On Wednesday they sang for him just as they had back at the start. In Bilbao, Ange Postecoglou was the man who had won them the Europa League.
Back in the heady days of early last season, he was Robbie Williams’ Angel, the brave and innovative coach who was going to lead a new and bold Tottenham team into an exhilarating future.
What has happened in between has many layers and speaks to issues of recruitment, spending, player injuries and all the other vicissitudes of sporting life.
But primarily it’s been about Postecoglou and his suitability or otherwise for Tottenham and their ambition to be a top Premier League side. And on Friday, as Tottenham prepare to parade their first trophy for 17 years through the streets of north London, it’s still about this.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy decided a while ago, as reported here on this page, that a Europa League triumph – were it to come – would form part of his review of Postecoglou’s two seasons, but nothing more than that. It was unlikely to be the decisive factor and that’s entirely right.
And now that it’s here, what we do see? We see a charismatic, talented and largely likeable coach bathed in the sunlight that comes with winning something.
Ange Postecoglou is a charismatic, talented and largely likeable coach bathed in the sunlight that comes with winning something
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy decided a while ago that a Europa League triumph – were it to come – would form part of his review of Postecoglou’s two seasons, but nothing more than that
On Wednesday they sang for him just as they had back at the start – Postecoglou was the man who had won Tottenham the Europa League
The Europa League final was billed as a shootout for a Champions League place and the money that comes with that. But once it was won, it didn’t feel like that at all.
It felt much more beautiful and rudimentary than that. It felt like a night when the ache deep in the heart of Tottenham souls was finally calmed. It felt like adrenaline. It felt like an answer. It felt like a homecoming. It felt like validation. It felt like belonging. It felt like love.
Yet still we return to the question. What do we see now that it’s here?
We see a man who has given all of these things to those who sang for him, a man who has changed the lives and careers of his players forever, a man who has just added a ton of zeroes to Levy’s precious balance sheet.
But still we see context and a bigger picture and therefore a man who has probably reached the end of his own road at Tottenham.
To be invited to go now would allow Postecoglou to do so with this night as his legacy and maybe there is much to be said for that.
It was fascinating to watch him at full-time on Wednesday. The way he shook the hand of every Manchester United player. The way he embraced his wife and sons. The way he had to be cajoled by his players into joining the podium celebrations. There was no fakery there. That was all genuine, a warm and real man doing warm and real human things.
Part of this is why those of us fortunate enough to meet him are fond of him. Time spent with him at Tottenham’s training ground during the heady days of autumn 2023 was illuminating. Look into the eyes of Postecoglou and more often than not you will see the truth staring back.
Time spent with him at Tottenham’s training ground during the heady days of autumn 2023 was illuminating
It was fascinating to watch him at full-time on Wednesday, and there was no fakery there
We saw a man who has given all of these things to those who sang for him, a man who has changed the lives and careers of his players forever
But maybe he has proved himself a little too human for this exalted level of this most exacting trade. He told us that day that he was not one for small talk, whether it be with a player or member of staff. ‘I wouldn’t know what to say,’ he admitted.
Some at Tottenham have found him closed off and isolated, particularly as poor results brought pressure. Some thought he needed more experienced coaching staff or, at least, people he knew better. They saw the burden grow heavy and feared he was carrying it alone. They looked for change and growth in him, but didn’t see it.
In public, meanwhile, it has at times been painful to watch him wither to the degree that much of this season has been less of a football journey and more of an open window into human vulnerability.
Postecoglou admitted on Wednesday that his team’s league season has been ‘unacceptable and terrible’. At the same time he spoke of people ‘coming at me’ and this has been a theme of his second season in particular.
Postecoglou has taken much of the scrutiny that comes with poor results desperately personally, suggesting at one stage that it was because he is Australian. That was a low point. The 59-year-old has been analysed on the back of his team’s performances and nothing else.
To see him come through all of this and emerge with a trophy in his hands and a medal round his neck is uplifting and thrilling and testimony to his determination and cussedness. It indicates, too, that he has managed to keep his players with him on a difficult journey. Postecoglou has a survival spirit and that can take you a long way in sport.
Nevertheless, we still see what there is to see.
We still see a 17th-place Premier League position. We still see a desperate regression in results and performance that actually began partway through last season. We still see 21 league defeats and a departure from his days of ‘Angeball’ towards something that does not yet have a clearly identifiable form. It worked against a desperate United side in northern Spain, but it does not carry the shape of a springboard.
We still see 21 league defeats and a departure from his days of ‘Angeball’ towards something that does not yet have a clearly identifiable form
It worked against a desperate Manchester United side in northern Spain, but does not carry the shape of a springboard
Postecoglou also said after this victory that he hoped he laid something down on which a future can be built. Maybe he has. And maybe somebody else should now be invited to do it
Levy and his club have much work to do this summer. Another raft of young players is probably not the answer to the question of next steps. A football club does not advance or retreat on the back of a head coach alone.
But it is also hard to advance a watertight case for the retention of the man who will hold the trophy in his hands on the bus parade, bar the evidence of one glorious and magnificent night in Bilbao.
Postecoglou didn’t much like it when the crowd sang that reworked version of Angels at him at the start of last season. He didn’t ever wish the story to be about him.
But it is, of course, and always was. He said on Wednesday that he hoped he had changed something vital inside the soul of Tottenham with this triumph, that he hoped Spurs staff, fans and players would now see themselves differently.
He has done that and maybe there can be no greater legacy, not for him anyway. What a way to go. What a way to be remembered.
Postecoglou also said after this victory that he hoped he laid something down on which a future can be built. Maybe he has. And maybe somebody else should now be invited to do it.
Phil Foden’s admission that he is physically and emotionally damaged by this season was as close to a sporting cry for help as you will ever hear
We must protect Foden – there are no excuses
Phil Foden’s admission that he is physically and emotionally damaged by this season was as close to a sporting cry for help as you will ever hear.
He should not play for England next month and should not be included in the Manchester City party for the Club World Cup.
He is a broken footballer and we either wish him to heal or we don’t. There are no excuses.
