Ange Postecoglou admits that Tottenham Hotspur might not be able to move on all of their unwanted players this summer so he cannot burn bridges with anyone.
The Australian currently has a first team squad of 34 players and you could also add some development squad players who are on the fringes of that to the number. Most pressingly, Spurs have three too many foreign players by Premier League rules to conform to the maximum of 17 and in total have 31 players aged over 21 when they can only register a squad containing 25 of them.
Postecoglou still wants more new signings to strengthen his squad across various departments but is well aware that the club might not be able to get all of the unwanted players out of the door to create the space before the window closes on September 1.
Ange Postecoglou said: “That may well be the case, you just don’t know. It’s a funny sort of transfer season. There’s a lot happening at the top end and very little below that, from an external point of view. I’m reticent to send any messages around that stuff because it’s not something I’m really close to right now in terms of my involvement with where we’re at in terms of those outgoings. Obviously I’m aware what’s happening in all those spaces because at the moment the squad is too big, we need to trim it. But in terms of what that’s going to look like from any kind of aspect, I’m not really sure how it’s all going to end up.”
Former Tottenham boss Antonio Conte was very clear about what players he wanted and did not want and those out of his plans were left in no doubt about that during training sessions. Postecoglou though does not believe he can work that way as he might need someone unexpectedly in the months ahead.
Ange Postecoglou said: “You have to be flexible. I won’t speak for Antonio but I don’t think football is that black and white as there are so many moving parts to it. The reality is that you might not get a player out and he might be part of your squad and you need him as you are not going to go with a man down and you need that person. You might want to bring someone in and it is not going to happen. You can’t turn around and say we can’t achieve what we want to. We are in constant dialogue with Daniel [Levy] and everyone else in the football department and there are a lot of moving parts. Hopefully when we get to the end of the window we want to be in a space where we have got the majority of what we want to do.”
Postecoglou’s first Premier League home game as Tottenham head coach arrives this weekend with Manchester United coming to town. The Australian met the legendary United boss Sir Alex Ferguson in January 2000 at the Club World Cup, with the duo sharing a chat ahead of a press conference before South Melbourne took on the Premier League giants.
Ange Postecoglou said: “People like Sir Alex, whether it’s consciously or unconsciously, they have an effect on you. It’s not just football managers. I’m a pretty curious kind of guy and you learn things from all sorts of people and events. I’ve always tried to constantly nourish that part of my brain that is constantly curious about things. It was significant for me because we were coming from nowhere playing at one of the world’s most iconic stadiums, the Maracana, against one of the greatest teams at that time that football had seen against one of the greatest managers. As I’ve said a million times, I had five or six minutes with him and apart from saying hello, I just listened. That’s the best way to have interaction with people like that. There’s no point me talking for five minutes, he’s not going to learn anything off me!”
Postecoglou earlier admitted in his press conference that he had listened to a Louis Theroux podcast this week from which he heard an expression come from the interviewee involved that ‘joy comes from suffering’ and he felt it summed up football perfectly. The Spurs boss could not remember who the podcast interview was with though, other than it was an Australian singer whose name had slipped his mind. A half-joking suggestion of Peter Andre was waved away before the female singer Sia was suggested?
Ange Postecoglou said: “No it wasn’t mate. It’s a bloke, in a duet with Kylie Minogue. Come on!”
Jason Donovan came the next suggestion.
Ange Postecoglou added: “No!! Nick Cave, thank you. Jesus. Talk about opening your minds, the most closed minded people here! Jason Donovan and Peter Andre! It was just that expression hit me as a lot of times people say can you keep the players happy, can you keep the supporters happy and I just don’t think that describes it. You don’t skip into a football ground and have a smile on your face. That is what we love about it. Especially our game because scoring goals, which is the ultimate release, is such a hard thing to do. Preceding is suffering as every time the opposition has the ball and they get to your goal you are looking at it through clenched teeth. So I just thought it was a really good expression. I can’t recall what Nick was talking about in reference to it. I thought from a football context. I don’t want to make a big deal about it. That is me at 57 listening to something I had not thought about. That is the beauty of it. I thought it was a really apt description.”
