In September 2024, just moments after a defeat to Arsenal - the third successive home loss against The Gunners - Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou told the world he "always wins things in his second year."
And win he did. Just over eight months later, Spurs lifted the UEFA Europa League trophy, ending their 17-year trophy drought and winning their first European title in 41 years, largely due to the belief instilled in the team by Postecoglou.
The players valued his presence massively, and the proof was in the pudding, with the majority of the first team squad coming out in support of their Head Coach in the hours following his departure from the club, thanking the Australian for the role he played in their personal development and for winning the trophy.
At the trophy parade, where an estimated 225,000 fans descended on the streets of North London to celebrate the victory in Bilbao, the now former Tottenham boss exclaimed that "in all the best television series, season three is always better than season two." However, he backtracked on his comments in his pre-match press conference ahead of his final game in charge, saying that "sometimes the main character is killed off before season three," and in this case, he was correct.
On the two-week anniversary of the European triumph, and the second anniversary of his appointment, a club statement cited that "following a review of performances and after significant reflection, the Board has unanimously concluded that it is in the best interests of the Club for a change to take place," and the 59-year-old was relieved of his duties.
Whilst Postcoglou may feel hard done by the fact that he has been sacked, he bowed out in the best possible fashion.
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The start of dreams
Many were sceptical when The Lilywhites selected Ange Postecoglou to take over the reins in July 2023. Pressure was mounting for the Australian before his job had even begun, with the expectations from fans extremely high, having endured unsuccessful tenures from Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte since 2020.
However, the ex-Celtic man crushed the doubters, winning the Premier League Manager of the Month award in each of the first three months of the campaign, with his side sitting top of the table and enjoying some memorable moments along the way, as they remained unbeaten in the opening ten matches - he became the first-ever manager to achieve these landmarks in the timeframe between him arriving at
Notable memories included a 2-0 win over Manchester United in his first home game, a stoppage-time comeback against Sheffield United where Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski scored in the 98th and 101st minutes, respectively, and a 95th-minute winner at home to Liverpool.
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The night of disruption
Monday, 6th November, 2024, will be a night of what-ifs for Spurs, with the return of Mauricio Pochettino to N17 causing untold controversy.
Despite taking the lead after six minutes, The Lilywhites lost their first game of the campaign 4-1 at the hands of Chelsea, with Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie both seeing red too, but the question will remain, what would have happened had Brennan Johnson's strike at 1-0 not been disallowed by VAR.
During the game, they also lost key players James Maddison and Micky van de Ven to injury, with the pair sidelined until the new year. The fallout from the defeat was huge, with the side going winless in the next five matches, suffering four defeats along the way.
Inconsistency stuck with the team for the remainder of the season, with notable losses against Wolverhampton Wanderers at home and Fulham away, before Spurs succumbed to a fifth-placed finish, missing out on a UEFA Champions League spot, as they suffered five defeats in the final seven games of the campaign.
The end of his first season left somewhat of a sour taste amongst the fanbase heading into the second campaign, and a 1-1 draw with newly-promoted Leicester City on the opening day of 2024/25 didn't help his case.
Things didn't get much better for Postecoglou, who now came under immense amounts of pressure with Tottenham winning just seven of their opening nineteen games in the Premier League. The only saving grace for the Australian was that in the Europa League, his side were in pole position to progress to the top eight, whilst they also had a Carabao Cup semi-final date against Liverpool to follow in January.
However, a finger can be pointed very largely at the inability to win games considered "winnable" by many. These include home defeats to Ipswich Town and Leicester - both were relegated - whilst Spurs also won just six out of nineteen home matches in the league during the campaign.
Overall, they lost a staggering 22 times in the Premier League, recorded the most losses for a team who weren't relegated in Premier League history and recorded their lowest ever Premier League finish.
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The suffering somewhat explained
Whilst the root cause of the injury crisis can't be determined from the outside looking in, one thing observed by many during his time - and more specifically when things weren't going well - was the unprecedented injury crisis that Postecoglou had to deal with from November to March in his second season.
At its peak, Spurs were without as many as ELEVEN players for one match, with many key starters amongst those missing, such as Cristian Romero, James Maddison and Guglielmo Vicario, who are all part of the leadership quartet.
There's no denying that this took a major toll on their season, leading to the Australian tactician to eventually, essentially give up on an unsaveable Premier League campaign as The Lilywhites progressed into the latter stages of the Europa League.
The crisis became so bad at one point that it led to third-choice goalkeeper Brandon Austin getting a run of games in the team, whilst Sergio Reguilon,, who was frozen out in the early stages of the season, also made multiple appearances.
Even when most of the squad had returned towards the end of the 60-game term, Tottenham still had to deal with the loss of Lucas Bergvall, Maddison, and Dejan Kulusevski for the Europa League final, making the feat even more commendable for Postecoglou.
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Relationship with the squad
One key takeaway from his tenure is the rapport of trust and respect that the ex-Spurs boss built with his team.
Player tributes flooded social media in the hours following his departure, with Maddison, van de Ven, Vicario and Heung-Min Son amongst those to write lengthy messages thanking their former boss.
On Monday, Yves Bissouma shared his heartfelt WhatsApp exchange with the man he had so often referred to as an "uncle" - the Aussie was seen to have told the Malian that he appreciated 'how much he believed in what Spurs were trying to achieve', whilst he also said that he is "very proud" of the former Brighton midfielder.
This conversation specifically outlines the relationship between players and the manager. Last season, Bissouma was sent off twice, and dropped in form and at the beginning of the season which just finished, he was internally suspended after videos emerged online of him inhaling nitrous oxide.
Despite the concerns on and off the pitch, Spurs' number eight came back stronger, making a big impact at the beginning of the 24/25 campaign, before inconsistency hit again. He had a period where he was constantly on the bench, but he didn't let this deter him from making a difference when needed.
When he was eventually trusted once more - he was called upon for the two-legged semi-final tie with Bodo/Glimt and the final against Man United - he delivered three immaculate performances, helping The Lilywhites achieve their much-craved, long-awaited success.
After such a beautiful, yet anti-climactic, ending for Ange Postecoglou, it remains to be seen whether or not it will be another season of ifs, buts and maybes for Tottenham. One thing is for sure: if Thomas Frank fails to meet expectations, then season three may well have been better than season two.
The man who returned the club to the glory days is now gone, but now the fans need to warm to the idea of change and get used to seeing a new man in the dugout, or they may be faced with yet another sour ending two years down the line.
