At the start of November 2023, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that Ange Postecoglou would stay at Spurs for 5-6 years at the very least.
Spurs were playing brilliant, coruscating football. Ange had won manager of the month three months in a row. He didn’t have Harry Kane, but it was okay. His achievements were nothing short of a miracle. He was going to change the fate of this barren club. One day Spurs would take the trophy test, and yup: two lines.
That feels like a very distant memory now. Spurs fans can barely remember. On Thursday at Stamford Bridge, their team capitulated against an unimpressive Chelsea side. The Blues were hardly playing Premier League champions-level football. Spurs were just far worse.
In the 69th minute Pape Matar Sarr drove a long-range effort into the net. As the Senegalese midfielder wheeled away in celebration, Ange Postecoglou cupped his ears – he thought his team were level.
Tottenham fans were livid. They had been chanting “You don’t know what you are doing” just before the goal. They had booed the decision to introduce Pape Sarr. How dare their manager mock them?
Pochettino apologised in his press conference. He had been misinterpreted, he explained. “My mistake was celebrating a goal … I won’t be doing that again.”
Out there, just slightly out of sight, stands Mauricio Pochettino watching and waiting. Last month, the former Spurs boss said he would love to return to the club again. His shadow falls over Ange as the man scrambles to gather the pieces and salvage what he can out of his tenure at this club.
Spurs are 14th in the league with eight games to go, still avoiding their worst ever Premier League finish, but only just. They are gearing up to face Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-finals, the club’s only hope of success this season. But fans would understandably be pessimistic about their chances – the German side are third in the Bundesliga, a far cry from Tottenham. Postecoglou said he always won things in his second season. This was not the plan.
“I don’t think he was – you’re suggesting that he’s trying to put pressure on me?” said the current Spurs boss when asked about Pochettino’s comments. When probed further about his future, Ange replied that “there are some outstanding candidates out there” if Tottenham decided to sack him.
Will Daniel Levy make the call?
Who knows? Surely, Ange Postecoglou will carry on. But he’ll have to do so with his likely replacement waiting in the wings.
