Postecoglou says Tottenham is “not a big club” after the sacking of head coach Thomas Franck.

Ange Postecoglou insisted Tottenham Hotspur are “not a big club” after sacking head coach Thomas Franck on Wednesday.

The Dane succeeded Postecoglou in the Spurs hotseat but could not oversee a revival in their Premier League form.

advertisement

The north London club is just five points above the relegation zone after a 2-1 defeat at home to Newcastle on Tuesday.

“Being in that position twice in the last six months, it’s tough,” Postecoglou told The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast.

“You know that he cannot be the only problem facing the club.” It’s a curious club, Tottenham. At the end of last year, Tottenham made a major pivot, not only regarding my situation but also with the departure of executive chairman Daniel Levy, which created a significant amount of uncertainty.

Despite their traditional status as a ‘Big Six’ club and their current play in one of the best stadiums in the country, Tottenham have only been champions of England twice – the same number as second-tier Portsmouth.

And Spurs’ last title came decades before the Premier League era, when a famous team managed by Bill Nicholson took back both the old First Division trophy and the FA Cup to do the ‘double’ in the 1960/61 season.

Long before Postecoglou took over, high-profile managers, including Terry Venables, George Graham, Harry Redknapp, Jose Mourinho, and Antonio Conte, had tried and failed to return Spurs to the pinnacle of English football.

“There’s no guarantee the manager you bring in — they’ve had world-class managers there and they haven’t been successful,” Postecoglou said.

Although Spurs’ 17-year wait ended when they beat Manchester United in the 2005 Europa League final, poor league form meant Postecoglou was still sacked.

The 60-year-old Australian insists a failure to invest in players is behind Spurs’ problems.

“They’ve built an incredible stadium and incredible training facilities, but when you look at their spending and especially their salary structure, they’re not a big club,” he said.

“I saw that because, when we were trying to sign players, we weren’t in the market for those players.”

Postecoglou added Spurs failed to live up to their ideals.

He said, “Tottenham’s motto is ‘to dare is to do,’ but their actions are almost the opposite.” “I think they didn’t realise that to actually win, you have to take some risks.

“I felt that Tottenham as a club were saying, ‘We’re one of the big boys,’ and the reality is I don’t think they are.”