Ange Postecoglou has said that his early-season promise that he always wins things in his second campaign “wasn’t me boasting, it was a declaration” after Tottenham Hotspur lifted the UEFA Europa League on Wednesday.
Spurs’ 1-0 victory over Manchester United in Bilbao ended the club’s 17-year trophy drought and made Postecoglou the first Australian coach to win a major European trophy in history.
“I always win things in my second year. Nothing has changed,” the Spurs manager said in September after back-to-back defeats in the Premier League.
That narrative has followed him all season, yet eight months later Postecoglou has delivered on his word by leading Spurs to the Europa League title.
“It wasn’t me boasting, it was a declaration … If we fell short, I was ready to cop it,” Postecoglou told TNT.
His stint at Spurs has been “the toughest couple of years” of his career, he said.
“I knew it going into it,” Postecoglou told CBS Sports. “This football club has had world-class managers, a lot better-credentialed than I am, and haven’t been able to get there, so I knew I had a massive challenge in front of me.”
In the build-up to the final, Postecoglou spoke of changing the perception of a club with a reputation for choking when opportunity knocks.
Against United, they barely crossed the halfway line in the second half as they came under a constant siege but held out to end their long wait for a major trophy.
“I know what it is for this football club, it’s hard to break that cycle,” Postecoglou told TNT Sports.
“I could sense some nervousness because they’ve been in the situation before but until you get the monkey off your back, you never understand what it feels like.
“Us finishing third [in the Premier League] wasn’t going to change anything for this football club. The only thing that was going to change this football club was us winning something.”
Tottenham, who are 17th in the Premier League table, have scored 63 league goals this year and let in 61.
In stark contrast, the knockout rounds of the Europa League have seen Tottenham adopt a more pragmatic approach that did not appear to be in Postecoglou’s armoury.
It was a similar story on Wednesday as Tottenham’s defence, which at times during the second half was 11-strong, repelled everything that a modest United side could muster.
“You know, when you’re in that situation, it comes down to really good organisation, really having a real game plan, and then minimising the moments the opposition have,” Postecoglou said.
While Postecoglou has achieved what the likes of Mauricio Pochettino, José Mourinho and Antonio Conte failed to do by delivering silverware, sources have told ESPN that Postecoglou faces an uphill battle to keep his job following Spurs’ dismal domestic campaign.
As the fans sang his name on Wednesday he certainly did not sound like a man ready to head off into the sunset basking in the glow of making good on his vow.
“We’re still building this team. It’s still a very young team,” he said. “My thought process of what I’ve been doing this year is trying to build a team that can be successful for four or five, six years now, but I’m the manager of the football club. That decision is not in my hands.
“I don’t feel like I’ve completed the job yet. We’re still building. Those players in there will want to feel this again. They’ve got it now and they won’t want to let it go.”
South Melbourne (1996-2000)
In his first job as a head coach, Postecoglou won Australia’s top-flight title — the National Soccer League — in his second season with South Melbourne and again the following year.
Brisbane Roar (2009-12)
Postecoglou achieved the same feat at Brisbane Roar, winning the league title — by now it was called the A-League — in his second season and retained it the following year.
Australia (2013-17)
During the second year of Postecoglou’s four-year stint with Australia, the country hosted the Asian Cup in early 2015 and reached the final against South Korea.
Yokohama F. Marinos (2018-21)
In his first big job outside Australia, Postecoglou lost the Japanese Cup final in his first season with Yokohama F. Marinos but made up for it by winning the top-flight league title by six points the following year.
Celtic (2021-23)
At Celtic, Postecoglou was in charge of the biggest team in Scotland — albeit one which had relinquished its league title the previous year. Under the Australian, Celtic regained the Scottish Premiership title by four points in his first season and retained it — by seven points — in his second season. Postecoglou then left for Tottenham.
Information from Reuters, the Associate Press and ESPN’s James Olley contributed to this report
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