Ange Postecoglou
Ange Postecoglou is trying to guide Tottenham to their first trophy in 16 years
Ange Postecoglou believes being Tottenham Hotspur manager is harder than being Prime Minister as he tries to achieve the seemingly impossible task of helping the club win silverware.
Spurs resume their latest quest to add to their trophy cabinet on Thursday night when Manchester United visit in the last eight of the Carabao Cup.
Tottenham have failed to win a prize since 2008 and a restless fanbase turned on chairman Daniel Levy during the 5-0 victory at Southampton on Sunday, with repeated chants calling for the long-serving director to leave.
It was the home manager, Russell Martin, however, who lost his job hours after the St Mary’s thrashing to follow Gary O’Neil – sacked by Wolves – in being dismissed last weekend.
Postecoglou is fully aware that defeat by United will turn the spotlight back on him but expressed his exasperation at the shelf life of head coaches in the current era.
“We have lost all sort of modes of respect in our society where guys are in jobs and they are putting up names of who is going to replace them while they are still working,” Postecoglou reflected.
“As a society, we are so quick to just throw people in the trash and move on really quickly with no thought or any care around it. I don’t know if there is a good way or a best way of handling it
“It is why I have left before it has ever happened to me, mate. Jump out before that comes my way. We have crossed that line now and it is open slammer.
“I get people who say, ‘managers have always been sacked’. I just think now it has gone beyond that, where we forget there is a human being involved.
“This job is the hardest job now in any walk of life. You can say politics, but this is harder than any job. The tenure and longevity of this role now means that you go in to it and very few are going to come out of it without any scars.”
‘How many times does Starmer have an election?’
When Postecoglou was asked if being a football manager is a harder job than the one Keir Starmer has as Prime Minister, he insisted: “Oh yeah, how many times does he have an election? I have one every weekend, mate. We have an election every weekend and either get voted in or out.”
Spurs supporters will show their appetite for a referendum when a peaceful protest will be staged against owners ENIC and chairman Levy on Sunday before the visit of Premier League leaders Liverpool.
A large portion of the fans’ frustration is centred around the club only winning one trophy during the ownership’s 24 years in charge, but Postecoglou again reiterated his belief that a solitary cup win is not a panacea to long-term success.
He said: “If I go on the general sentiment since I’ve been in this job, it feels like a trophy will just make this place transform into something so, let’s see.
“Me personally? Like I keep saying, I want more than that. I don’t think it’s just about getting a trophy.
“I think when you want to build a successful, sustainable club in terms of competing for trophies every year, it’s more than that, but it wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong about something while I’ve been in this job. Maybe a trophy is what it needs, I don’t know.”
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