To dare is to do, that’s all very well but Spurs’ new motto is onwards and upwards with Ange. Hang on, we can’t go upwards because we’re on top of the league!
Old habits ingrained over five decades die hard. I’ve not yet come to terms with how being top feels. Rational brain tells me that we dominated Fulham even after throttling back towards the end. Spurs’ brain screams don’t give the ****ing ball away! Don’t leave those gaps at back! Emerson, what are you DOING? Rational brain doesn’t expect us to be lasting contenders for top spot. Spurs’ brain says – could we?
The proper answer to all this is: enjoy every chuffing second. The first half was dynamic attacking football, inventive and ingenious. A few of the moves were simply beautiful, with Maddison at its heart, all swagger and poise, the cocky git we’ve craved since dear Dele faded. Never mind the table, I’m overwhelmed by the sight of pace at the back. I wouldn’t swap Romero and Van der Ven for any central defensive partnership right now.
The transformation of every aspect of the club is little short of miraculous, especially as it has been achieved in such a short space of time. Every first teamer is playing better than they did last season, while newcomers have integrated perfectly, more than the sum of the parts because they’ve galvanised existing squad members to aspire to be better. The Lane is rocking and rolling. Attacking front-foot football is a delight.
And its soul power comes from a man with the air of an avuncular uncle at a family do, who is pleased to see you and surreptitiously slips a fiver into the palm of the youngest child as he leaves the party. He is, as he’s fond of saying, your mate.
Postecoglou is self-evidently a fine coach, able to convey his ideas unambiguously. At first glance he’s not a charismatic figure, but in my view, charisma is over-rated. Its essence is about an individual, all about the me. Follow if you wish, but it leaves nothing behind once belief in that figure fails or the leader departs.
JM and Conte worked assiduously to polish their charismatic image, because this, rather than the well-being of Tottenham Hotspur, was their prime concern. They could pack up their image and charisma whenever they wished and take it away with them. What they left behind was none of their concern. They focused on finding another set of converts. And if the players ceased to believe, perhaps because at close quarters they saw right through the facade, they were to blame. When these managers were not blaming the fans, that is.
I’ve been reading Still Dreaming by Alex Fynn and Martin Cloake, the story of last season at Spurs intertwined with a sharp, informed commentary with inside knowledge on the state of the contemporary game with the fans’ experiences at its core. Hard recommendation from me. It’s written in the present tense, a sort of live action commentary over the season. Its strength lies in the way it interweaves the story of the season with wider issues about the club’s history and future and uses this to illustrate developments in the contemporary game such as the impact of television and the need to maximize income generation.
While acknowledging his successes, Conte’s vanity and hollow pronouncements about his hopes for the club are exposed, while the board are intent apparently on alienating loyal supporters by any possible means. The last few seasons have been bleak, the extent of which I didn’t fully take on board until the close season when I had time to reflect without having to think about our points total.
However, I wonder if history will judge last season as a turning point. Things are different now, perhaps because Spurs were compelled to change direction due to the sheer awfulness of the last three managers and how they denied and desecrated the club’s culture and heritage, something which even our board could not ignore.
Postecoglou is a different kind of leader. He’s ambitious, of course he is, but achievement comes via another route. His is an authentic voice, and the players believe him, not just because it’s him but also because what he says is meaningful for them as individuals. Ange doesn’t say, believe me because I’ve won all this stuff somewhere else. He says, believe me because I’ve had to work bloody hard to get where I am. I’ve lived through failure and disappointment, I know what that feels like, and I don’t want you to feel like this. I want you to be the best you can be. Come with me.
His supposedly more illustrious predecessors preened as saviours handing down wisdom from on high. Ange has a different relationship. He says, I believe in you, do this and this because it will make you better players. The players give something back to him in return. There is reciprocity, a bond, a sense of working together with the same aim in focus. If Ange left tomorrow (perish the thought), he’s left something with the player, he’s made them better. It’s his gift to them.
He understands them, because he is without pretension. He’s at their side, not standing aloof. If they make a mistake doing something he’s asked them to do, like passing it forward and taking a risk in so doing, he’s got their back. He takes each player and asks them to play in a position that suits them, asks them to do things he knows they can do, and do well.
Already, the players sense he understands their game better than they understood themselves. Not so long ago, I wrote about my fears for the squad, including the imbalance of wing-backs ready for a manager who likes to go four at the back. What he has achieved with Porro and Udogie in a short space of time is remarkable, yet he’s still playing to their strengths. Coach the players and they can improve, to me a basic concept that nevertheless appeared alien to JM and Conte. I agree with Alex and Martin when they point out that these managers are prepared to shape proven talents into a team, rather than coach players to develop. Where they saw flaws, Ange sees potential.
You’ve probably seen this team-talk he gave to the Australian national side, with his now famous sign off, enjoy your lunch. JM and Conte, they were at the centre of their world and everything else orbited within their gravitational force, whereas Ange inhabits our world and walks in our footsteps. He motivates by appealing to what lies in players’ hearts, what is important in their lives. Personal pride, family, people who meant something to them emotionally. Play for them. They believed in you, now believe in yourself. That’s proper leadership.
At Spurs, he gets it. Our history and heritage are important to him. Fans are fully part of his world. Again, reciprocity – he gives us something meaningful to us and we give back. First game in 67, I’ve seen the Lane rocking over the years but the raucous din of celebration after the United and Sheffield games was off the scale, an expression of pride in the club and rediscovering the joy of being Spurs. You lead Ange, we’ll follow. Cheers mate.
And is it so fanciful to say, after all these years, the board were so wrong with their choice of not one, not two but three managers in succession, that even they have through the bad times gleaned a better grasp of what works at Spurs. Repeating myself over the last ten or twelve years, I said again last year (full disclosure – this is quoted in the book) that any football club depends on three elements, manager/coach, recruitment and finance, and Daniel Levy has seldom aligned all three. When he did, they now appear as outliers.
Yet here we are. Ange and his team working well. Recent signings have worked well without breaking the bank plus they are geared to the way the manager wants to play, pace with VDV and Udogie, guile and passing ability with Maddison. An overhaul of the recruitment department has established clear demarcation lines with (in theory) our chairman taking a back seat and based on a data driven approach. This complements a development that began a while back of buying young talent to develop in the under18s and 23s and paying the market rate to keep young talent at the club. None of these developments are original but in terms of the way Spurs are organised, it’s revolutionary. Spurs are going in a different direction. The only way is up.
TOTTENHAM ON MY MIND 
Thanks Alan 👍🏻
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Ange remains me like Martin Jol of the slightly mad uncle who everyone loves AT last what ever happens if it still go wrong we ve got our Spurs back playing Spurs style football
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Slightly mad uncle – LOL. After nearly 60 years supporting this club, I thought I’d seen most things, but this season is bewildering and baffling in its pure unpredictability. We began the season searching for our fifth manager is as many season’s and ended up with nobody’s first choice and a name not even on the initial list. My hopes weren’t high after several of the worst performances in recent memory. The surrender at Arsenal ranked high as the worst of the lot (and I’ve seen a few) but they were equalled by the two legs against Milan and then that foul capitulation at Newcastle. So I began the season hoping the early games against ManU. Liverpool, and Arsenal would show some improvement in fight and cohesion – and we ended up with seven points out of nine! How can we explain this turnaround? We can’t – but I think Ange’s ability to motivate the players is key. Man management is as important as tactics and hopefully Ange is following in the likes of Shankly, Ferguson, Clough, Klopp, and Pep who could all extract that extra 10% out of each player. The sight of Son chasing down lost causes and turning just one of them into a goal shows true leadership from the front. Respect to our new captain. We are still far off the quality needed to win something and fixing the hole temporarily plugged by Porro is a priority, including finding a quality marksman to give us choices up front. But we have our team back after the wilderness years. What a long, strange trip it’s been.
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Thank you as always, Alan, for your post. You always have you fingers on the pulse of Spurs fans. In this mad world, giddy joy is an antidote to despair. We have a likes le coach and players – let’s share and delight in this lovely return to Spurs football
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A joy to read. Thanks
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Can we go to the next level and complete for a whole season , not sure unless Daniel spends more money , they have to train so hard to win the shirt for the next gave , you cannot have a small squad no more like Leicester winning premiership using 16 players is over , Daniel please give Ange some more money , defender , no 9 , and a stand in for Matterson ,
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Postecoglu seems to be a real throwback to the days when managers understood that football was about players, not systems, and no club has suffered more from theory over practice than Spurs. From AVB and Pochettino (whose rigidity and stubbornness undermined his undoubted strengths) to the misfiring recent occupants of the hot seat, we’ve had a decade of managers who tried to impose systems on players not suited to play them, but Levy seems finally to have stumbled on the right man, as he was bound to eventually, by the law of averages. Long may our current run last, but no credit is due to Levy, who would certainly have appointed Slot or Nagelsman, given the chance.
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Thanks for the very kind words about the book, Alan. And, having reading it, you’ll know I have a great deal of sympathy with Cheshuntboy’s conclusion, above.
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Not only does my identity seem to have been nabbed, but predictive text has made an ass of me above. It’s Martin. I’m off for a nap.
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Brilliant article, tapped right into the positive emotions we’re all enjoying. On the managers, my way of putting it would be that Ange is an elite coach, whereas Conte and JM coach elite players.
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Cheers Alan, as an older supporter I must say howsurprised I am to be enjoying the games, the pre / post atmosphere’s maybe its the teenagers memory. Must remember to sit down more often. Hehehe myoyu MAL.
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Wonderful stuff as always, thanks Alan.
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Great summary Alan.
Bill Nich, Keith Burkenshaw, probably our most successful managers in living memory, were not at all charismatic or flamboyant. But became Spurs icons.
Time we met up for a beer to discuss the shocking debacle of Christian Gross who was not charismatic either 🥴
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We are scoring some cracking goals and, judging by AP’s latest comments in respect of future needs for the squad, we can look forward to more.
Bonjour et bienvenue Chesh and just as I was enjoying a well earned rest from your customary Levy critique!
HIbberni
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Another excellent article and more words of wisdom!
It truly is a great time to be a Spurs fan. I have been going to White Hart Lane (It always will be that to us!) even longer than you (March 1966) and I can truly say that I have never known such a bond between the players, the manager and the fans, it really is something special. I went to Palace last night with some trepidation as they have a habit of upsetting the apple cart but once again, it was a really controlled display and do we dare to dream?
We have a unique manager and we can only get better. He is like your best mate and I loved his comments about our ground becoming like a nightclub with the after match celebrations. The atmosphere at home and away games has gone from toxic to joyous and we have certainly got our Tottenham back! The football is wonderful to watch and the team seem to love this style. Van de Ven and Romero are Toby and Jan mark 2 and they complement each other so much, Maddison is the signing of the season and Son is such a brilliant player for us. Harry who? Let’s enjoy our time at the top, we are miles ahead of where we thought we would be but don’t get carried away and gloat about it. Look at Woolwich last season!!
Sorry forget that, we are top of the league!!
Cheers
Pete
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Another brilliant article Alan. You have the gift of putting my feelings about Spurs into words, and so Iâm happy that you are writing more frequently this season!
Cheers
Martin
Sent from Mail for Windows
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Thanks Alan. As you say, it’s about leadership, not charisma. And that’s what this team, and the club badly needed. On tactics I’ve noticed the substitutions and tactical tweaks Ange makes are quicker and more effective than our two “super managers “ who seemed clueless after they’d selected their standard first 11. He’s much more than Mr Motivator and I think the pundits will start to realise that too.
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Now comes the real test; how we recover from a calamitous Monday night.
Back 4…Porro Dier Davies Royal who will need the support of Kulu & Brennan.
Maybe Lo Celso will play instead of Brennan; that we have an impact sub on the bench.
Hibberni
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Wolves
That performance reminded me of those under Conte.
Given various comments about the intensity of our training sessions I am wondering if they are now having a negative effect mentally & physically.
We looked tired and lost many of the 50/50’s…
Hibberni
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Ange said “we ran out of legs”
Some truths:
One realises just how slow Dier is compared to our missing CBs.
Hojbjerg ran about like a headless chicken for most of the match and managed a single tackle!
Ange, you have to learn to shut it down; the writing was on the wall.
4-4-2; no change back 4, then Sarr Skip Betancur Lo Celso and Son & Veliz
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Wolves
And then we come to Emerson Royal, who, according to his heat map on WhoScored, spent most of his time ‘inverting himself’ leaving acres of space (on the right wing) for Wolves to benefit from.
Am I overreacting to a defeat? Perhaps so, but the three players I have mentioned above are all seasoned pros & should know better than to perform in a manner that puts the game at risk.
I can only assume that mentally, they cannot read the opposition tactically.
Expect all 3 to be gone in the next 2 windows, the sooner the better.
Hibberni.
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Aston VillaSonny needs to show just a little restraint when trying to break the defence back line &, apart from Kulu’s, other attempts at scoring lacked that moment of composure.Just heard that RB will be out for 3 months! Note to IFAB….any tackle that results in a player having to leave the game is an automatic red card!Hibberni
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