Leicester and Tottenham, forever bound by Allan Neilsen, Mark de Vries, and the greatest triumph in sporting history, have been relaxing in the same boat once again this summer.
The 17th and 18th placed finishers in the Premier League last season both had decisions to make over their managerial situation. For the past fortnight, both have been operating in a sort of purgatory, unburdened by any sense of urgency despite the fact that pre-season – for Leicester at least – is just a few weeks away.
The king… might be dead? But for now he’s alive.
Or at least he was until Friday evening, when Tottenham broke ranks to announce that they had sacked Ange Postecoglou, despite their Europa League triumph.
This is interesting to us primarily because of how they did it. Club statements announcing managerial sackings come in all shapes and sizes, though they usually tell you a lot about one of the parties, at least. Leicester’s missive announcing Steve Cooper’s departure, for instance, comprised a total of 104 words.
Spurs’ announcement, on the other hand, is a brilliant piece of communication. One that was confident enough to lay out the arguments for and against their decision, while making it abundantly clear why they chose to make a change.
It is worth quoting this paragraph in full:
> However, the Board has unanimously concluded that it is in the best interests of the Club for a change to take place. Following a positive start in the 2023/24 Premier League (PL) season, we recorded 78 points from the last 66 PL games. This culminated in our worst-ever PL finish last season. At times there were extenuating circumstances – injuries and then a decision to prioritise our European campaign. Whilst winning the Europa League this season ranks as one of the Club’s greatest moments, we cannot base our decision on emotions aligned to this triumph.
By baldly stating the bald facts of the decision in the statement – 78 points from 66 games, their worst-ever Premier League finish – they made sure it’s been quoted far and wide. By emphasising the unanimous support of the board, they’ve made sure you know it was a collective decision, rather than one done on the mercurial whims of Daniel Levy alone.
No decision is ever going to be greeted with approval from all quarters, but any dissenters now have to grapple with those unambiguous facts of the case. They have made it much easier for people to agree with them, rather than forcing fans to work out the reasoning behind it, and managed a potentially divisive move very well. Everyone understands that 78 points from 66 games is rubbish.
There are lessons to be learned here.
The first sentence of their statement talks about taking time for “significant reflection” before making a decision. While it is obvious from looking at the calendar that Spurs took their time, it immediately gives the impression of a considered decision rather than a club that has been dilly-dallying for weeks.
It has the added advantage of again making you consider their actions more favourably. It is indeed fair enough to have taken a bit of time; whether they were allowing space to celebrate their Europa League win first, gauging who they might get as a replacement, or genuinely agonising over the decision itself doesn’t really matter. A combination of any or all of them is a perfectly legitimate reason to have taken a fortnight to make the call.
Leicester have had a lot longer to make up their mind, but there are some similarly legitimate reasons to wait to sack Ruud Van Nistelrooy. It may be that they only want to sack him if they have a replacement lined up. Perhaps they really did try to get Russell Martin and he said no, perhaps they are playing chicken with Sheffield Wednesday over Danny Rohl. It could also be, of course, that the rumours that they don’t want the expense to fall into this PSR window are true, and thus they are waiting until July to make a move.
Similarly, if you are taking the time for some genuine self-reflection (stop laughing at the back), these things take time.
The important thing that Spurs did and which Leicester need to do is to communicate some sense of the decision-making process. Help us to understand why things are taking so long. This small act would begin to repair the PR damage of the last few years.
This would be easy enough. There are essentially two possible positions to take this summer:
**a)** _We still believe Van Nistelrooy is the best manager for the job. We believe there are mitigating circumstances for our poor performance last season: we were a promoted team that was fundamentally outmatched, he took over half way through the season, there were budget limitations, his entire coaching staff comprised of a wobbly dessert and Andy King. We believe in his long term vision for the club and it aligns with our desire to build a competitive Premier League team that plays attractive football and bring through the next generation of exciting products from our academy._
**b)** _Results and performances during the second half of last season were simply not good enough and as such we have relieved RVN of his duties. Though staying in the Premier League was always going to be a difficult task, it was extremely disappointing to be so uncompetitive for so long. 9 games without a goal, 14 defeats in 15, the way we collapsed from a competitive position to being relegated with weeks to go. After careful consideration and a comprehensive internal review we have decided to make a change in the best long term interests of the club. Our aim is to re-establish ourselves as a competitive Premier League club and it is crucial that we set the foundations for this on the best possible footing this summer._
What Leicester have failed to understand is how valuable this sort of simple communication would be. You don’t have to explain every facet and variable of the decision-making process: you just need to be clear about what you’re working towards and how this choice feeds into it.
Spurs’ effort is so well done because it doesn’t lay out specific targets that would be used against them in future. There’s no “we believe we should be in the top six”, no demand for more trophies.
What there is, though is a vision to “compete on multiple fronts”. We can all understand that they expect to be in the European spots in the league, and that something like relegation form over almost two seasons clearly does not meet those expectations and that’s why Postecoglou got the chop.
There is no reason why Leicester can’t do something similar, mixing the facts of the case with some genuine honesty. Crucially, even honesty that might be difficult for them to say and us to hear. It’s more likely to relieve pressure on the club rather than pile it on. Fans are much more capable of understanding these sorts of decisions than football clubs tend to give them credit for.
Leicester will get more support this summer and into next season if they come out and say, “we are going to have to make some difficult decisions this summer but it is in the long term financial and sporting interests of the club. We will take some pain in the immediate term in the belief that it sets us up well for the future”.
Throw in a bit of anti-establishment propaganda and you have yourself the ingredients for a backs to the wall, siege mentality next season.
The current regime has shown the ability to do this, at least in part. When Brendan Rodgers got the sack, the club made a reasonable case of explaining why it had held on so long:
> However, performances and results during the current season have been below our shared expectations. It had been our belief that continuity and stability would be key to correcting our course, particularly given our previous achievements under Brendan’s management. Regrettably, the desired improvement has not been forthcoming and, with 10 games of the season remaining, the Board is compelled to take alternative action to protect our Premier League status.
That the decision may have ultimately been the wrong one doesn’t alter the fact that this is a thought-process you can understand. And one a decent number of fans may have agreed with.
Since that point, though, the club has become increasingly defensive in all its communications. When Rodgers lost his job the position was difficult but not terminal, since then the overall health of the club has deteriorated and the voice of the club has gummed up completely at the same time.
There have been an almost incomprehensible number of official club statements over the past couple of years, almost all of which have contrived to say nothing, and/or whine about its treatment at the hands of some other entity.
Someone at the club needs to understand that this is both a large part of their problem and very easy to rectify. If they are never going to be the sort of leadership group that does interviews, mitigate that by being more forthcoming in the statements you do make.
Obviously, communication is only the start. You have to actually play the guitar. You have to be willing to hold your nose and bite down on some bitter pills that you’d rather not taste. Whether that’s selling players you’d rather keep, or subsidising some wages to get players off the books and improve the financial picture.
But if you explain why you’re doing that, you’re much more likely to find the crowd gives the manager and the team the benefit of the doubt. It might not be possible to turn around years of mismanagement in a single statement, or a single summer. What might be possible is to release the pressure valve, give yourself the breathing room to make tough decisions that need to be made, and set the stage for the turnaround
If the easiest PR win of the summer is to hand Jon Rudkin his P45, then this is the second easiest. Spurs have shown us the way. Tell us what you’re doing and lay out the reasons behind your decision. Then we can start to repair the rift of the last few years and move on as a club that’s together again.