Ange Postecoglou is looking to build a Tottenham Hotspur team that will reflect Harry Kane’s excellence and admits he has been told nothing by the club at this stage to suggest the striker is leaving. Postecoglou faced the media for the first time on Monday as Tottenham head coach and said that his chat with Kane on Wednesday will help him “get a sense from him of what he thinks the club needs to do to be successful and walk out on that training pitch and try and make it happen”.
When the Australian was asked whether he can be successful in his new job without Kane, he slapped that thought down and explained what kind of team he wants to build to reflect the same values as the England captain.
Ange Postecoglou said: “I don’t think in those terms but there’s no doubt that, and I think Harry would say it himself, he wants his team to be successful. He’s been very, very successful individually for a long time, pretty much from when he first started at this football club. He would be the first to say that we need a strong team and that’s where my focus is. To build a team will reflect the same sort of individual excellence that he’s had in the team context. I’m certainly big on team ethos and making sure we need a strong unit if we are going to be successful and I’m sure that Harry would be the first to voice that needs to be the case.”
Bayern Munich have been vocal in their interest in Kane and the media in Germany were not expecting the club’s recent bid to be accepted, particularly as they claim Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was livid at reports over there that Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel had held talks with Kane at his home and that the striker has agreed terms in principle with the Bundesliga outfit. Postecoglou does not appear to be frustrated by the noise around his star man and he said that nothing has arrived from Levy or those above to suggest that Kane is on the way out.
Ange Postecoglou said: “If I say it’s annoying me, it would be misleading. It doesn’t register. I always believe that you’re much better trying to understand what a situation is through your own eyes. For me, in my head right now Harry’s on holiday, he’s on a sunbed and playing with his family and having a great time – that’s the picture I’ve got. Now, if other things are going on I’m not going to think about it and the reason I don’t is because he’ll be here in two days’ time and everything I need to know will be sitting right in front of me. So in the meantime, I’m not going to lose time or sleep on conjecture that may or may not be out there because then you’re jumping at shadows – how much of it is true, how much of it is not true? Nothing’s landed on my desk at this moment from anybody at the club to say there’s a decision to be made there. Not even close to that, so because of that I’m looking forward to having Harry here on Wednesday and getting ready for the tour.”
The Kane saga is expected to dominate the headlines in the days and weeks ahead and the Spurs boss added
Ange Postecoglou added: “Irrespective of my desires, I’m sure you guys will make sure it does. Again, it’s something I have no control over. What I will deal with is, as I have in the past, what I see day to day. Is is affecting the group? Is it affecting Harry? That’s the only time it will maybe register. It wont affect me, I’ll come here every week and try to answer your questions as best as I can, but that will be the barometer and right now I don’t have that barometer because he’s not even here yet, so that will tell me if that’s becoming an issue or not. I doubt somebody like Harry would let it affect him in any sort of way because this football club means too much to him and he wouldn’t let it infiltrate the dressing room. I guess it’s how we react as a football club that’s going to be important and that will get tested mate, for sure.”
Tottenham fans should be ready for entertaining football under Postecoglou and the 57-year-old is looking forward to building a team the public won’t be able to keep their eyes off.
Ange Postecoglou said: “I think it’s fair to say that’s a fit for who I am as a manager and the kind of teams I’ve produced in the past because I’ve had a lot of success in my career but it’s also been done on the back of playing a certain way. I dare to say that was probably part of, one of the biggest factors in the club appointing me was that they saw that, that’s what I’m going to try and deliver. That seems to be the right fit for this club in terms of the fans’ expectations. We call it entertainment but also win games of football, score goals, be exciting. They don’t want to see their team sit back. There are different ways of winning games but the intent for us will be to try and make sure this football club is a compelling watch for everybody.”
Postecoglou has had to convince the doubters of his worth on numerous occasions throughout his career and has always succeeded. He’s a man who relishes being the underdog and with this coming rebuild at Tottenham, it is another chance to tackle the kind of challenge he adores.
Ange Postecoglou said: “It’s the bit I love the best. I’ve said it in the past. I’ve been fortunate in the past because I’ve had success but whenever I reflect on any job I’ve had, it’s not the success that I look back on, it’s the build that I look back on because I know it’s not always going to be smooth, there’s going to be plenty of doubters which is when your belief and resolve gets doubted. Not just for me personally, but the whole club, the whole group and I love working through that, getting out the other side and that’s the biggest attraction for me in this position. Aside from being in a massive football club and the premier competition in the world, was the opportunity to do something that people will see in many respects unsurmountable. I love that.”
The Australian used to watch football matches in the middle of the night as a youngster with his father Jim and he has an abundance of memories of Tottenham from those early, formative years.
Ange Postecoglou said: “Yeah plenty. If you do grow up on the other side of the world, you don’t have it on your doorstep. So for the most part for us it was the English Premier League or the First Division when I was growing up and I remember Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles absolutely. I remember that FA Cup final absolutely. They were my best childhood memories, I’ve said it before, because it was me and my dad at 2am. That’s me as a young boy, sitting on a couch watching a game of football. Plenty of Tottenham teams…Glenn Hoddle’s an absolute master and those kind of players resonate around the world. Sometimes I know it’s hard for you to understand because you’ve had it right in front of you your whole lives, but when you’re living on the other side of the world it’s a real investment. To get up in the middle of the night, it stays with you. There are plenty of teams and Tottenham players through that era that I have strong memories of in my childhood.”
Some have compared the way Postecoglou’s teams play to those of Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola. The Australian has previously worked within The City Group as boss of Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan and has been occasionally touted as a potential successor to the Spaniard. However, Postecoglou laughed when it was suggested that Guardiola, who again praised the new Spurs boss recently, had been a mentor and friend to him.
Ange Postecoglou said: “It was very gracious of him but I spent about 20 minutes in his company [when Yokohama played City in a pre-season friendly a few years back]. I have not spoken to him otherwise. If you are asking me, will he go down as one of the greatest managers of all time, yes. He has had an unbelievable influence on football. All of us involved. Whether it was consciously or unconsciously influenced by him, absolutely. An unbelievable manager but check my phone mate, he’s not in it under Pep! I met him [in Japan]. He was great. He was very generous. Most of the top managers are. I coached against Sir Alex Ferguson in 2000 in Brazil, we did a press conference together and he gave me 15 minutes of his time. It was gold for me. I was 34 at the time and I was coaching a team from Australia against Manchester Utd in the Club World Cup and spent 15 minutes which was gold. All the great managers in the world have that great trademark. When I came across Pep in Japan he was generous with his time. There are people you eye from afar and plenty after I met them, I wish I hadn’t, but he is not one of them. You want to be kind with your time and he certainly was.”
Postecoglou left Celtic after winning five trophies in two seasons in Scotland, including the domestic treble before making the move to Tottenham.
Ange Postecoglou said: “It all came down to where I felt the biggest challenge was for me. For me to come from where I’ve come from and be sitting here today, I needed to have that instinct inside me to know when to move on because I’ve had to be faultless in my career to get to this point. That’s because no one’s going to rate an Australian manager, are they? So if I had any significant failures along the way I was never going to get here. Part of that process is knowing that I need to keep moving to be at my best. Yes, there’s challenges at every club you’re at. Every club that I’ve left, even the national team, there were more challenges [to take on], but there are always challenges, even if I’d stayed at a club for five years I’d never be satisfied with where we’re at. I’d be looking to improve all the time. So, that’s not the key factor for me. The key factor was there was an opportunity here to again make an impact at a football club, which I’ve tried to do at every club I’ve been at.”
The holy grail for Spurs supporters is silverware, with just a sole trophy – the 2008 League Cup – under the 22-year stewardship of chairman Daniel Levy. Postecoglou was asked when he believes Tottenham can finally lift another trophy.
