Ange Postecoglou says the chance to end Tottenham’s long trophy drought was the biggest attraction when it came to accepting the job. (More Football News)
This week saw the club announce revenue streams (£549.6million) in the 2022-23 financial year had passed half-a-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, Postecoglou 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 Sunday’s visit of 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. When does that happen? I was hoping it would happen this year but it didn’t so the plan is for it to happen next year.
“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."
“If it doesn’t, you will be asking questions to a different bloke next time because it won’t be me."
“That’s why I’m here, to bring success to this football club. This year was my objective so next year becomes the objective. And the quicker it happens, the better for me and the football club.”
Postecoglou has repeatedly faced questions about the battle for Champions League qualification in recent weeks, especially since he claimed a top-four 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 the Australian 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 to come to Tottenham, who know this club, know the challenge we’ve got and we do have a challenge. We’re different to other clubs in that we haven’t had success for a while — so I’m looking for a certain type of character.”
