The Ange Postecoglou Spurs show is over. There will be no season three to be on him.
After that famous evening in Bilbao, Postecoglou enjoyed the success of Tottenham's Europa League. He had delivered, as promised, in his second season – but this was just the beginning, he was on it. “We now have a taste of it. Let's make sure that we are back here.”
But Daniel Levy had seen enough.
The chairman who has fired a manager in the week of a cup final now has another fired in the weeks after winning one. It is a ruthless call to kill the main character, as Postecoglou said, but Levy has again focused on the franchise.
It is a decision that the fan base has divided. More than 70 percent of the respondents of a Sky Sports survey in the aftermath of the final were of the opinion that Postecoglou earned more time after ending the drought of the trophy.
Should this not be the time to take advantage of the momentum that the victory brings and to use the riches of the Champions League that it has delivered to upgrade the options of Postecoglou in the summer transfer market?
It is easy to imagine the galvanizing force that can add the success of the Europa League, together with the subsequent trophy parade and parties to the group in the preseason. Trust and faith had been restored.
But it is clearly confidence in the Postcoglou project under the Spurs -Hierarchy was irrevocably eroded, even before the team stepped the plane to North Spain. He didn't have a competition to save his job. Writing was already on the wall.
The Australian can leave with his head and his statement “I am a winner, size” cannot be denied. But for the decision makers at Spurs – and many of the fans of the club – a dramatic seasonal final errors did not make good production.
Spurs' Europa League Final opponents Manchester United were fooled last summer when they extended Erik ten Hag's contract, so that the buzz of that FA Cup victory at Rivals Manchester City masked their true status. At Spurs there was clearly a fear of repeating that mistake.
The difference is of course that the profit from Spurs' Cup is supplied with the Bonus of Champions League football and possibly transforming income. But Levy and Co no longer believe that Postecoglou is the man to steer traces in that competition and beyond.
In all honesty they have substantial evidence for Premier League to support their position.
Since the sizzling start of Postecoglou, where Spurs won eight of their first 10 games at the start of the 2023/24 season and he collected an unprecedented three Premier League manager of the monthly prizes in a row, their top-flight versions of UnderWord have been made.
After those first 10 games, the next 18 months only brought temporary glimpse of the early dream. A 4-0 win in Aston Villa, a 3-0 win at Manchester United and the 4-0 win in Manchester City in November, yes. But also five defeats in six games when a top-four finish slipped into his first campaign. Subsequently, a stunning 22 top flight beat this term, while Spurs dropped to a worst Premier League points in total and finish position.
Unbelievable, 25 percent of the Premier League points won under Postecoglou came in those first 10 games. Their 26 defeats in all matches in 2024/25 are most of them that the club ever suffered in one season.
They are amazing statistics that would have closed the Postecoglou reign earlier if it had not been for the European run.
An increasing friction with spurs supporters did not help the cause either. The second half of this season, Postecoglou and his players saw a series of run-ins with the end on their travels and routinely chased away at home. Those moments would have remained in Levy's thoughts.
It was all far away from the early days when Spurs fans sang 'We have our Tottenham back' and their love for 'Big Ange' greeted the melody of Robbie Williams' Angels.
Now there was anger for Ange – and also a lot for Levy and the ownership of the club.
The expensive injury crisis
The defense of Postecoglou is of course injuries and how they have distorted the performance and results of Spurs.
The notorious defeat at home against Chelsea who baked the great start of Spurs under Postecoglou, brought suspensions for Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie and injuries to Micky van de Ven and James Maddison. Tottenham has never fully recaptured their electricity.
But if players were a remarkable feature of that first season, they became the umbrella story of the second. The Spurs team was undressed to the bare bones due to injuries to Guglielmo Vicario, Udogie, Romero, Van de Ven, Dominic Solanke and Richarlison, while Rodrigo Bentancur served a long suspension.
The scale of that absence should not be discussed. With their first-choice defense and goalkeeper, the Spurs-Game-Tally of Spurs would rank them in second place in the Premier League. Without them it was a relegation form.
With the majority of the absence in the busiest part of the season, Postecoglou was forced to repeatedly turn to teenagers and frills players to place an XI. Perhaps the most critical, the adapted tactics that ultimately became the success of the Europa League in the competition when those stand-in players needed more protection.
The injury crisis also exposed gaps in the club's recruitment processes and let them clamber to goalkeeper and center-back options in the winter window. Mathys Tel arrived on loan to stimulate the attack, but just like Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert – also drawn as teenagers in the summer – he is just a young talent.
The improvement of the team's competitiveness when they had their most important players back for the Europa League run-in was strong.
However, critics would ask for reasons for how Tottenham could lose at previously Windless Crystal Palace with their players from the first team in October. Or at home in relegation-bound Ipswich in November, with the majority of their stars on the field.
The defeat at home against Leicester may have come to the midst of that injury crisis, but falls over the run of 15 Premier League -the defeats around it. Dr. Tottenham seemed, as they were labeled, to give opposition teams a lead.
That observed softness had already helped Leicester during the opening Monday Night Football of the Season, when Spurs left them off the hook in a 1-1 draw. The image of postecoglou, hands on knees in despair, was a powerful one. A vulnerability and lack of ruthlessness in his side became a theme – before, during and after the injury crisis.
The end of angeball
Met Premier League-ambities al lang verdwenen en een “vreselijke” capitulatie bij Anfield die een eerste pijpencarabao Cup halve finale voorsprong over Liverpool dooft en elk vooruitzicht op binnenlands succes, Postecoglou's veelbesproken record van altijd leveren in zijn tweede seizoen-en het einde van die trofee-droogte-rustte op de europa-competitie.
Somehow, and with great honor to both Postecoglou and his players, Spurs could find a way to lift that trophy.
Freely flowing Angeball was dumped for a style that looks more like Postecoglou's predecessors Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Leads were held with men behind the ball and a pragmatism who used to be unseen during the reign of Postecoglou. The group came together to fight a historical triumph.
Postecoglou later said that the Europa League was the priority since the change of the year. An interesting revelation – and maybe one that may not have gone well in the boardroom of Spurs. But instead of completing a master plan, the lake was to win that many malignant traces saw through. A club that was criticized so often because of the character showed a lot to get the job done.
But is that realistic repeatable?
With financial pressure more important than ever in football, a gamble was to go again a risk tax was not fun.
While the pressure came up in the second half of this season, Postecoglou made the headlines for hitting 'Mr Hindsight' and the negative impact with which he felt all the stories of Tottenham. In balance it would also be wrong to overlook the fact that he was the first Spurs manager in more than ten years to not have charged a hinged turbo by the goals of Harry Kane.
But in their assessment of his term of office, the hierarchy of Spurs made it clear – despite all the setbacks, injuries and issues that Postcoglou had to do – they did not see any evidence that the Europa League winning could only be a launch platform for a more expensive success. And so the story of Postecoglou Spurs ends.