Former Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has taken a dig at the English Premier League and those within its circles, explaining how the division lives in its own pretentious world.
The Aussie boss departed Glasgow over a year ago for North London, taking on the Tottenham Hotspur job.
So far down south, Postecoglou hasn’t particularly set the heather alight. He led Spurs to a fifth-place finish in the league during his first season in charge, narrowly missing out on a Champions League place.
Not long into his second campaign at the helm, though, there are signs of progress, with his side competing on both domestic and European fronts.
As Spurs fight a gruelling schedule and Postecoglou proceeds with his traditional play style regardless of the result, he faces scrutiny from pundits and fans alike, who tell him to be more pragmatic.
The 59-year-old resultantly took a sly dig at the critics within English football.
“There’s a little bit of pretentiousness and arrogance about people in the premier league thinking they’re in a special place,” said Postecoglou (Optus Sport).
“But it’s still football.
“The scrutiny is not a challenge for me.”
Postecoglou’s unique methods worked wonders at Celtic. During his two highly successful campaigns in charge of the club, he won five trophies, including a domestic treble.
The Spurs boss, though, outlined the unique challenge of managing the Bhoys, explaining that, in comparison to Spurs, it’s not for the faint-hearted.
“The club (Spurs) has its own unique challenges, for sure.
“Are they more difficult than others? I don’t know. When I was at Celtic, people said ‘Well, yeah, but Celtic are expected to win’. I go, ‘Yeah, that’s right, you’re expected to win’.
“You lose one game and it’s a big problem for you. Not many can cope with that.
“So it’s just a different challenge [at Spurs] for sure.”
The standards at Celtic are undoubtedly much higher than that of Spurs’.
It says a lot that some of the club’s supporters were happy to lose a game against Manchester City so that it would prevent their North London rivals, Arsenal, from winning the league.
Postecoglou has already learned a lot during his time south of the border. As the season progresses, so too will the pressure for him to win something.
Leave a Reply