Nottingham Forest manager Ange Postecoglou thanks fans (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Nottingham Forest manager Ange Postecoglou has launched a lengthy rant about his future as manager at the City Ground after a poor start to his tenure.
Forest finished seventh last season under former manager Nuno Espirito Santo, but he made the surprise decision to replace him early this term.
Postecoglou was made available after being sacked by Tottenham at the end of last season, but he is without a win in his first seven games in charge.
This has understandably already led to speculation that Forest may sack the Australian tactician, but we ask for patience from Forest and also for more clarification on the difficult situation at Spurs.
Ange Postecoglou talks about leaving Nottingham Forest and Tottenham
At today’s press conference, Postecoglou was visibly frustrated as he answered questions about his future, as quoted by journalist Ben Jacobs in X.
The 60-year-old clearly feels he deserves more recognition for winning the Europa League with Spurs last season, even though the club’s league results were very poor, finishing 17th.
See below for Postecoglou’s full explanation of how his life at Tottenham turned out.
“From my perspective, I think I just don’t fit in, not here, but in general. If you look at things through the prism of me being a failed manager who was lucky to get this job, I know you’re grinning at me, but that’s what’s being said, and of course these first five weeks it looks like this guy is under pressure.
“But there’s another story… When I came to the Premier League two years ago and took over as manager of Tottenham, the chairman (Daniel Levy) told me that this club has to win trophies. He said they’ve been trying to bring in winners like Jose (Mourinho) and Antonio Conte, but it hasn’t worked. We need something different. I was a bit angry about that, because I think I’m a winner.”
“I took over at Spurs, who finished eighth. They’re a huge club, but there’s no European football, and you can’t go two years without European football. We finished fifth in the first year, but every time Harry Kane scores (after leaving Spurs for Bayern) I think, ‘I wish he had stayed one more year.’ It would have been handy to have gotten him after they finished fifth.”
“But somehow that year disappeared from the record books. Even Tottenham decided to exclude the first 10 games, so it was even used as a reason for me to lose my job. Still, the first 10 games here[at Forest]are obviously important. But anyway, we finished fifth. I brought them back to European football and that’s where a club like Tottenham should be.”
“Then I went into a meeting and they said we need a trophy, because it means everything to a football club. That’s fine. We won the trophy. We shed the ‘Spurs’ label. (We) You get Champions League football, which brings some rewards and an opportunity to bring in better players, but all I’ve heard since finishing my job at Tottenham is that we finished 17th last year.
“So if you look at it through the prism of finishing 17th, I’m a failed manager but I’m lucky to have had another chance. But if I were to explain why I finished 17th, it’s really fundamental. I don’t need to go into too much detail. No need. Look at the last five or six team sheets from last season and see what my priorities were (in the Europa League) and who was on the bench. And in the last game against Brighton, the players were out partying for two days. Because I felt that I deserved to be punished.
“Yes, we finished 17th. But if people think that’s a reflection of me and my coaching, I think they look at it through the prism of me not fitting in. So we got to our current space (at Forest) and there So there’s another story to tell, maybe I’m not a failed manager who was lucky to get this job, but rather I’m a manager who, given time, always ends up the same way.”And all my previous clubs ended with me.” Trophy. ”
Should Forest stick with Postecoglou?
Forest have a big decision to make right now and it will be interesting to see if manager Postecoglou has the patience to endure a little more, even if results don’t improve right away.
While there is some point in changing managers frequently, it would be unwise from the club’s point of view not to try to turn around a difficult situation.
In fact, the Portuguese tactician did such a great job last season that it seems like sacking Nuno was simply the wrong decision.
Nuno has now returned to Premier League management at West Ham and much attention will be focused on how he fares compared to Forest’s Postecoglou.
Do you give big Ange more time or is he deluding himself about how good he is at this level? Let us know what you think in the comments.