Ange Postecoglou, the coach who ended decades of misery and frustration, is gone, the latest victim of an antediluvian approach to running a football club that jerks from reaction to reaction.
They could have invested properly, not in youngsters, but in proven talent in key, long-neglected positions. They could have shaken up the wage structure to attract elite players.
Postecoglou won Spurs their first trophy in 17 years (Photo: Getty)
Daniel Levy is entitled to conclude that 22 league defeats and finishing one place above the relegation zone cannot be tolerated. The question was ultimately whether Spurs’ league form was a better indication of where they are as a club than a successful cup run. He decided it was. Others will view that call as unforgivably short-sighted and blind to the bigger issues at play.
Postecoglou dealt with an unprecedented injury list and like so many before him, was never truly backed to take Tottenham to the next level. Yet unlike most of his predecessors, he turned them into European champions. He promised trophies and exhilarating football and that is what they got.
That his tactics were depicted as entirely gung-ho is partly down to the Australian himself, his soundbites, and his being content to throw his pawns forward knowing full well the queen would be taken. He said as much after the final victory over Manchester United, when he confessed he had effectively sacrificed the league position in pursuit of the trophy.
Whether, as he promised, season three would have been better than season two, we will never know. That momentum has been shattered.
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Levy can learn from those errs in judgment but cannot be swayed by fan sentiment alone – not least because football supporters are a fickle breed. Take, for example, bickering openly with a manager one minute as he brazenly cups his ear towards them, and relentlessly serenading him the next.
Spurs are fortunate that they are still capable of luring a manager as well-respected as Thomas Frank, if they are indeed to appoint the Brentford boss. He has a tough act to follow, for though Postecoglou’s ideas were not that radical, what he achieved was radical. He also, uniquely among their managers in the last five years, seemed to understand Tottenham and what the club means to so many people.
When the confetti had settled and all that was left were empty Stella cans crushed into the pavement, an eery quiet descended on the end of that trophy parade. The party was over – what would come next?
By letting the air out of the balloons and deflating the positive mood and winning mentality that had finally permeated the club, the future suddenly looks a little bleaker.
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