Postecoglou departs with 'pride' but Spurs sacking their manager made sense

He will always have Bilbao. The manager who, in his forties, was in charge of Whittlesea Zebras in the Melbourne suburbs won a European trophy 16 years later. No other manager has had a journey quite like Ange Postecoglou’s. But then no one has had a season the same as Tottenham’s, the club that recorded the lowest ever league finish of any side to lift continental silverware.

- RICHARD JOLLY SENIOR FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT

It was why the emotional choice would have been to keep Postecoglou. The rational one, delivered 16 days after Europa League glory, was to dismiss him. “One of the toughest decisions we have had to make,” Spurs said in their explanation, and easy a target as chairman Daniel Levy can be, he merits some understanding in this instance. Postecoglou ended a 17year wait for a major honour and dragged Tottenham to a historic low. The impression in his heady first few months was that he was a manager who brought back the Spurs way.

Tottenham’s traditions involved being a cup team, but never this much of one, never as hopeless in the league. The ignominy of coming 17th could only partly be explained by a focus on Europe; they were 13th domestically even before playing a knockout tie in the continental competition. The probability is that any successor – and Thomas Frank is the frontrunner – will finish higher in the table but not win anything.