Ange Postecoglou: Former Tottenham manager says Spurs are “not a big club” after sacking his successor Thomas Frank, “concerning” soccer news

Tottenham’s hell week got even worse on Thursday.

Tuesday’s home defeat to Newcastle put them firmly in the relegation battle and led to the sacking of manager Thomas Frank on Wednesday. And now his predecessor, Ange Postecoglou, has brutally described the “curious” Spurs as “not a big club”.

On the day of Frank’s sacking, the Australian appeared on Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast ahead of Thursday’s release, and his 18-minute appearance was plenty to digest.

Here’s what we learned from Spurs’ former Europa League-winning head coach…

Why Ange thinks Spurs are ‘not a big club’

Tottenham’s wage structure has always been a big issue for fans, and it has proven to be the same for Postecoglou over his two seasons in charge.

He said: “They’ve built an incredible stadium, an incredible training facility, but when you look at their spending, especially their wage structure, they’re not a big club.

“I thought so because when we were looking to sign players, we didn’t have those players on the market.

“When you finished fifth at the end of your first year, how do you go from fifth to really challenging? Well, we had to sign players who could play in the Premier League, but even though we finished fifth that year we didn’t qualify for the Champions League.We ended up signing Dom Solanke and three teenagers (Archie Gray, Lukas Bergvall and Wilson Odbert) who I was very keen on.”

“I was looking at Pedro Neto, (Brian) Mbeumo, (Antoine) Semenho and Marc Guehi, because I said if we are going to go there from fifth place (gestures up), that’s what other big clubs will do at that moment.”

“And I think these three teenagers are outstanding young players and will be great players for Tottenham, but they can’t go from fifth to fourth to third.”

He added: “I still felt like Tottenham, as a club, were saying we were one of the big boys, but actually, from my experience over the last two years, I don’t think they are.”

“When Arsenal needed a player, they would spend £100m on Declan Rice. I don’t see Tottenham doing that. Maybe now, I don’t know. But not just in my history, even before me. A lot of it was when they were building the stadium, so finances were an issue.”

“What I didn’t understand was how much of a difference Champions League football made. And I think that’s why there was always a sense of hopelessness, because it gave us the kitty. I mean, it was my first year…we almost got there. We finished fifth. We probably would have gotten[Champions League qualification]in any other year.”

“And if we had done that, we probably wouldn’t have bought three teenagers last year. But I think we still wouldn’t have spent. It’s not a transfer fee, it’s not a wage to actually attract.”

“When was the last time Tottenham signed a player that made you think, ‘Wow’?”

“The club’s actions are in direct contrast to its motto.”

‘To Dare Is To Do’ is Tottenham’s club motto, but Postecoglou strongly believes this is not the philosophy of those in charge, including former chairman Daniel Levy, who stepped down in September after 24 years in office.

“When you walk into Tottenham, what you see everywhere is ‘Dare Is To Do’. It’s everywhere. Yet what they do is almost the antithesis of that.

“Whether you like him or not, you’re definitely going to give Daniel credit for what he did because he took the safe route and got us a new stadium, new facilities.

“I think what they didn’t realize is that to actually win, at some point you have to take some risks and that’s in the DNA of the club.”

The big risk for Postecoglou was to end a 17-year silverware drought by winning the Europa League at the expense of a Premier League campaign.

Bilbao’s glory came as they finished 17th in the Premier League, but Postecoglou felt they had lived up to the club’s motto.

“We were never in a relegation battle last year,” he said. “We never got close, we finished 13 points out of the relegation zone.

“But towards the end of the year it was clear that we were aiming for different things, but last year we still scored 64 goals. I was still trying to get players, but we weren’t ready (in multiple aspects) to achieve that.”

“But I still felt that was the way forward. If Tottenham were to become the team I wanted them to be, this was the way to go.”

Spurs’ worst result since promotion to the top flight in 1978 cost Mr Postecoglou his job, but Postecoglou had been aware of it for months before it was made official in June.

“I knew I was going to be gone probably around the end of January, early February. I said to the coaches, ‘Look, we’re not in a relegation battle, we’re in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. I think we can win the trophy.’ I said, ‘But the reality is, we’re going to be competing every week. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that.’ But I also said that if we get eliminated at any stage of the Europa League, it’s over.

“So I knew I was gone because I could tell by the conversations I had with people. No one talked about the transfer market or next year’s pre-season, so I kind of knew it and that was fine. I didn’t understand it.”

What exactly are Spurs trying to achieve?

Tottenham are looking for their sixth permanent manager in seven years, following Frank’s sacking just eight months after Postecoglou’s.

The Dane was heavily criticized for his negative style of play, which contrasted with Postecoglou’s gung-ho approach.

Style was also the downfall of back-to-back winners Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, while Nuno Espirito Santo lasted only four months.

Mauricio Pochettino is arguably Spurs’ best manager of the 21st century, but his failure to win the silver medal that Postecoglou achieved has led him to question the direction of the club.

“Tottenham are an interesting club,” he said. “At the end of last year, there was a big change in direction, not only with me but also with the departure of Daniel[Levy]. And it created such an environment of uncertainty because there are no guarantees no matter which manager you bring in. They had a world-class manager there, but they weren’t successful. But why? What was the reason for such a big change in direction?”

“So Thomas came in and what is his purpose? What is the club’s purpose? At the beginning of the year they said, compete on every front. Well, the club hasn’t competed on every front for a long time.”

“And the most influential person at the club over the last 20 years is also leaving. So if you’re going to make such a big change in direction, you have to understand that there’s a certain amount of instability involved.”

“Now, did Thomas know he was in that situation? I don’t know. And that was quite a departure from me. Anyone who studies the game would know that it wasn’t like it was a progression for me. I spent the last few years building teams like that to play a certain way.”

“Yes, Tottenham are an interesting club, mate.”

He added: “When you look at that list of names, you don’t see any commonality in what they’re trying to do. And I think part of Tottenham’s DNA is that the team likes to play a certain way.”

“With Mauricio, I think it’s fair to say they were on that path… So when you look at these managers, they’ve got certain plays from Mauricio, they’ve got a fit in their DNA. And the important thing is, well, they haven’t won anything. We need someone, so let’s go to Jose. Jose takes them to a cup final and they sack him a week before the cup. If we’re talking about a winner, I think it’s a one-off match, I wouldn’t mind Jose being the manager of my club just for a one-off match.

“Then it was Antonio, because again he’s another winner, so when Antonio goes and I come in, they say, ‘Yes, we want football. We made the Champions League with Antonio, but we didn’t have football. So we want football, and you have football’ even though my DNA was to win too.

“So we’re going to follow that path. I mean, it’s really interesting in terms of understanding what they’re trying to build.”

Ange Levy’s story shows why the ‘Spursy’ tag ‘100 percent’ exists

Success in the Europa League seemed to be a big step for the club in shedding its infamous ‘spacy’ tag, which Postecoglou feels is ‘100 per cent’ present at the club.

Just three months later, his tenure was back on the table as Tottenham lost a late two-goal lead to PSG on penalties in Frank’s first competitive game.

Postecoglou insists he would have “backed himself” to win that game in Italy had he continued as manager.

“In two months we were supposed to win two trophies and all of a sudden it looked out the window that they weren’t going to win the big games. You guys smashed it. I mean, that’s what I’m saying. I want to know why it’s in me. What are you trying to achieve? The biggest thing that bothered you was this team-up with Spurs. Everyone thought Man United were going to win because they knew how to win.

The 1-0 victory in the Europa League final came after Postecoglou boldly declared at the start of the season that he would “win the second year”, which he revealed was part of a plan to make the club believe they could end their trophy drought.

He said: “My statement about winning the second year was that I was doing it for the club because no one inside the club dared to say that. They were just scared. They had some close games.”

The 60-year-old even recalled how “spacy” Levy’s behavior was on the day of the final.

“I remember the day of the European final, everyone in the hotel was really calm,” he said. “Actually, Daniel[Levy]came over and we were having coffee in the morning and he said, ‘Everyone’s really relaxed.’ Even he was like that. And the only thing he said to me, which was strange as a motivational point, was, ‘Oh, you know, I’ve been to seven finals and semi-finals and I haven’t won one yet.’ But I know why he said that, because.”

“So you have it, and it absolutely exists. And you break it by winning something, and what do you do? You tear it all up and go again.”