It’s not too soon to call Ange a success – he’s already won

This is one of my favourite Spurs stories.

A friend of mine went to a match at the old White Hart Lane and just a couple of minutes in, Spurs scored. The Park Lane collapsed into ecstasy but the old bloke next to my friend remained still amongst the chaos, pre-match scowl unchanged. “For fucks sake Spurs!” he shouted. “Too soon!”

Any long-term match-going Spurs fan will recognise the timelessly beautiful Tottenhamosity of that story. It’s the distillation of a certain kind of Spurs fan mindset in six words.

And there are a couple of things about that story that seem more relevant and relatable than ever before in April 2024. The first is that, now as then, there is a section of our fan base who will literally never be happy. The second is that if this season had a name, it would be the “For Fucks Sake Spurs, Too Soon!” season. Those first ten games, when we didn’t just look good for Champions League qualification but were sweeping teams aside like the champions elect, got us drunk on the poisonous fumes of audacious hope. Before Chelsea, before Micky’s polystyrene hamstring and Romero’s rush of blood, it seemed like – admit it, just a little bit – like we might win the league.

Too soon, Spurs, too soon.

Nothing could ever live up to the dreams that we started to dream at the very backs of our sweaty minds in those weeks in late summer and early autumn. But the stupidly heightened expectations of that early run have completely distorted the view of what Ange’s spurs have accomplished. They’ve allowed the media, rival fans, and that certain Spurs Fan demographic that we all know and love – let’s call them the “for fucks sake spurs too soon” demographic – to portray this season as a disappointment. A let down. Spurs flattering to deceive, celebrating the title in September, only to fall away and fail as always. Ange is a fraud; found-out, sussed out, burnt out early. Already a shadow of his former self. The football is no different to Conte’s (yes, people are actually saying this) and neither are the results.

Let’s have a sanity check, go back to pre-season and get a sense of what the pundits thought success would like for Ange. Where do Spurs come into this BBC Pundits/ Top 4 prediction poll?

Oh right. They don’t come into it. 

Not one, not a single one, of twenty-seven pundits had us in the Top 4. Plenty of Man United. A sprinkling of Newcastle.  A dash of Chelsea. Not one fourth place prediction for Spurs. Nothing.

I’m aware that our run-in is tough. We might not get top 4. They might end up right. But none of them even had us in the conversation. Let’s have a look at some of the choicest quotes:

Ellen White: Tottenham might struggle to match their eighth-place finish from last season if Harry Kane leaves.

Chris Waddle: They’ve not spent enough. They’ve got a side that can finish in the top half but, even if Kane stays, they’re nowhere near the top four.

Matt Upson: Spurs are miles off my radar. I’d pick Brighton to finish above them and having a better chance of making the top four.

I can’t tell you how to feel about this season, but for my part when I read those statements I feel like we’ve already won, and we’ve got Ange to thank. In surpassing the expectations set for him he’s helped us to show that there’s more to Spurs than Harry Kane, more to Spurs than Newcastle, more to Spurs than Chelsea, more to Spurs than Brighton. Brighton, Matthew? As in Brighton and Hove Albion? How very dare you.

But let’s not put it all on the press. The expectations of Spurs fans were pretty low too. Does any of the below sound familiar?

• “If we can compete for the top four that would be impressive from this starting point”
• “Top six would be a great achievement with no Kane.”
• “Replacing Kane’s goals without spending £100 million on a striker would be a miracle”
• “I don’t care where we come if we play good football”
• “I don’t care where we come if we try and play good football.”
• “I just want to see some attacking football.”
• “I just want to feel a connection with the club again.”
• “I just want to see us dominate the ball and not play a low block.”
• “I just want a project that I can get behind.”
• “I just want to break up the player’s council and stop the same old faces underachieving.”
• “I just want to see some new faces and not have Dier and Sanchez at centre back, or on the pitch, or in the squad, or in the UK.”

That does sound familiar, doesn’t it? Because it was exactly what Spurs fans were saying, and I’m sure we thought we meant it. But now that he’s done it; now that he’s done all of it, with, as Danny Blanchflower would say, a flourish;  we’re still not happy. We’re still bitching and moaning  and self-pitying that we lost to Fulham. He’s done a beautiful job tarmacking the drive that we asked for and we’re livid that he’s not made us an Olympic-sized heated pool.

Let’s not debate it. Ange Postecoglou in his first season is a thumping, crashing, thunderbastard of a success. The jury isn’t out. We don’t need to wait and see. He’s a success, a huge one, a Micky Van de Ven roof of the net piledriver of a success, and he will be even if we lose all these upcoming tough games, starting with Newcastle, and come 6^th. He’s achieved all the metrics, all the KPIs, met the success criteria, ticked the boxes. He’s the victim of some truly scandalous goalpost-shifting from the media, the fans and the football world. And he’s the victim of his own success, because if we hadn’t started the season like title challengers, it would be harder to frame the season as a failure now.

If you aren’t happy with Ange it’s because you won’t be happy with anyone or anything until we win stuff. That’s the truth. And it’s understandable. I won’t be truly happy until we win stuff. I’ve waited too long, wanted it too much, and I’m too bored of this journey that never seems to have a destination. But Ange is responsible for August 2023 onwards, not the past 25 years.  What makes the Spurs job hard is not just Daniel Levy’s transfer approach and being the least big of the big six and bad luck with injuries, though none of those help. What makes it really hard is the weight of history over which the manager has no control, and the fans who can’t disassociate the last 12 months from the last 12 years.

There’s no guarantee that Postecoglou is the one who’s going to lead us to the promised land of silverware. Some of the most successful managers in the modern game have failed to do that, and he might too. But he’s already delivered on everything he was asked for in his first season. The only thing that’s coming too soon, at this point, is any suggestion that he might not be the best man to take us forward.