Twenty -four hours before Chris Eanks throw JR and Conor Benn down in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou himself came waving.
Postecoglou claimed that this week's 'Hysteria' around his job security is all part of a 'story to set up this club for a kind of fall'.
Tottenham visits Liverpool on Sunday and achieved a victory to postpone the title party and on Thursday is confronted with the Norwegian champions Bodo/shines in the first stage of their semi-final of the Europa League. But this week's news cycle is dominated by reports that Postecoglou will leave the club, even if he delivers the first trophy of Spurs since 2008.
“We finished fifth last year. But it's not a good story. A better story is that my term of office has been a disaster and it still remains, “said the 59-year-old Australian, whose side is 16th after a gloomy season that could end in European triumph.
'I just think that the hysteria around what is happening at the moment is all premeditated for a certain result. Hopefully we can defy that.
'If you asked a Tottenham supporter, what is the most important thing for them: who will be the manager or to win this thing next year? One hundred percent of them would say: “Make sure we give ourselves the best chance of making some history”.
“The rest doesn't matter. It will all take care of itself. The worst thing you can do is concentrate on what may or may not happen and this incredible opportunity that lies to us is missing. '
Fitted to this feeling of me against the world – when it seems that many neutral fans enjoy Postecoglou's Gung -Ho -style and surly honesty – he replied: “I don't feel they are against me. It's more about the club.
'I try to change the club's perception.
'I think there is a story to try to set up this club for a kind of fall, consistently.
'And there is no compensation for any form of foundations for something other than before.
“The only thing you know is that you know what doesn't work here.”
The latter was perhaps a reference to the defensive style of Postecoglou's predecessors Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Say what you like about Postecoglou, but he is certainly not defensive.
“I try to do things very, very differently,” he said. 'It has not all worked out, part of it has become disastrous, I accept that.
“But I said from the beginning, we have to map another course if we ever broke the cycle in which this club has been.
'Bizarre enough, we are still in the position where we can do that.
'I've never taken it personally, I never took it against me, even if it was against me.
'But I think there is a kind of story that this club has been on a sort of downward spiral again or the same Rabbithol will go down in the past.
'While I think this is completely different and very little recognition has been.
'I am also a bit of a poking, size. Maybe it's my Aussie humor, but it will certainly be lost a few times when I say things tongue-in-cheek. '
After 18 defeats this season, Tottenham supporters would be forgiven because they feel that a change in fortunes is further away than ever – despite a shot on a European trophy. Postecoglou loves an analogy and he reached for a similarity that is attributed to Danish-American journalist Jacob Riis.
“I talk a lot to the players about the Creed of the Ston Cutters,” he said. 'The stone heap … Only the 101st bladder is bursting with the rock. But nobody sees the other 100 strokes. And they think it's the last to do it. It is not. So the time will learn or what I have tried in the past two years brings us to crack that stone. '
If the last battle of Big Ange's pickaxe falls to Bilbao on 21 May and spurs the Europa League crack, will that buy him another year to keep chipping away? Or would silverware offer the perfect opportunity for him to get away with high head? As Postecoglou said when he was asked about his impact on the club: “Only time will learn it.”