Ange Postecoglou Is Out To Bring Success To Spurs
Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou are like finding a rare album by your favourite band while scouring through the racks in the local record store. Initial joy at being entertained by some cracking music is tempered by the fear the vinyl is flawed and covered in scratches. No one likes a stuck record.
That’s the scenario unfolding once again at Spurs. A new manager is appointed, hope springs eternal but the concern is he will not be backed fully in the transfer market. Chairman Daniel Levy has a poor record of failing to build around prize assets and the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and now Harry Kane have all left to join clubs with far greater ambition.
There have been fun times under Mauricio Pochettino, Harry Redknapp and Martin Jol but their teams lacked both depth and that touch of extra quality required to turn them from highly enjoyable support acts to regular headliners on the main stage.
Tottenham showed enough in Sunday’s entertaining 2-2 draw at Brentford that ‘Angeball’ will be far more pleasing to watch than some of the unpalatable defensive dross dished up by Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. But if a further centre-half and a proven striker aren’t brought in to provide competition and cover then another manager will be sold down the river by a board accused of being more interested in raising money through NFL games, boxing matches, pop concerts and karting than winning silverware on the football pitch.
The Sale Of Harry Kane
The decision to sell Kane to Bayern Munich for around £100million, and mostly upfront, was sound with just one year left on his contract. But the failure to strengthen the squad around the England captain forced him to chase Champions League success with Bayern when a new deal should have been signed and sealed long ago.
The club will probably point out that money has already been spent on the additions of James Maddison and Micky van de Ven and turning the loan moves of Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro into permanent ones but Tottenham are one of the wealthiest and most profitable clubs in the world and more needs to be done if they are to rise from the mediocrity of last season.
Postecoglou, a dead ringer for actor David Harbour who plays Jim Hopper in cult television show Stranger Things, can lead Spurs to a top six finish at 17/10 with Paddy Power if he’s lucky with injuries and suspensions. Signing two quality players before the transfer window closes could help win the Carabao Cup at Betfred’s 14/1 or the FA Cup at 16/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral.
Spurs winning a trophy? Stranger Things indeed…