Tottenham fires coach Ange Postecoglou despite ending trophy drought with Europa League title
LONDON (AP) — Tottenham fired manager Ange Postecoglou on Friday, two weeks after the Australian led the club to the Europa League title to end its 17-year wait for a trophy.
Tottenham beat Manchester United in the Europa League final but otherwise had a dismal season as it finished 17th in the Premier League standings.
'Following a review of performances and after significant reflection, the club can announce that Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties,' Tottenham said in a statement.
Postecoglou spent two seasons at Tottenham after joining from Celtic in June 2023.
Spurs made a bright start in the Australian's first season in charge, playing an attack-minded and entertaining style of football led to both high-scoring wins and losses. It narrowly missed out on a Champions League place by finishing fifth in 2023-24, but then saw a major dip in results this past season.
It's 17th-place finish was its lowest since the Premier League was founded in 1992. Tottenham lost 22 of its 38 games and ended the campaign just one position above the relegation places.
It meant that securing the club's first piece of silverware since 2008, while also qualifying for next season's Champions League, didn't save Postecoglou from losing his job.
'It is crucial that we are able to compete on multiple fronts and believe a change of approach will give us the strongest chance for the coming season and beyond,' the club said in a statement. 'This has been one of the toughest decisions we have had to make and is not a decision that we have taken lightly, nor one we have rushed to conclude. We have made what we believe is the right decision to give us the best chance of success going forward, not the easy decision.'
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So the following week their fans decided they would do the same, setting up a 'court' in the north stand and hitting a great big yellow ball back and forth with two giant, cartoonish rackets. Funniest debate Rude Bellingham. F off? Or f you? And yes that really is the set of the nearest thing Spain has to Match of the Day emblazoning both across their set IN GREAT BIG CAPITAL LETTERS. Best peace offering The Alavés manager, Chacho Coudet, who pulled out a chocolate bar and offered it to a radio journalist. 'I'm still going to ask you the hard questions,' he was told. After all, it was only a Snickers. Best apology Madrid's Fede Valverde saying sorry for not having a go at referees. Best fans 46,731 people came to see Betis and Sevilla – and that was just for training the day before the derby. Most on-brand front page ABC went with a photo of Begona Navia-Osorio, 84, and 80-year-old Isabel Maria Rus-Velaquez, a pair of nuns from either side of Seville's great divide. 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Most humble player On the day Jesús Navas retired, the greatest player in Sevilla's history unable to carry on through the pain any more, he lifted his shirt up for the fans to see. With his name folded over so that only the No 16 he wore in homage to the late Antonio Puerta was visible. Most tactically disciplined player The clock showed 91.08 in their game with Barcelona when the Getafe coach, José Bordalas sent on Ismael Bekhoucha for the most brilliantly on-brand debut ever. Bekhoucha ran on, immediately pushed Pedri, crashed into Alejandro Balde, pushed him, blocked a cross, celebrated in Balde's face, got a slap, went to ground, and used up a minute, sparking a confrontation on the touchline. So he got up again, bumped into Raphinha twice, went down and used up another 40 seconds. Which left just enough time to get the ball, lose it and give it large to Balde again before the whistle went. Seven minutes, three touches, no passes, a yellow card, and a great result. 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So Osasuna's all-time top scorer, who just happened to be passing, took her instead. Worst injury Conor Gallagher had just got the equaliser at Rayo Vallecano when he stopped and sat on the pitch, something not right. Teammates came to his side, the referee did too, a hush falling, everyone fearing that he had broken something. Which, as it happened, he had: his hair band. Best cameo With about 20 minutes to go and Real Madrid beating Alavés 3-0, the Bernabéu started chanting for Carlo Ancelotti to bring defender Jesús Vallejo on for the first time in two years, so he did. Six minutes later, Alavés had scored twice and were pushing for an equaliser. Vallejo did not play another minute until the title race was over. Most loquacious manager 'If I say what I think they'll stick me in a cage,' the Espanyol manager Manolo González claimed, but luckily that never stopped him. The man who claimed 'the nearest thing some people have seen to a football is a shoebox', insisting 'I don't go to the surgeon and tell him how to operate on me because I haven't got a fucking clue, but saying ridiculous things comes free,' described his refusal to go all-out attack as 'not just driving straight off a cliff without braking', said he goes 'from heart bypass to heart bypass every week', reckoned he would apply hair gel to his bald head 'in case it brings good luck', and responded to one particularly wild evening by claiming: 'All that was missing was me falling pregnant.' 'One day,' he said, 'you're John Travolta, the next you're Manolo González.' Most loyal manager The 38-year-old club legend Cristhian Stuani had not started a match for 10 months when coach Míchel made him captain for Girona's first ever Champions League game, and he did not start another for two months after it either, but a promise is a promise. It got amply repaid too. Most emotional manager Diego Simeone literally running away when he realised he was about to cry live on TV the night he completed 700 games in charge of Atletico Madrid. Best signing Sebastian Haller or James Rodríguez. Or Barcelona not getting Nico. OK, OK, it's Ayoze Pérez. Best gamble The Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili betting Vinícius Júnior €50 that he would save his penalty at the Bernabéu was a nice little bonus. Or it would have been if the Brazilian had paid up. Best touch Antonin Panenka was invited to take the honorary kick-off at Real Oviedo, so of course he … performed a back-heel. Coral Gutiérrez, Gran Canaria's Wueen of the Carnaval went one better, not just taking the honorary kick-off before Las Palmas' game against Alavés but doing it with a rabona. Oh, and Pedri. Best tackle The Barcelona midfielder Gavi and the Real Betis defender Diego Llorente teaming up to stick it to the man, taking out the referee Jesus Gil Manzano. Accidentally of course. 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Adnan Januzaj and Fábio Silva only connected to score once for Las Palmas, but what a once. Fede Valverde's flick for Kylian Mbappé was nice. Antonio Blanco's cross for Kike García couldn't have been better placed, although Iago Aspas to Óscar Mingueza probably was. The best of the lot though came from a goalkeeper. Andriy Lunin, we salute you. Best goal All of those are candidates but there's only one winner, or there would have been had this moment of magic from Samuel L Jackson's golf partner, Oli McBurnie, not come back off the bar. So let's head to Cornellà, where César Azpilicueta finally ended his 18-year wait to score in La Liga, and like this: Also at Espanyol, Ivan Cardona ran from one area to the other, and then thought: why not? ; where Gio Lo Celso and Antony handed in their entries, just five minutes apart; and of course where Lamine Yamal did the Lamine Yamal again, this time to win the league. 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In the end though, there was nothing like the collective embrace of an entire community when César Tárrega, from the town of Aldaia, scored the first goal at Mestalla after the floods that killed over 200 people in the Valencia region, a moment that meant so many different things to so many different people and a reminder that you are allowed to enjoy, to live. In fact, you're supposed to. Best title celebration Betis after the derby, except that wasn't actually a title, it just felt like one. Nor was the whole of Vallecas going on the piss in a battered blue bus; it was something better. Barcelona's Pedri, Dani Olmo, Iñigo Martínez and Eric García cycling up Avinguda Diagonal in the dark it is, then. Best game Rayo-Leganes was a free-flowing festival of football in which from 93.37 to 104.41, the ball was in play for four whole seconds. The winner though is Villarreal-Celta, just about the silliest match you could imagine. Seven goals from seven different men, the score going from 0-1, to 1-1, 1-2 to 3-2, and then to 3-3. Celta had two one-on-ones to win it on 94 and 95 only for Villarreal to actually do so on 100, the game eventually concluded in a way that was appropriately absurd. Hugo Álvarez grabbed hold of Thierno Barry's shorts outside the box but forgot to let go and was dragged far enough to end up inside it and give away a penalty. With what should have been the last kick, Dani Parejo's effort was saved by Ivan Villar; with what actually was, he put away the rebound. 'It's hard to explain,' Celta's Borja Iglesias admitted but this was to be enjoyed, not explained. 'If we're going to lose, let it be like this,' he said. Manager of the year 'I dreamed of one day seeing Vigo like this and of a group of mates taking Celta into Europe,' Claudio Giráldez said, and he had made it so. Manuel Pellegrini might just be the best coach Villarreal, Málaga and Betis have ever had. Valencia announced the arrival of Carlos Corberan on 25 December and it turned out he really was their Messiah. There was no gabarra this time, but Ernesto Valverde took Athletic to the Champions League. And Iñigo Pérez is bringing Europe to the barrio, whether Europe's ready or not. But really, how can it not be Hansi Flick? Player of the year Come back in five minutes and the answer will have changed again. The candidates are clear, but choosing a winner messes with your mind. In the end, it comes down to three Barcelona players, although had Isco and Antony been at Betis all year that list might just be a little longer. No one played like Pedri, no one can play like Pedri. Raphinha was a revelation. And Lamine Yamal is ridiculous. Where did those fans go with their rock, paper and scissors? Come on, hurry up. Oh, OK. Raphinha. Team of the season 4-3-3: Joan García (Espanyol); Andrei Ratiu (Rayo), Dani Vivian (Athletic), Iñigo Martínez (Barcelona), Óscar Mingueza (Celta); Pedri (Barcelona), Isco (Betis), Álex Baena (Villarreal); Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid), Raphinha (Barcelona). Advertisement Subs: Sergi Cardona (Villarreal), Fede Valverde (Madrid), Ante Budimir (Osasuna), Ayoze Pérez (Villarreal), Mauro Arambarri, Luis Milla (Getafe), Mikel Jauregizar, Iñaki Williams, Oihan Sancet (Athletic), Julián Alvarez (Atletico), Antony (Betis), Carlos Vicente, Kike Garcia (Alavés), Jules Koundé (Barcelona). Oh, and Alex Sorløth, of course. And finally, some words of wisdom Asked how many lives he has as he seems to get killed every week but somehow he's still there, Carlo Ancelotti replies: 'One, and I try to enjoy it.' Which is a nice place to leave it.
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