Postecoglou gives an explanation of why he will oversee Tottenham transfers while ignoring Kenneth Branagh.
Ange Postecoglou, the manager of Tottenham Hotspur, has been talking about his trip to the theater this week and how the team’s transfer business compares to Chelsea’s.
After seeing a play this week, Ange Postecoglou says he will be disobeying Sir Kenneth Branagh’s advice and has already ensured that he will have the most say over Tottenham’s transfers.
On Monday night, Spurs will play Chelsea, led by former manager Mauricio Pochettino. The two teams’ summer transfer windows have contrasted greatly thus far. With James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario, Brennan Johnson, and Manor Solomon, prior to his injury, all making an impact, Tottenham leads the Premier League table. Additionally, Destiny Udogie, who joined this summer after spending the previous season on loan back to Udinese as part of his move in the summer of 2022, has also made an impact.
In the three transfer windows since Todd Boehly assumed leadership of the team, Chelsea has spent over £1 billion on acquisitions, with Pochettino alone costing nearly £400 million this summer. However, the Blues are currently 11th in the standings going into this weekend’s games, having won just three of their ten Premier League games thus far this season.
In response to a question about the difference between Spurs’ and Chelsea’s transfer success, Postecoglou says that it was inevitable because Tottenham was operating without a director of football until Johan Lange showed up this week.
“As they say, failure is a little like an orphan and success has a million fathers. Thus, if all goes well…” he stated. “I’ve made sure that I have the most influence over hiring wherever I’ve been. Even though I don’t handle everything, I genuinely believe that it’s a crucial aspect of my job, especially when I first start going to clubs.
“There are two things that people will always try to stop you when you enter a club for the first time. First, the results speak for themselves, but as a manager, and I can speak from experience here, you can’t always count on seeing results right away because when you’re building something, there will inevitably be ups and downs.
“The individuals you hire are another factor used to evaluate you. Not necessarily the ones you inherited, as if they don’t work out, people will argue they weren’t his decisions. The players I’ve brought in, whether they were from here, Celtic, Yokohama, or my jobs in Australia, are the ones that I’ve always placed a lot of stock in because they need to make an immediate impression because, at the very least, if the results don’t show up, then people will say, “Okay, something’s developing here.”
“It’s because of the players I’ve brought in, whether that was at Celtic with [Kyogo] Furuhashi, Jota, Cameron (Carter-Vickers), and all these guys, that even though we weren’t winning, they saw the players coming and thought they were good players,” the speaker continued.
“In Yokohama, things were the same. We signed two or three Brazilians, and while the results weren’t great, our supporters could see what we were attempting to accomplish, so it was crucial in my opinion that the players we had to bring in this year make an immediate impression.
We had to get a goalkeeper here. After speaking with Vic, I knew he would be the perfect fit, which is why I was eager to get him in. Van de Ven was the same—it took a little longer, but nobody else was there.
“What’s great about it is that the club put a lot of effort into assembling a list of candidates; however, I only offered them one option because I knew they would work, rather than three. Madders was arguably an easy choice because he was already an excellent player, but I also thought he could immediately contribute to our team.
“In my opinion, it’s the one area that I truly want to have strong control over because in the beginning, there are only two things that will be used to evaluate me. The winning team is that, along with the type of transfers that have occurred.”
Vicario has easily taken over for the departed captain Hugo Lloris, and Postecoglou is thrilled with his impact. The friendly Italian goalkeeper has gained the respect of the defenders in front of him by leading the Premier League in save percentage and being nominated for Save of the Month on multiple occasions.
“He’s taken the challenge really well. He was aware that taking over as goalkeeper for one of the biggest teams would be a difficult undertaking, especially since he would be succeeding a well-known figure in the football community “said Postecoglou. “There is a lot of attention focused on this position. If one of the other players makes a mistake, they can make amends.
Goalkeepers, there’s not really much room for error or recovery. He has accepted the challenge wholeheartedly. We got him in early, which is crucial. He would have been under much more pressure if he had started on opening night, but he was given time to get used to playing in preseason games. He’s become quite adept at it. He’s still quite young in goalkeeping terms, and this is essentially his first major league club. We’re happy that we were able to get him in, and there are many benefits here.”
Vicario was a player who Tottenham’s chief scout Leonardo Gabbanini and former managing director of football Fabio Paratici had targeted as a possible signing. Postecoglou arrived knowing something about the 27-year-old from his own recent research.
Indeed, he was already on the list. I had heard of him previously. I had worked on goalkeepers for a little while. When taking on a role, you are aware of what is required. I have my own informational database,” the Spurs manager remarked.
Yes, without a doubt [I was happy to see him on the club’s roster]. Although the list wasn’t very long, every keeper on it was of a high caliber.
But after talking to him, in particular, I noticed something that convinced me he was the ideal match for us. You are ready and there’s always a chance of something going wrong, but when I have strong feelings about something, I’m willing to accept responsibility if it doesn’t work out. Silently, I was sure it would.
This week, Sir Kenneth Branagh extended a special invitation to Postecoglou to attend his Tuesday performance as King Lear in the West End. The 62-year-old Oscar winner, who owns a season ticket for Tottenham, met with the head coach following the game and gave him a lot of advice, which the Australian acknowledged with a smile he wouldn’t be implementing.
However, after our conversation, I observed something that made me feel that he was the perfect fit for us. Although there’s always a chance that something won’t work out, you are ready, and if it doesn’t work out, I’m willing to take responsibility for my strong feelings. I knew it would go silent.
Postecoglou received a special invitation this week from Sir Kenneth Branagh to his King Lear performance in the West End on Tuesday. The Australian head coach was given a lot of advice by the 62-year-old Oscar winner, who has a season ticket to Tottenham, which he acknowledged with a smile he wouldn’t be putting into practice.
“He recovered well from it. He was really gracious with his time when we had a quick catch-up. He was all over how things were going [at Spurs] and gave me some small pieces of advice, which I will disregard, just as I would disregard my acting advice, buddy! It worked well. It was greatly valued.”He made a full recovery from it. When we had a brief catch-up, he was really kind with his time. He gave me some small pieces of advice, which I will disregard, just as I would disregard my acting advice, buddy, and he was all over how things were going [at Spurs]. It was effective. It was much appreciated.
You understand that I’ve been living in a different world for a while, so I haven’t encountered him. Thus, I haven’t encountered him,” Postecoglou remarked. “Much appreciation from a distance. I believe there is no denying his influence at Southampton and Spurs. I applaud him for taking on some significant challenges that he faced after leaving the Spurs. I admire and respect managers who take on significant challenges, so I do that.”
Spurs struggled in the years following Pochettino’s tenure, as Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo, and Antonio Conte were unable to lead the team to the heights the Argentine achieved during his three straight top-three finishes, which culminated in a Champions League final and a top-four finish in his final season.
Postecoglou was forced to alter the atmosphere at the north London club due to the fallout from the Conte era, as there were many disgruntled individuals within and surrounding the team.
It is a procedure. Many of the factors are simply behaviors, especially mine. People stare at me a lot when I’m the new person in the building. Thus, my actions, words, and behavior all tend to point toward the kind of environment I want. As I’ve mentioned previously, people notice when I pass someone and don’t say hello. People notice if I’m not here first thing in the morning,” he remarked.
“People will notice if I’m not genuinely passionate about what I do. People will notice if I don’t come in here every day feeling really fortunate to be doing what I love.
That’s where you should begin. I believe that just by looking at me, most people will be able to tell pretty accurately what I want. Then you try to surround yourself with like-minded people, the staff reports in, new or old staff included, and hopefully those dominoes fall pretty quickly. People can then decide if they want to participate in that or not.
“I always feel like it starts and ends with me, even though it’s a process. I don’t think people will react if they don’t witness me acting in that way, regardless of the environment I want to create, if I’m not modeling or believing in those behaviors, if it’s just something I want to do artificially, or if I want to be strict about our schedule, rules, and communication.”
