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Ange Postecoglou has described “curious” Tottenham as “not a big club” after their sacking of Thomas Frank. Frank succeeded Postecoglou last summer but was unable to reverse their fortunes in the Premier League and was shown the door on Wednesday with Spurs 16th.
“Having been in that position now twice in the last six months, it’s tough,” Postecoglou told The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast. “You know that he can’t be the only issue at the club. It’s a curious club, Tottenham. It’s made a major pivot at the end of last year, not just with me but with [the executive chair] Daniel [Levy] leaving as well, and you’ve created this whole sort of environment of uncertainty.
“There’s no guarantee whichever manager you bring in – they’ve had world-class managers there and they haven’t had success. And for what reason? Thomas is walking in and what’s his objective, what’s the club’s objective?
“If you’re going to do such a major pivot, you’ve got to understand there’s going to be some instability there. Did Thomas know he was walking into that? I don’t know.”
Postecoglou was sacked despite winning the Europa League, and he believes a disconnect between Tottenham’s stated ambitions and their willingness to invest in players is at the heart of their struggles.
“They’ve built an unbelievable stadium, unbelievable training facilities but, when you look at their expenditure and particularly their wages structure, they’re not a big club,” he said. “I saw that because, when we were trying to sign players, we weren’t in the market for those players.
“When you walk into Tottenham, what you see everywhere is ‘To Dare Is To Do’ [the club motto], and yet their actions are almost the antithesis of that. I think they didn’t realise that, to actually win, you’ve got to take some risks. I felt like Tottenham as a club were saying: ‘We’re one of the big boys.’ And the reality is I don’t think they are.”
The Australian, who was also sacked by Nottingham Forest this season after a very brief spell, agreed with the club’s “Spursy” tag that there is a lack of belief in success. “One hundred per cent there is, and that was the thing I was trying to break,” he said. “And then you break that by winning something and what do you do? You tear it all up and you go again. And it’s not because it’s me, but what are you trying to achieve?”
