The Australian has delivered Tottenham a first trophy in 17 years but his future at the club remains unclear.
Ange Postecoglou wants to stay on at Spurs (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Ange Postecoglou wants to stay on at Spurs (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)
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Under-fire Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglu insists he has unfinished business at the club after they won their first trophy in 17 years with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the Europa League final.
For weeks the Australian has looked set for the exit as woeful domestic form has left Spurs 17th in the Premier League and even bringing home a trophy – as he promised he would do in his second season – may not be enough to save him.
“That decision is not in my hands. It doesn’t affect me, if it had affected me you would have seen it in the build-up. All I cared about was this thing,” he told TNT Sports.
“I don’t feel I’ve completed the job yet, we are still building, but the moment I accepted the role I had one thing in my mind and that was to win something.
“We’ve done that now and I want to build on it. I think there is an opportunity here, that’s my belief.
“You build on this because those players will want to feel this again. They’ve got it now and they won’t want to let it go.”
Postecoglou felt finally ending their trophy drought, courtesy of Brennan Johnson’s goal in Bilbao, has not only helped end the criticism of the club’s failure to win silverware but will energise them for further success.
And he defended his decision to publicly declare he always wins a trophy in his second season as he felt it required someone to set down the ambition.
“I know what it means to this football club and the longer it goes on the harder it is to break that cycle,” he added.
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“I could sense the nervousness at the club because they’ve been in this situation before but until you get that monkey off your back you don’t understand what it feels like.
“People misinterpreted it. It wasn’t me boasting, it was me making a declaration and I believed it at the time I said it.
“I know our league form has been terrible, nowhere near good enough and unacceptable, but us finishing third wasn’t going to change this football club.
“The only thing which was going to change this football club was winning something.
“I’m not afraid to declare it and if I fell short I was happy to cop it. That was my ambition – I couldn’t expect anyone from the club to say that but I could say that and I was prepared to wear it if it didn’t happen.
“It’s how the club perceives itself; people are quick to take shots at the club and at times I felt the club hasn’t defended itself strongly as it should.
“There is no reason now why they can’t go into next year believing they can win again and build a team which consistently strive to win things.
“That’s what the great clubs do, they expect success because they have had it. Hopefully this taste of it takes the club forward.”
Match-winner Johnson also felt they had silenced their critics.
“This season hasn’t been good at all but not one of us players care about that now,” he told TNT Sports. “Ever since I came here it’s been ‘Tottenham are a good team but they can’t get it done’. But we got it done.”