Spurs’ guvnor says silverware is his motivation
Ange Postecoglou says the chance to end Tottenham’s long trophy drought was the biggest attraction when it came to accepting the job.
This week saw the club announce revenue streams in the 2022-23 financial year had passed halfa-billion pounds for the first time and also marked five years since Tottenham Hotspur Stadium opened.
However, the main draw for Postecoglou to take over at Spurs was not their money-spinning home venue, the state-of-the-art training facility or healthy finances, but the opportunity to bring silverware back to N17.
Any realistic prospect of Tottenham winning a trophy this season ended in January when they exited the FA Cup but their experienced head coach had continued to state they remained in the title race.
Now 13 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool with only 24 points still to play for, the Australian has accepted it will be a trophyless campaign but is determined to change that next year.
“It’s a fantastic stadium and the facilities at the training ground are fantastic, so you factor that into it, but it wasn’t the reason I came to Tottenham,” Postecoglou said ahead of today’s visit by Nottingham Forest.
“And I get it. It’s the Premier League, I’m earning decent money, it’s high profile, it’s got a great stadium, great facilities.
“(But) it hasn’t won anything for a while. That’s why I came. That’s the biggest attraction.
“If they were playing out of the back of some other stadium, it wouldn’t have made a difference to me.
“I see a really big club which hasn’t had success for a quite a while and it’s a great challenge for me. “Progress is not just an endless road, progress has an objective of being successful.
“At the same time you have got to understand that progress is really messy. It’s disheartening and dispiriting and it can really knock your enthusiasm because it’s not linear.
“You are going to cop some blows along the way and I know that is still ahead of us. We have had to manage a few this year so you understand the progress I’m talking about leads to success.”
Postecoglou has repeatedly faced questions about the battle for Champions League qualification in recent weeks, especially since he claimed a topfour finish was not a priority.
It was put to the 58-year-old that playing in Europe’s elite competition could be the difference between signing the best players or not this summer, but he rejected that notion.
He asked: “Why do you want to come to Tottenham? Because if you want Champions League football and that’s all you want, you don’t want to come to Tottenham; you just want to go to a Champions League club.
“I want people who know this club, know the challenge we’ve got and we do have a challenge. I’m looking for a certain type of character.” — AAP