Postecoglou pays the price for worst EPL season despite Euro success
There will be no season three for Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham after the Spurs boss was axed despite delivering Europa League
Like the Thane of Cawdor in Macbeth, nothing became Ange Postecoglou's (Tottenham) life like the leaving of it.
In Shakespeare's tragedy the Scottish nobleman goes to his execution with a dignity and grace which ensures he dies with a high reputation despite his previous actions.
Postecoglou certainly went to the White Hart Lane scaffold in similar style having done something some of the best known managers in the world could not do when brought the North London club it's first silverware in 17 years through a Europa League triumph over Manchester United in Bilbao just over a fortnight ago.
Yet that was not enough to save him, a statement issued late on Friday afternoon London time saying he had been relieved of his duties - bringing to an end an excruciating 14 day period when the debate over his future had sparked emotional responses and endless debate on social media.
The vibes following Bilbao were certainly high, as the huge crowds that thronged the Seven Sisters Road and Tottenham High Road at the reception two days later attested. It was a joyful scenario in which Postecoglou pledged to make Season Three even better than Season Two, the one in which he had delivered on his guarantee that he always wins a trophy in his second season at a club.
But Spurs chief executive Daniel Levy decided that vibes were not enough and opted to swing the axe following one of the most bizarre seasons that anyone can remember. Postecoglou simultaneously brought great joy to a success starved fan base by delivering Spurs a European trophy and qualification for the Champions League while at the same time presiding over 22 losses in 38 Premier League games, the club's worst performance in the EPL period. They finished in their lowest ever position in the EPL era as a result.
Postecoglou argued throughout that given a terrible injury crisis there was never any likelihood that he could trouble the judges in the league, so it was only prudent to prioritise the Cup competitions - which he did to great effect: not only did Spurs win the Europa League but they reached the semi finals of the League Cup, inflicting one of the few defeats Liverpool suffered during the season to that point.
This was not enough for some of the fan base, an increasingly noisy section, who began to mount ever more regular demonstrations at home games with their criticism targeted at Levy and the coach for the lack of success in the EPL.
Spurs lost at home to relegated sides Ipswich and Leicester and rarely sparkled in front of their own fans, also losing to Arsenal, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Chelsea, amongst others.
Did Postecoglou make the right decision? Did he make the most of the players at his disposal? Did Levy give him a squad with sufficient depth?
It is possible to answer yes, no and no to those three questions, or no, yes and no, or no to all three, or even yes to all three (given they did manage to win a European trophy, something that it would be difficult to achieve without a sufficiently deep squad).
The answers that any individual will give will depend on their overall view, whether they believe that Ange deserved a third season because of the feel good factor he delivered through the European win, or whether the abysmal league form was simply inexcusable, no matter how many injuries the team had.
Those who are in the Ange camp will see this as a tremendous lost opportunity: here was a coach who embraced the club's To Dare is To Do motto, who stood up for the club in the teeth of media criticism and, crucially, seemed to forge a terrific bond with his players. He brought the much coveted silverware and surely deserved another chance.
Those in the Ange out camp argue that Cup success is often as much a matter of good fortune as it is good judgement and that the league performance is the yardstick by which a team or coach should be measured.
They also point to the fact that Postecoglou, through injuries and other absences, could not juggle the squad between the Premier League and the Europa League and ask how he could be expected to juggle the squad between the domestic competition and the even harder Champions League next season.
In the end the only opinion that really mattered was the board's, with Levy the key player.
Ange's success in his first three months at the Lane in those far off days of August to October 2023 seemed to suggest he was the answer to all of the club's prayers. But his record since (they fell away quite significantly in the second half of his first season before the dramatic league drop off in season two) clearly muddied that picture.
Levy is known to be sensitive to public opinion and it is worthwhile to wonder whether the continued criticism of the club and the highly personal nature of the criticism he was receiving in the frequent demonstrations complaining about the team's league form affected his opinion of Postecoglou: whether at some level he blamed the coach's decision to ignore the league once it became clear the team could not be relegated for the vilification he was receiving.
Reaction in Australia has, as might be expected, one of outrage. Ange is Australia’s most successful coach by far, the only one to succeed in Japan (with Yokohama), Scotland (with Celtic) and in European competition with Spurs.
Reaction in the UK, at least from Tottenham supporters on social media site X, is far more mixed.
Some see this as a potential tragedy, the dismissal of the best manager Spurs have had since Mauricio Pochettino, a man who genuinely believed in the club, it's traditions and ethos and wanted to play in attacking devil may care style.
Others see Postecoglou as an inflexible ideologue, a man committed to a tactical style and unprepared to make the compromises necessary to succeed consistently at league level.
That might certainly have been the case in his first season, but in the second half of the most recent campaign, certainly in the Cup competitions, he displayed the sort of tactical flexibility and hard nosed defensive nous that most of his critics felt he could never adopt.
I have been a Spurs fan for most of my life, and feel saddened that Postecoglou has been given his marching orders. But I can also understand why Levy has made this call given the brutal nature of elite football and the growing disaffection amongst the fan base at home league matches.
I will always remember the win in Bilbao, Ange's defiance, his willingness to stare down the media and his defence of the club's history and tradition.
I feel that his win in the Europa League earned him the right to a shot at a third season. If it had worked out well it would have looked like a masterstroke, and if it had failed, well, Levy could have sacked him midway through the campaign. It was a win win for all concerned, I felt, to give him his chance to build on what he had achieved.
Now we will never know. And for whoever replaces him - with Brentford boss Thomas Frank touted as the bookies favourite - the chalice may turn out to be poisoned if he cannot get off to a flying start and give fans reason to believe.
Unfortunately Ange was right when he suggested that the producers might well opt to kill off the main character in season three rather than give him the chance to build on his second act.
He is tough, resolute and a man who believes in his own ability so other than hurt pride he will come through this. His stock will never have been higher and he will not be short of admirers in England and in Europe, so we can expect to see him in a high powered position next season.
For Levy the stakes are always high, and this roll of the dice threatens to be even more high stakes than usual.