Ange Postecoglou Joins Tottenham! Will He End up in the Tottenham Manager Graveyard?

After winning 5 trophies in 2 seasons Ange Postecoglou moves south to take over Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur are calling!

Anyone hearing those words, especially those prospective Spurs managers being targeted after the latest sacking Daniel Levy has made, are not words of hope. They make the strongest person shudder and given the recent history of Tottenham, can you blame people?

Tottenham are a club that prioritises attacking football and is notorious for having an impatient fan base. A lot of that impatience has been directed towards whichever poor soul has been given the hot seat but of late, that pressure has been directed squarely at one person, Chairman Daniel Levy.

I'd also venture as far as to say that they have delusions of grandeur in that they believe they are better than they really are. Since 1990, what have they actually won? Sure, they won the 1991 FA Cup and the 2008 League Cup but does that actually give them the right to call themselves a big club? Not in a million years.

Over the last 4 years in particular, they have become a graveyard for managers in a way that has not been seen before.

Mauricio Pochettino despite leading Tottenham to the Champions League final in 2018-19 was sacked 5 months later after a poor start to the 2019-20 season.

Jose Mourinho took over and got sacked four days BEFORE the League Cup Final in 2021.

Ryan Mason took over for that cup final and saw them out for the rest of the season. After a massive search for the next manager that took in a great number of rejections, Daniel Levy elected to go with Nuno Espirito Santos for the 2021-22 season but he barely made it to October before getting sacked.

Antonio Conte was next and he made it to March 2023 before one of the greatest press conferences of all time saw him sacked in that same month. Conte's assistant Christian Stellini took over but he only lasted 4 matches before getting sacked after an extraordinary 6-1 defeat against Newcastle. Ryan Mason took over a second time and saw them to the end of the season only to just miss out on European qualification.

That is 7 managerial changes since November 2019 with 3 of those Conte to Stellini to Mason occurring in the 2022-23 season alone.

One thing that has been constant during that time, no trophies won by the Spurs.

Back to those words at the start though; Tottenham Hotspur are calling!

Their search took in the likes of Arne Slot (stayed at Feyenoord), Julien Nagelsmann (unemployed), and Luis Enrique (unemployed). Then the dart landed at Celtic and Ange Postecoglou.

Rather than be daunted by the challenge, Postecoglou said: "Sure mate, let's do this."

Had this blog been written a few days ago, I would've been saying, stay at Celtic, have another crack at improvement in the Champions League, win another trophy or 2 then maybe look south but if there's one thing about Ange, he's not afraid of a challenge.

Besides the refrains of Poste-who and the protests of a small section of Tottenham fans, most Spurs fans are cautiously optimistic that he is the man to turn the club around. A 4-year deal given to him by Daniel Levy is the starting point of the rebuilding project needed for Tottenham but many Spurs fans don't realise how lucky they actually are and if you look at his recent journey, you would understand why

2009-10 - Postecoglou takes over Brisbane Roar, immediately gets rid of the "old guard" and they have a shocker 2010-12 - Postecoglou revolutionises the game with the Roar's unbelievable playing style, winning 1 Premiership (top of the table) and 2 Championships (finals series) at one stage going 36 games unbeaten in the A-League 2012-13 - Postecoglou moves to Victory enacting the same philosophy and style that was so successful at Brisbane. It helped restore pride back to the Victory who had a shocker the previous season.

2013-17 - Postecoglou is headhunted from Victory to take over as Australian coach. Helps us qualify for the 2014 World Cup where we were very competitive despite not taking a point from a group containing Chile, Netherlands and Spain. In 2015 we won the Asian Cup and in 2017 he took us to another World Cup however he would then resign under mysterious circumstances. 2018-21 - Postecoglou would take over at Yokohama F Marinos creating history in the process by being the first Australian Manager to lift the J-League in 2019.

2021-23 - Postecoglou moved to Celtic and this was widely condemned by Celtic fans as they thought he was a dud and things would get worse. It didn't take long for him to win over the Celtic fans and 5 trophies across 2 seasons playing his brand of football ended up winning many admirers.

Postecoglou is a manager who will suffer no fools but his man-management is also exceptional. The main difference will be seen in press conferences where victories will be because of the players while Ange will take the blame for defeats.

This is a very volatile situation that Ange Postecoglou is about to walk into though. Not only is he going to have the spectre of Daniel Levy breathing down his neck but he is also going to have to pacify very quickly a Tottenham fanbase suffering from a combination of delusions of grandeur and a lack of trophy success.

The biggest question right now is this: If Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte couldn't lead this team to success, what the hell can Ange Postecoglou do that they couldn't?

The answer to that very question will determine whether Ange sinks or swims but with an impatient fanbase and a Chairman that is prone to pulling the trigger on managers, early struggles could very well see Ange Postecoglou join a growing list of managers in the Tottenham Managers Graveyard.

Only time will tell but as an Aussie, I look forward to seeing how Ange Postecoglou, the first Australian to manage a team in the Premier League gets on.