Postecoglou and Levy are a contrasting combination between idealist and realist
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By IAN LADYMAN
Published: 21:00 EST, 20 December 2024 | Updated: 21:00 EST, 20 December 2024
Ten minutes before the end of their team’s last Premier League home game against Chelsea, two Tottenham fans scuffled at the back of the South Stand.
The disagreement was not over manager Ange Postecoglou or a player or a member of the opposition. No, they were fighting about the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy.
Football supporters don’t normally fight about this stuff. But it’s different at Tottenham. Spurs — for all their steps forward off the field — remain a club and fanbase consumed by angst and identity confusion.
Are Tottenham a big club? Spurs’ revenue now exceeds half a billion pounds a year, making them the eighth-richest club in the world. Their superb new stadium brings in more than £6million per game, second in England only to Manchester United. But they haven’t won a trophy since the 2008 League Cup and have not won the English title for more than 60 years.
This season, Postecoglou’s endlessly entertaining side have beaten both Manchester teams twice. They have also lost to Ipswich, Bournemouth, Brighton and Crystal Palace.
Ahead of Sunday's game at home to Liverpool, Spurs are only in the top half on goal difference. Yet that goal difference — plus 17 — is only one fewer than the leaders from Anfield. They have scored 20 goals at home — the second-highest in the league — but lost three of those matches. This is Tottenham in 2024 but to some degree it has always been Tottenham and, as it goes on, the need to find someone to blame endures.
Tottenham fans clashed at full-time after their 4-3 defeat against Chelsea earlier this month
Spurs have, however, thrilled at times this season and are now in the Carabao Cup semi-finals
Chairman Daniel Levy has come under fire from supporters amid Tottenham's mixed form
Levy sits in the middle of it all. His latest appointment was supposed to move the club on from the joy-sapping straitjacket placed on them by Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. He tried the hard and straight dash to glory with two serial winners, but it did not work.
Now — despite the thrill of Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United — doubts swirl over Postecoglou too. Too expansive? Too brave? Even for Spurs?
When the football takes a turn for the worse at Tottenham, everyone looks at the chairman. It’s the way it works. In recent weeks, protests and dissent have risen. A popular tune in honour of Sweden midfielder Dejan Kulusevski has been altered to take aim at the chairman. ‘I don’t care about Levy and he don’t care about me,’ it goes. This reflects things such as ticket-price hikes and plans to scrap some concessions. ‘Save our seniors,’ they say.
But more than anything it reflects the fact that progress on the field remains uncertain, and if they don’t blame Levy they can only blame Postecoglou, an Australian who brought so much excitement in his debut season it must have felt like the adrenaline rush would last forever.
Postecoglou’s football is thrilling but has holes in it. Against Chelsea, a 2-0 lead turned into a 4-2 deficit and everybody in the stadium saw it coming. On Thursday against United, a 3-0 lead became a 3-2 heart-attack invitation within minutes.
What we know is the 59-year-old won’t change. Postecoglou gave a fabulously warm interview with Sky after Thursday’s game, but in the studio the TV analysts tore his tactics apart.
Postecoglou has looked and sounded stressed recently. He has criticised players and argued with supporters. Some observers think he suffers from failing to surround himself with experienced staff. After he won successive titles with Celtic, he did not bring any of his coaches to England.
Postecoglou thinks that would have encouraged stagnation and prevented him from adapting his ideas and learning new ones, but few top-flight managers in England make that call. At times he has looked desperately alone, but he will not shift.
‘I am a coach who enjoys climbing mountains,’ he wrote in his own book. ‘I am a coach who must climb mountains.’
Postecoglou’s football is thrilling but has holes in it, which had earned criticism from pundits
Postecoglou gave a warm interview post-match after the studio analysts tore his tactics apart
Spurs' head coach has appeared stressed recently and clashed with fans at Bournemouth
There is a story that sums up the way many Tottenham fans view their club. Back in 2019, the club negotiated with Sporting Lisbon for Bruno Fernandes but could not agree on the structure of a deal. Fernandes, so the story at Spurs goes, cried in his chairman’s office when he knew the transfer was off.
Six months later, he signed for United. ‘That felt a bit typical at the time,’ says a source with knowledge of the situation. ‘When push came to shove, the club didn’t get it done. Then the same thing happened with Luis Diaz at Porto. He ended up at Liverpool.’
Nearly but not quite — some Spurs fans would have that written across their club’s badge.
This is one of the things Levy — along with new chief football officer Scott Munn — is trying to change. There has been some bloodshed. Staff and scouts have been jettisoned and replaced by analysts and data crunchers brought in by new technical director Johan Lange.
The cull has not done much for the general mood. ‘There is some unhappiness,’ says a source. But Levy wants his recruitment to be ahead of the curve. He sees what Brighton and Brentford have done with a data-led approach and of the dozens of players signed in Levy’s two and a half decades at Tottenham, precious few have been sold for a profit.
‘He cares about recruitment,’ says a source who knows him. ‘He asks questions. He reads the reports. He does listen.’
Lange, at the club since September 2023, was shoved out of Aston Villa when manager Unai Emery was allowed to hire his own sporting director, the Spaniard Monchi. But the Dane left behind players such as Emi Martinez, Jhon Duran, Leon Bailey and Boubacar Kamara, all signed on his watch.
‘He is one of the best,’ says a source who worked with Lange at Villa. ‘He isn’t some sad moneyball lab technician. He is the whole package. He has a modern data system that works. Every time a lad under the age of 19 debuts anywhere in Europe, his staff get an alert on their phones. Spurs are lucky to have him.’
Bruno Fernandes could have signed for Tottenham in 2019, before a transfer collapsed
Johan Lange, left, was brought in by Levy and is leading a data-led approach to recruitment
Gray is among the talented teenagers Tottenham have recruited
Lange believes a player such as Begvall is a next-generation star
Some at Spurs don’t agree. Staffers talk of being bombarded with running stats. ‘Buying young players is fine,’ says one, ‘but young doesn’t help you here and now, does it?’
It is a good point. Postecoglou’s squad is talented but lacks depth and experience. Last summer’s recruitment raised eyebrows. Two previous summers had seen Spurs build a new team with a net spend of £250million, but in the minds of their fanbase a chance to build on it has been lost.
With Mann, Lange and chief scout Rob Mackenzie — also formerly of Villa — at the wheel, the £60m signing of centre forward Dominic Solanke was supplemented by teenagers Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert and Lucas Bergvall.
Many supporters see that as insufficient. Lange, though, believes a player such as Bergvall is a next-generation star, a Swedish midfielder signed amid competition from Barcelona by selling him a combined vision of Tottenham’s future and Postecoglou’s expansive brand of football. But Tottenham have had injuries and bad luck. Postecoglou’s high-tempo style places great strain on players. He needs to be able to rotate and he can’t.
Levy and his advocates push back against the narrative that he does not allow the club to spend. Indeed, the net outlay over his 23 years is about £700m.
But his critics point at previous opportunities to push on being spurned — back in 2012 after a fourth-place Premier League finish, and again in 2019 following an appearance in the Champions League final. Now they think they see another such instance and this fuels the belief the Spurs chairman prioritises his balance sheet over the trophy cabinet.
In a soon-to-be-released TV interview with Mail Sport’s Simon Jordan, Levy says he craves a trophy. An ally of his also commented some years ago: ‘We won’t leave this place until we win something’.
Equally, Spurs don’t pay the wages of other big clubs. Nobody earns more than £200,000 a week. At Arsenal, the relatively unheralded midfielder Thomas Partey earns exactly that amount. ‘Daniel said to me once he doesn’t believe football can sustain the way it’s going,’ says a source in the City. ‘He thinks if something goes wrong with the TV deal, it could all fall down.’
Questions remain over squad depth with Postecoglou’s style placing great strain on players
Levy and his advocates push back at claims the club prioritises the balance sheet over trophies
Amanda Staveley has retained an interest in minority investment after leaving Newcastle
Levy told a recent fans’ forum he would continue to drive revenue streams from match days and NFL games and pop concerts in order to invest in the team. What he will not do is gamble. He will not push Spurs to the edges of the Premier League’s spending boundaries.
Seeking minority investment, he has held talks with well-known broker Amanda Staveley and a source close to that situation tells Mail Sport that Staveley — recently involved at Newcastle — retains an interest.
‘There is a possibility of backers from east and west,’ says the source, meaning the gulf states and America. ‘But if it’s a minority investment it would be with a view to growing it over time into something bigger.
‘An investor wouldn’t make loads of money from Spurs overnight but the opportunity to have control and turn the club around would be more attractive. Don’t rule that out. There is a view — inside and outside — that Spurs sometimes lack direction.’
At £3.5bn, many feel Levy’s valuation of Tottenham is too high. So, for now, he will concentrate on making the new-look Tottenham work and Munn — once of the City Football Group — is under pressure.
Levy has been down this road before. ‘He has previously delegated to too many people who haven’t delivered,’ says a source.
Another reveals that Munn has quickly grasped the nettle with academy players, vowing to stop a pattern that saw too many lured away by rivals willing to pay more money and indulge parents more extravagantly. Young midfielder Mikey Moore, for example, signed a contract in the summer unlike any the club had previously offered a boy his age.
Levy still listens to his former managing director Fabio Paratici, despite the Italian’s 30-month ban from football for capital gains violations. Postecoglou’s team is littered with Paratici players such as Kulusevski, Cristian Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur. There is also a strong link between the club and the BASE agency who represent Postecoglou, among many other people.
‘There has been a purge at Tottenham and it’s been painful,’ is how one source puts it. ‘If it works, nobody will remember. But if it doesn’t, I don’t know what is next.’
Despite his problems this season, it seems unthinkable that Spurs would jettison Postecoglou. His team are an asset to the Premier League and Thursday’s win leaves them a step away from Wembley. The fans’ obsession with winning a trophy — any trophy — is alive.
Chief football officer Scott Munn has been tasked with making the new-look Tottenham work
Talented youngster Mikey Moore signed a contract unlike any the club offered a boy his age
Levy still listens to Fabio Paratici, with the team featuring many stars brought in by the Italian
Equally, there are times when his style looks unsustainable. Postecoglou said on Friday that some of the criticism reflects his outsider status as an Australian, but it’s not about that. It’s about the football. Can a front-foot philosophy successful in Australia, Japan and Scotland really work in Europe’s toughest league?
‘The players like and respect him,’ says one source close to the squad. ‘It’s not like with Conte or Mourinho. There is no clash, and his style of play is more nuanced than the outside world sees. But some players do wonder if it’s too open sometimes, that maybe he could switch it up occasionally.’
Postecoglou will not change. He tried it once, when struggling in charge of Australia’s Under 20s in 2007. He later told the Sydney Morning Herald: ‘It was the only time I thought too much about job preservation. I compromised. The lesson I learned was I could never be successful if I did that.
‘When I left I said to myself, “No one will tell me what to do anymore. Nobody’s gonna put me in a box”. Basically I don’t give a s*** what people think about me anymore.’
Postecoglou’s management is empathetic but he also keeps you at arm’s length. Last year he admitted to Mail Sport: ‘If you and I had small talk over coffee, I wouldn’t know what to say.’
It has always been this way and it has worked. But the Premier League brings a unique focus and there is a theory he carries too great an emotional burden. ‘At Celtic after a game, he would sometimes sit at the front of the bus on his own,’ recalls a source in Glasgow. ‘He wouldn’t really talk to anyone, not even his assistants. Totally closed off.’
Postecoglou’s staff at Spurs are young and largely unheralded at this level. Matt Wells, a former Spurs youth player, is 36 and previously assisted Scott Parker at Bournemouth. Ryan Mason is 33. Mile Jedinak is 40 and played for Postecoglou with Australia. Nick Montogomery, 43, and Sergio Raimundo, 40, worked together and won the Australian title at Central Coast Mariners.
Postecoglou will not compromise his style of play, even if it leads to errors like Fraser Forster's
Matt Wells, a former Spurs academy player, is among a young staff supporting Postecoglou
Postecoglou and Levy are a contrasting combination between the idealist and the realist
Postecoglou won’t tolerate players who deviate from a game plan or take soft options. He will praise a player for making a mistake if they are following an instruction. Errors by goalkeeper Fraser Forster almost cost Spurs on Thursday but were made trying to play the Postecoglou way. He isn’t always on the training field but his mantras run through the heart of his team and are taken from his late father.
‘I imagine him watching,’ Postecoglou told a coaching convention. ‘Where it all started is always more powerful than any criticism. My ideas are so deep-rooted, they will never change.’
Levy and Postecoglou are a contrasting combination. The realist and the idealist. One man trying to change and another who never will. Can they work in the long term? Can a manager who places so much faith in culture and the importance of the individual be adequately served by data-led recruitment?
If the Spurs house of cards topples once more, where do they go next? Tottenham are, on the one hand, as progressive as any club. On the other, they remain in a state of flux. Fans are split. Some thank Levy but others feel he has delivered everything a modern club needs apart from the important bit, the football.
Before Thursday’s win over United, Postecoglou spoke about pressure. ‘A prime minister has an election every few years,’ he said. ‘I have one every weekend.’
Right now, that’s exactly how it feels.