Tottenham Hotspur are not a big club, says former manager Ange Postecoglou
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Tottenham Hotspur under Ange Postecoglou won the Europa League in his second campaign, to end a 17-year wait for silverware, but finished 17th in the English Premier League.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Former manager Ange Postecoglou stated Tottenham are "not a big club" due to their conservative transfer market policy, specifically their expenditure and wage structure.
- Postecoglou believes Tottenham's reluctance to take transfer risks prevents them from winning silverware, contradicting the club's self-perception as a "big boy".
- He questions if new coach Thomas Frank understood Tottenham's inherent limitations and objectives, given prior world-class managers' failures due to transfer issues.
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LONDON – Tottenham Hotspur are “not a big club” because of their policy in the transfer market, said former manager Ange Postecoglou, in the wake of the London club’s sacking of manager Thomas Frank on Feb 11.
Frank replaced Postecoglou, who was fired despite winning the Europa League last season. But the Dane struggled and left with his side in 16th position in the English Premier League, five points above the relegation zone.
“When you look at their expenditure and particularly their wages structure, they’re not a big club,” Postecoglou told The Overlap’s Stick To Football podcast.
“I saw that because, when we were trying to sign players, we weren’t in the market for those players.”
The Australian took Tottenham to fifth in 2024, his first season in charge. But they failed to build on that and finished 17th in his second campaign, despite winning the Europa League to end a 17-year wait for silverware.
He said the club’s reluctance to compete with the Premier League’s big hitters in the transfer market was holding them back.
“I think they didn’t realise that, to actually win, you’ve got to take some risks,” he said.
“I felt like Tottenham as a club were saying, ‘we’re one of the big boys’, and the reality is I don’t think they are.”
Frank was Tottenham’s fifth full-time manager since the popular Mauricio Pochettino was sacked in 2019, months after leading them to the Champions League final.
For all their traditional standing as a “Big Six” club who now play in one of the best stadiums in the country, Tottenham have been crowned English champions just twice – the same number of times as second-tier Portsmouth.
Long before Postecoglou took charge, high-profile managers including Terry Venables, George Graham, Harry Redknapp, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte tried and failed to get Spurs back to the summit of English football.
One of the major beefs of the fans is they fail to land their transfer targets.
Frank had hoped to sign Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White in the summer of 2025 but it never materialised, while Arsenal beat Tottenham to the signing of Eberechi Eze.
Postecoglou, who was sacked by Forest after 39 days in charge earlier this season, suggests Frank did not realise the type of structure he was walking into.
“There’s no guarantee whichever manager you bring in. They’ve had world-class managers there and they haven’t had success. And for what reason?
“Thomas is walking in and what’s his objective? What’s the club’s objective? Did Thomas know he was walking into that? I don’t know,” he said. REUTERS, AFP
