Tottenham Hotspur Ditches The Bad Boys For A Nice Guy

A couple of months back Jose Mourinho confirmed what many Tottenham Hotspur supporters had feared all along.

“I hope the Tottenham fans don’t get me wrong, but the only club in my career where I don’t have still a deep feeling for is Tottenham,” the Portuguese manager said. “Probably because the stadium was empty, Covid time, probably because Mr. Levy didn’t let me win a final and win a trophy.”

“It’s the only one – all the [other] clubs I feel a connection. Maybe people [will say] you cannot love every club. Yes, I love every club,” Mourinho continued, “with Roma, we will be connected forever, like all my previous clubs – except Mr. Levy’s club.”

At the time, there was often the sense the relationship between Mourinho and Spurs was a marriage of convenience.

This, after all, was a man who’d established himself in English soccer with a spell across the city at Chelsea.

He arrived at Tottenham Hotspur off the back of two spells in West London and a disappointing stint at Manchester United.

Mourinho’s mission in North London was to rebuild his reputation, for Spurs, it was a bet on a manager who almost guarantees to win a trophy.

But as the Portuguese maverick pointed out, he was ditched just days before the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.

After disposing of the most preeminent ‘win now’ coach you’d think the club would choose someone more strategic and long-term.

Instead, it courted Antonio Conte, Mourinho’s successor at Chelsea, in the hope another combustible big name would deliver the goods.

Although the club wasn’t able to bring him in straight after the Portuguese manager when he did land some six months later, it was hardly a love story.

Just as had been the case with Mourinho there was always the sense that Conte thought he was slumming it with Spurs.

He constantly played down both his ambitions for the club and seemed to lower the bar for what could be achieved.

When Conte’s underlying feelings about the club bubbled to the surface it was brutal and ugly.

“Tottenham’s story is this: 20 years there is this owner and they never won something why?” He exclaimed in an extraordinary post-game rant suggesting the club was all too willing to accept mediocrity.

It was an outburst that was terminal and his tenure ended soon after.

It was hard not to feel sorry for Spurs, regardless of what you think of the team every club deserves a coach who will treat the institution with respect.

For far too long Tottenham Hotspur has been addicted to bad relationships. It’s been that friend who ends up with a partner who thinks they are out of their league and takes them for granted.

So it is a relief to see after a string of bad boy coaches Tottenham Hotspur chose a genuinely nice guy.

‘Ange Who?’

When Ange Postecoglou, 57, emerged as the leading candidate for the Spurs job the crueler social media take was “Ange who?”

A million miles from a household name like Conte or Mourinho, many would have had to type his name into Google to find out who he was.

Although he joins off the back of winning a Scottish domestic treble with Celtic, a career spent coaching in the Australian A-League and a spell in Japan draws little water with the often snobby European soccer fan.

Even the merest of peeps past the superficial reservations about age or league standards reveal a coach with an impressive resume.

In his last three jobs, Postecoglou has delivered titles in the cases of Australia, where he won the Asia Cup and Yokohama F. Marinos, for whom he delivered the first title in 15 years, the glory was unprecedented.

Arriving at Celtic from those two triumphs he was also doubted and mocked.

Broadcasters Alan Brazil and Ally McCoist burst out laughing as they revealed news of his arrival with Brazil asking: “Is this a windup? Where do they come up with these guys from?”

Postecoglou responded to the sneers by winning every trophy possible and putting Celtic clear of bitter rivals Rangers.

But more than his success on the pitch is the evidence of the depth of character the man possesses.

After the online incredulity from Spurs fans subsided people started to share the ample amounts of video evidence of Postecoglou’s inspiring leadership.

One video showed a team talk to the Australian national team where he describes his journey and the relationship with his father.

Another featured him eloquently fending off provocative questions at a press conference.

It was refreshingly different from the Conte scowl down the barrel of the lens as he moaned about his lack of options or Mourinho titling his eyebrow to sneer about one of his players.

It’s not just that he has a track record of connecting emotionally with fans and players, Postecoglou has one huge advantage over his two predecessors: he respects the club.

Rather than complaining about the depth of the squad or the apparent disadvantages compared to other top-six rivals, he is already discussing what principles he wants to establish.

Asked about what he intends to do with a full preseason the manager said: “I think with a new manager coming in, myself coming in, and that gives me the time with the players and there will be new staff in as well, where we could all sort of begin to embed the kind of values and football,” he said.

“We want to play. Also, we get to spend a lot of time together, which I think is a good thing because as much as anything else, we get to know each other as people. So it’s vital to our season ahead.”

Who knows? It might turn out that as far as Spurs are concerned nice guys finish first.