Welcome to Spurs. How do you feel?
Really good. Obviously it’s been a little while now. Delighted to be here, looking forward to the massive challenge ahead which I was well aware of before taking on the responsibility. Looking forward to working with the players and staff, and being part of a really strong competition.
Is patience required from the fans?
It’s fair to say every position I’ve had has needed some sort of rebuild. I had a brilliant two years at Celtic, loved every minute of it, but it was challenging, particularly at the start. I don’t know if it’s about patience. You can’t ask people to feel a certain way or dampen expectations. I think what I’ve tried to do wherever I’ve been, including Celtic, is allow them to form their own opinion based on what they see not what I say. We had a massive rebuild at Celtic but at the beginning, even though the results weren’t there, the supporters could see what we were trying to do and get behind us. I don’t know whether it’s going to be a rocky start or a good start for us but my hope and desire and what I’m going to try to do is give supporters hope that we’re going to embark on something special.
Do you have to keep Harry Kane?
Question three was Harry, was it? We were running a pool with the coaches, I think Mile Jedinak won actually. I had over six because I thought you’d care more about me. In terms of the squad, think it’s fair to say the reason I’m here is because the club is seeking change. A change of direction, a change in the way we do things and that usually means a change in personnel: players and staff. In that context, my role right at the minute is to deal with what’s in front of me, the certainties that I have, [while] knowing that are going to be many uncertainties and trying to tick off one by one the path forward for us and [determine] what our squad is going to look like. It may take a little while before we have clarity on that. But within that I can’t wait for that moment to start working. We’ve started working already.
Was it always your ambition to work in the Premier League?
I can’t say it was a goal. I’ve come literally from the other side of the world so I’ve just wanted to experience what I can in my career and see where that takes me. Every challenge I’ve had I’ve enjoyed and embraced, whether that’s in different countries, different league, national team or club football. But the Premier League is the strongest competition. Some of the best managers in the world are in this competition, some of the strongest teams in the world are in this competition.
Why wouldn’t you want to embrace that? It’s another opportunity to do what I do in a different competition, with different fundamentals around it and experience something else in my career. It wasn’t an ambition of mine but certainly everything I’ve done I’ve tried to do to the best of my ability, which has given me a career were I’ve realised everything I’ve wanted to do.
Do you arrive with any preconceived ideas and set goals?
No, no on both. Going in with preconceived ideas might be limiting, as might be making goals. Again, from the outset what’s important is that we try and establish some key principles of who we want to be first of all. Not just in how we play, but how we behave, how we train. The way we interact with one another, how we treat everyone else. And let’s see where that takes us. Because goals are great but it can stifle you a little bit because you become a bit narrow.
The reality is we’re going to have to do things and be flexible along the way to adjust to whatever challenges there may be ahead of us. We don’t know what they are – sometimes you do all the best planning and try to have foresight but something comes across your path and you have to be agile to adjust to that. And we’ll see where that takes us. But we’re a big club and the end goal for all big clubs is to have success and that’s what we’ll do.
How big a step up will it be to the Premier League for you?
I don’t know. I had the same sort of questions when I moved to the SPL, but I’ve coached in a World Cup and in lots of different leagues. I think every challenge is the same to be honest because it’s relative to the competition you’re in. I’ve never gone into any job thinking this is going to be easy compared to anything else I’ve done. It’ll be a massive challenge, absolutely. But Celtic was a massive challenge. I know people say in Scotland if you’re Celtic you’ll finish first or second, but for Celtic second is last. Second I’m not in a job. You have to finish first. So irrespective of what outside thoughts are, there’s still a demand there. And it’s not just about winning, it’s the manner of how you do it. There’s an expectation of how you play football, particularly for me because I’ve always been explicit in saying I want my teams to play a certain way and how we do things. So I’ve never seen anything I’ve done as a step up, I’ve always seen it as a different challenge. Different set of circumstances because whenever it’s what people perceive as a step up in level, you’re also working with better players and in a bigger organisation with more resources. So all of those things are relative. I don’t dismiss any success at any level because I can guarantee that whatever we perceive the lowest level of football or life I can guarantee there’s someone grafting to beat the relative competition. I’ve never seen it as a step up, it’s just a new challenge for me.
In your conversation with Harry Kane – is about what he wants or you trying to convince him?
I don’t think it’s my role to sit down and treat people in a manner because of their circumstances. I’m really big on treating everyone the same, and Harry has already entrenched himself in the history of this football club. He’s a very important part. He’s one of the premier strikers in the world and I want him involved. My conversation with him will be about how we can make this club successful. And I’ve got no doubts that what he wants as well.
So within that context, whatever that narrows into the personal stuff around Harry as an individual. If the conversation takes it that way then we’ll take it that way. But I doubt it’s going to be defined in the manner that people think it’s going to be. It’s not going to be a conversation where we walk out of the room and have an understanding. I don’t want that kind of conversation, what I want is to introduce myself to Harry and give him my vision of the football club. And get a sense from him on what he thinks the club needs to do to be successful and walk out on that training pitch and try and make it happen.
As I said, even that, around the captaincy, it’s just not at the forefront of my mind right now. What’s at the forefront of my mind is to try to establish where we want to go as a football club and trying to be as clear to people as I can about that, about me and all these kind of things. Because if I start thinking about all that kind of detail right now I’m going to miss the opportunity to really establish some of the fundamentals of what I want us to be.
In terms of the squad, we’re in that stage like most clubs where you kind of know that there will be activity between now and the start of the season and the end of the window and there will be some players who won’t be here and some players that will come in. Again in my mind I try to keep that with the understanding that until something is certain I’m not going to commit myself either way to whether a player is going to be here or not. There’s no point in wasting energy on something that may or may not happen.
So far the lads we’ve had in have been excellent. They’ve been brilliant with the staff in adapting and implementing the things I want and we’ll keep moving along. We’ll get the rest of the squad back in the next couple of days so it will be great to see everyone in the building.
What did you make of some of the fans reaction to appointment with some of them taking to social media to say they weren’t happy?
I’ve never taken social media as a barometer of me as a person. I’d hate to think anyone does. There’s more to life than who we are. Unless you’ve actually polled every Spurs fan in the world and you’ve come out with a defining majority that don’t want me here, I’d suggest that what comes out of social media comes out of social media.
Supporters with every appointment have the right to reserve their judgement. Absolutely, why not? This is their football club and anyone who comes through their football club they have a right to determine whether they think it’s the right person or not.
For the most part, I think the overwhelming majority of Tottenham supporters want me to be successful because if I’m successful then their club is successful. I think they will wait and see and wait to reserve judgement on me when that comes.
It doesn’t affect me. It’s not look I feel like I’m battling against any tide or anything. To be honest, I’ve felt overwhelming support since I’ve been here. The people I’ve come across outside of here have all been very supportive in terms of Tottenham fans. So rather than troll through social media to find what is said about me I’ll go with the feeling I have at the moment.
Have you sought any assurances on Harry Kane’s future from the club?
I haven’t had any assurances and I wouldn’t expect any assurances, because when you’re dealing with these kind of things you’re never dealing with definites or certainties in anything in life.
That’s just my nature. I just kind of go along and try to concentrate on the things I know right now. What I know right now is that Harry is part of this squad and he’s looking forward to coming back to training and being amongst these players and starting to work together.
If I spend too much time worrying about the impact it might have either way, I’m going to miss trying to build a team because ultimately that’s what’s going to make us successful, if we build a team that plays football a certain way. That’s going to be it. I’m not going to miss this initial opportunity to lay down what I think is going to be important in the long-term. What’s going to be important in the long-term goes beyond individuals. It’s more about overriding philosophy about who we want to be as a team and the key people within that.
You’ve often said that you’ve built teams to make your dad proud and also that he was a difficult man to please, what do you think he would have made of the fact that you are now the manager of Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League?
Of course he’d be overwhelmingly proud but making sure that I was successful. I’ve spoken about my dad a lot and it’s only as you get older than you kind of realise the impact your upbringing has on you.
You become a parent yourself and certain things rattle around in your head that as a child you kind of dismiss, but he had a dream for his son and I think in his mind, provided I did what he said, I was going to reach that.
Sometimes I wasn’t really happy about that, I wanted to do it my own way and I’ve charted my own path in many ways.
It’s not my dad. It’s my mum, my family and all the people who have made sacrifices, not just for me. Anyone who reaches a certain level in their profession knows they’ve done it off the back of as much off others’ sacrifices as your own sacrifices. You want them to take pride in the fact that you wouldn’t be sitting here today without their support and in my parents’ case, the sacrifices they made.
What have you made of Tanguy Ndombele this week? Will he be part of your plans?
Yeah, Tanguy has been good. He is working hard at training, to be fair they all are, they have got no option. Again, I take things as I see them. For me, he is obviously a very talented footballer, he was part of team that won Serie A last year and within that context, I am pleased to have him here and part of the group. What that means long-term, again I will not get into the definite of that because a lot of that will depend on how the team shapes up and how he shapes up. He may decide this is not for him. I’m not sure. Like I said, the group I have had in so far have been really good at embracing the change of direction, the way we are doing things. As I said, once we get all the other guys in, it will be great to see how everyone measures up and decisions will be made moving forward from there over who will be involved and who won’t.
Are any players injured so will miss the tour?
Not at the moment. We do have a couple who are, obviously Rodrigo Bentancur has got his injury, is still a little bit off. Fraser Forster has got a bit of a back injury, which means he won’t travel and won’t be able to participate. There are a couple of others who are touch and go at the moment. We will see how they go for the next few days. For me, I would really like as many of the group along as possible because it is the best way to figure out how we set up our environment and sort of the culture around the group if everyone is there. But if it is going to be beneficial for some guys to stay back, we’ll make that decision. I don’t think there will be too many in that boat at the moment.
How do you want your Tottenham team to play?
I guess without again having a too defined approach, for anyone that has charted the course of my career will know if you watch my teams play they all have the same basic elements in there. That is we want to be aggressive, we want to take the game to the opposition and try to win every game of football, which I guess is not unique. Everyone wants to do that, it is just the manner in which we go about it and we will go about it is we want to be a team that tries to dominate games of football. What that is going to look like, obviously my history is a bit of a predictor to that and I have been pretty consistent in playing that way whichever level I have been at. Whether that is domestically, internationally or different countries and competitions. So, what this Tottenham team will look like? Again I don’t want to limit that because I am using different players here, some fantastic footballers that could be something brand new that even I haven’t put together before. Hopefully that is successful, but the elements of it will be we want to be an aggressive team, a dominant team, a team who takes the game to every opposition home and away. I think for me the history of this football club kind of suggests that is the best fit for it. Having said that, it doesn’t meant it is the only way you can have success, but that is the way we will be trying to do it.
Was it a difficult decision to leave Celtic?
Yeah it was a tough decision. It is a special football club. If you have a bucket list as a manager of football clubs you want to manage, that is probably one of them. The supporters are not really supporters, the club is an extension of them, it’s a family. We had a brilliant two years, great group of players, great staff. We had some fantastic success and great moments within that. I will cherish them, but I am the kind of guy who loves a challenge. I love a build, I love a rebuild. That is where I feel I am at my best. This challenge when it came along had all the elements I need to get going again. I know Celtic have appointed Brendan Rodgers, who is an outstanding manager and they will continue to have success. They have great players, great infrastructure, it is a great football club. I was very fortunate to be allowed that responsibility for a couple of years. Now my goal is to try and make some special moments here and create something special for this great football club as well.
Will it take time to get your football across?
I don’t know about that because other people have said that because it has been where ever I have been but it varies. It takes longer sometimes but again we can start the season flying, I hope so.
It depends on how the players adapt it and it’s not the way we play, its the way we train, we behave the way we talk we have put together a coaching staff together and we are working as a unit.
To be fair I wasn’t really aware of it but as soon I took this job it became obvious that people that I was old so I have tried to get many young guys around me as possible to keep me relevant. I’m really happy because those guys are good a combination of guys who know this club really well. Some others really ambitious coaches and I love working with people like that.
I’m sure some of them will be managers in their own right in future but right now they are putting their energies in helpings us all, and they have really good energies and that is important for me to transfer to the players, because the Premier League is the toughest competition and you don’t really get time to sort of bed. And from the first game we have to be on it and we are going to try for the next five six weeks to be prepared for that.
Did you research before taking job?
Yeah you try to understand as much as you can I have been fortunate enough with my kind of coaching journey I have learnt many things and I have leant to understand that no two places are the same.
You can not mould one thing into every organisation I like to walk into a place and try get the feel of the place for myself too and that effects my decision-making rather than relying on what has happened in the past.
When ever you get a new role there is never a shortage of opinions of what is wrong and what is right and what needs to be fixed but all those things are my responsibilities.
You can’t judge other people on what they say or what they do until you walk in their shoes. I walk to this challenge fully understanding and looking forward to embarrassing it my way.
Were there things that surprised you?
I don’t know if anything surprise me but i just enjoy taking in new environments and try to understand how that will affect me and what I want to do.
So far everyone has been welcoming because they want to be part of and I think more importantly everyone has been helping and wanting to get direction from me and that is what I am here to do. The size of this club and its fanbase and you kind of feel it better when you’re in it so in my point of view I’m just trying ot get the picture and the best way forward the easier for the people around me and what we are going to do next.
What was your message to the players?
Just to be open-minded and not be too much bugged down and expecting or the history Just to understand that we will are different not because I’m better or anything but because I’m different to the rather managers and I’ll do things my way.
The more people buy to that the more we will get there quicker because when there is resistance it just slows down the whole process but what Ii will make clear is that we won’t change the process.
It won’t change me it might just derail it for a little bit. The quicker we jump on the train the quicker we will get there and again allowing people to be themselves.
I don’t want people to be uptight I want them to be themselves so we can create the environment to do what we need to do.
You’ve taken over a Spurs side without European football, finished eighth in the league and that hasn’t happened in a long time. What will success look like for you?
You have created a pretty bleak picture there I was excited about this to be fair without being dismissive that is why I am here. That is what I love about of because of all that is not here, I want to bring success to this football club and I want to bring European football to this football club.
To bring it back to where it has to be. The biggest thing is that there is an enormous challenge here and I love it. For me, all my career I have always taken over side who have a rebuild and that is the challenge. To create something that hopefully last over my tenure because I wont be here forever. What a great story what does success look like? The fans will tell me that.
