Failure is not always fatal, as Winston Churchill once said. Perhaps it is, as Ange Postecoglou shown last night, part of the path you have to take to achieve great things.
And while the Australian football coach wiped a thin-veiled to Tottenham boss Daniel Levy during his interview after the game on Thursday and said: “I was a serial winner, my whole career”, the way to the last victory of Thursday evening has been an incredible ride for the 59-year-old.
Although the modest football coach is fairly accurate that he is a serial winner, the breaking of the 17-year-old trophy-dried from Tottenham will perish as the greatest triumph of his career to date, but things have not always been just sailed for Postecoglou. You can only see as far as the current position of Tottenham in the Premier League to see that.
“I even remember that even when I signed, the club and even Daniel kind of said:” We went after winners, it didn't work and now we have Ange, “he said after the game.
'Mate, I am a winner.
“I know that people reject my performance because they did not happen on this side of the world, but for me they are all acidified and everything I have done all my career is to win things.”
Postecoglou, who played as a defender during his gaming career for South Melbourne, hung up his boots in 1993 and turned to coaching.
It was here that he worked up from the shop floor of football, slowly and quietly laying the foundation for what would be a major career in management.
But while the 59-year-old has won 13 big titles in his senior career, his journey has not all been easily sailed.
Postecoglou started working as manager of his former club South Melbourne in Victoria's National Premier League two years after his retirement.
Five years later he would take the lead over the Australian U20 and U17 parties before returning to manage senior football in his native country, Greece.
After an enchantment of nine months with second-class Panachaiki, Postecoglou landed back in Australia and joined Melbourne Minnows, the Whittlesea Zebras in 2009, now known as Brunswick Juventus and played in the Northern Premier League-Victoria.
It was here that the Tottenham boss experienced one of the biggest lows of his career after the zebras were banned.
Postecoglou took the lead with the club at the bottom of the competition and would guide them to winning two wins in 16 games.
Although the results do not turn around for Postecoglou on the field, which was picked up by Brisbane Roar the following season, the Aussie -Baas left a lasting impression on the football club.
'I cannot emphasize enough how tumultuous at the time, where the two or three years, where we really did it hard after relocation,' the Zebras' then football operations manager Joseph Sala, Optus Sport said.
“But he [Postecoglou] Was instrumental and he has always kept in touch. Every time he returns to the country, he has always been merciful to his time. '
At the time, Sala revealed that the coach had been between jobs when Whittlesea had hired him.
At the time, Postecoglou was particularly linked to A-League side Melbourne City.
But he had taken the time to understand more about the journey of Whittlesea, who eventually helped him to give him the performance.
“He was on his way to being successful. So we have a taste of the future for the football of Ange Postecoglou, “Sala added.
'It was a short period with us, but his philosophy was one of progress and progress in the right way. Very idealistic, he understands what he wants to do. He is just a real leader. '
For Sala he had always hoped that the Spurs -Baas would have remained, in the belief that things could have been very different the following year.
'I dare to say that if he would stay the following year, we would have gone beyond what we did. We had a heavy run until recently, “he added.
'We had an exit discussion as you do at most football clubs and he helped determine the type of player to keep and those who cannot really expand at this level. We were promoted a few years later. '
The positive impression that Ange was left on the Footy Club is also not lost with him.
'You have excavated one little stint where I have not won silverware! It is fair to say that I started on the factory floor, “Postecoglou told the Scotsman.
“I have been at the bottom of the food chain. I worked up, so I know about every level of the game. It kept me well -founded and I went to the course. It is this football game. Everything you can go on the road, you have to earn it. You have to work hard. '
“That was then and I was young and it was almost a semi-professional team and they had their problems. It did not mean that I was less passionate than now about what I wanted to achieve. '
Two seasons after his arrival in Brisbane Roar, he had back-to-back A-League titles. He would later be appointed manager at the Socceroos and the team led to their historic Asian Cup victory in the 2014-15 season.
His journey is interesting and unique. Although there are many former professionals who have landed at the start of their supervisor career, the work of Postecoglou has slowly grants him a quantity of knowledge in Australia to European glory with Tottenham.
“There is nothing wrong with that,” adds the Spurs boss and qualifies his comments. 'Sometimes, especially in today's world, people want to skip things, you have players who want to become managers immediately.
'I like that I did it at every level. I am where I am because of hard work and the success that is achieved on the way. '
'Everything I have done where I have been is that I tried to have an impact. If, when it comes to the time to go through those doors at the end that you are always welcomed, that means you are appreciated.
'It's not always about success. For the most part I have succeeded in having that, but even if I don't have that, I think people will know that I was trying to do it best for their club. '
Five titles with Celtic would follow after he had separated the company with the socceroos and now he has eventually become the man who leads Tottenham from their long wait for a trophy, something that Jose Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino and Antonio Conte could not do.
On Thursday evening he revealed that after what has been a debilitating football season, he will take a well -deserved holiday with his family next week, because he 'I deserve it'.
A pressure on the pressure will now have been lifted from the shoulders of the Australians after the concern about his future was mounted in the club.
He confirmed that he had no planned meetings with Levy.
“I have had no discussions, nobody spoke about anything,” he said.
“Maybe they had the feeling that they didn't have to do that or were waiting for this game that I know, I go back to my hotel room, bring my family and friends together, open a nice bottle of scotch, have a few quiet, prepare for a huge parade on Friday.”
But after his vacation he will return to work quite quickly and admit that even after winning silverware with Spurs, the 'task is not yet complete'.
'We are still building this team. It is a young team, we have to add experience and now we are in the Champions League. I tried to build a team that can be challenging for the next four or five years.
“Since I came here, I had the conviction to try to win something and we did that and I want to build on it.”