereof – his deepest desire was to eliminate the mentality at the club that had brought no silverware of any kind since 2008, and confront the lack of belief among the squad and the club as a whole.

Asked by Ian Wright whether there is a lack of belief that Spurs can win trophies, or important matches, he said :“100%, there is – that was what I was trying to break.
“My whole statement about winning things in the second year – I was doing that for the club. No one would dare say that internally because they were scared.”

He spoke about showing the players around the walls of the dressing room and players’ tunnel at Tottenham’s 62,000-capacity home before the Europa League final triumph over Manchester United, where trophy-winning teams are commemorated, mostly in black and white.

Winning the Europa League, he believed, shattered that psychological barrier.

“I think we had more to win that night than Man United”, he explained. “I said to the players, ‘you guys have a chance to elevate yourselves above all the players that have come in over the last 40 years [since Tottenham’s last silverware in Europe]’”.

 

Throughout the discussion, Postecoglou kept returning to the same question: “what are Tottenham trying to achieve?”

The club have cycled through serial winners including Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, reached several cup finals with little success, invested heavily in infrastructure and lost club legends – but, in his telling, there remains “no common theme”.

“Tottenham are a curious club. You look at the list of names of managers and there isn’t really a common theme with an obvious idea of what they’re trying to do”, Postecoglou makes a frank statement.

The Australian’s tenure in North London will ultimately be remembered for delivering European silverware and, with it, Champions League football – yet his reflections suggest he views that triumph as proof of concept rather than the culmination of a project.

The trophy removed the “Spursy” tag, he believes, but whether the club’s broader structures align with that spirit remains the constant, enduring question.