Tottenham recently sacked manager Thomas Frank, who had succeeded Ange Postecoglou.
The next few weeks at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be quite telling as the chiefs at Hotspur Way finally got enough mettle to pull the trigger on Thomas Frank as they relieved him of his duties on Wednesday morning. Many Lilywhites supporters would think that the Dane’s sacking didn’t come from pure conviction but instead from the fact that pressure on him became unbearable.
And now the fans are sitting on the sidelines, quite nervously wondering what the next project under ENIC will look like and how long before it implodes (like the five projects before).
And one name that has been doing the rounds today is Ange Postecoglou. The Australian tactician found himself on a podcast just after Thomas Frank’s sacking was announced. And the hosts of The Overlap, Gary Neville and Carragher, took advantage of that impeccable timing.
Ange Postecoglou gets candid on Tottenham’s stature
The once Tottenham coach went on to speak about his former employers, and he was quite honest with his words, even though they would pierce the Lilywhites’ hearts. He admitted that Tottenham are not a big club, at least not in how they operate.
He said (via. Stick to Football podcast), diving deep to highlight why Spurs aren’t a big club:
“They’ve built an unbelievable stadium, unbelievable training facilities, but when you look at the expenditure, particularly their wages structure, they’re not a big club.”
He went on to compare Tottenham with their arch rivals Arsenal and how the Gunners spent over £100m on Declan Rice while he had to make do with signing teenagers.
Ange continued:
“When Arsenal need players, they’ll spend a hundred million on Declan Rice. I don’t see Tottenham doing that. Maybe now, I don’t know. But not, not in, not just my history, even predating me.
And it is true, isn’t it? There is always promise about excellence every time you hear someone from the board speak, but never have we seen the club operate like anything more than a mid-tier project with elite branding.
Author Opinion
It is true that Tottenham is a big brand and has a big financial value. But it seems like the club is only moving in that financial direction where the numbers at the end of the year matter more than the number of silverware at the end of the season. It seems like that.
You see Tottenham at the top percentile of the list of the best-run clubs when finances come into consideration, and that is what has helped the North Londoners build this massive stadium. But then what about all this when, on the pitch, you’re just a mid-table side that can barely win games?
Conte, Mourinho, Ange, and Frank are all big names in terms of what they have done on the touchline, but none of them could take Tottenham to the promised land in terms of the project cycle.
What do you make of Ange’s comments about Tottenham not being a big enough club? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.