Ange Postecoglou, Spurs and senses of entitlement

The news that Ange Postecoglou has agreed a flamin’ contract with Tottenham to become their new manager will be considered extremely grim by those Spurs fans who consider the Australian to be beneath the job of managing their great club. Such is their state of delusion that these entitled so-and-sos want somebody with iron-clad credentials in charge of their club, a serial winner in the mould of … er, José Mourinho or Antonio Conte. What they emphatically don’t want is some comparatively chilled out larrikin, who may not be as well known but has led four different teams to victory in six different title races, three domestic cups and an international championship since Spurs won their most recent trophy, whatever it was the Milk Cup was called back in 2008.

To be fair to them, some Celtic fans felt similarly sniffy when Postecoglou took over at their club, making clear their feelings that somebody who had “only” managed in Australia and Japan couldn’t possibly handle the pressure that comes with managing a club as prestigious and popular as theirs. It took approximately two press conferences for him to win them over and he went on to mastermind victory in five competitions across two seasons playing entertaining, front-foot football. Those same naysayers can now be found crying into their Irn-Bru, tears of joy at completing another treble replaced by a saltier drip-drip of sorrow at the prospect of losing a manager most consider to have been Celtic’s best since Jock Stein left some 45 years ago.

The fact of the matter is that Spurs are currently a shambles and it is rather ironic that much of the dysfunction with which the club is riddled can be traced directly to the legacies left behind by the kind of successful,