Ange Postecoglou has reportedly been sacked from his job at Tottenham despite leading the team to Europa League glory.
Postecoglou kept his promise to “always” win in his second season with a 1-0 success over Manchester United in Bilbao on May 21.
Postecoglou's name will go down in history as the third Spurs manager to achieve European success and the first in 17 years to lift the trophy, delighting a previously divided fan base.
Although Postecoglou was controversial and criticised during his two years in England during a difficult Premier League campaign that ended in 17th place, his triumph at San Mamés was enough to earn him a third year of his contract.
Postecoglou even took to the microphone during a rapturous parade on an open bus in front of an estimated 220,000 spectators, declaring that “season three will be better than season two”, but chairman Daniel Levy had other plans and appeared to have sacked the manager despite his long-awaited trophy.
Brentford manager Thomas Frank has emerged as the bookmakers' favourite to replace Postecoglou, who leaves the club just 24 months after signing a long-term contract after struggling to make his mark in the Premier League.
A run of eight wins from their opening 10 league games – despite the high-profile departure of Harry Kane – took Spurs to the top, but a thrilling defeat to Chelsea in November 2023, which left several players injured, was a harbinger of things to come.
Fifth place in Postecoglou's debut season was still an impressive achievement, but the cracks began to show during a 2-0 home defeat to Manchester City, with some Tottenham fans left in disbelief as a positive result would have left Arsenal's rivals in the title race.
Postecoglou later admitted that he had misjudged the mood, but new conflicts soon followed.
A slow start to the 2024-25 season was followed by Postecoglou winning a second trophy and a series of brilliant performances, with Spurs comfortably beating Manchester United, Aston Villa and Manchester City.
Guglielmo Vicario's broken ankle in the 4-0 win at the Etihad Stadium was quickly followed by serious setbacks for Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven in the 4-3 home defeat to Chelsea on December 8.
Further injuries meant Postecoglou was often without 10 players during a busy December and January, when Tottenham lost eight of their 11 league games.
The League Cup provided consolation until a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the semi-finals left Postecoglou at a crossroads – either qualify for the Europa League or fail.
Having successfully progressed through the last 16 against AZ Alkmaar, and although Postecoglou had to greet his fans away to Chelsea in April, he managed to get the loss-making ship back on course and knock out Eintracht Frankfurt before Bodo/Glimt suffered a semi-final defeat after the fans responded positively to the Australian's call to action.
All eyes then turned to San Mamés, where Postecoglou's bold announcement of a second season became reality.
Brennan Johnson's first-half goal proved decisive as Spurs cruised to a comfortable 1-0 victory, but the ecstatic celebrations in Spain, with an open-top bus parade and carnival atmosphere on the final day of the season, took place amid uncertainty over Postecoglou's future.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
