Ange Postecoglou aims new dig at Tottenham Hotspur as under-pressure Nottingham Forest boss speaks out

Nottingham Forest are without a win since replacing Nuno Espirito Santo with Australian manager Ange Postecoglou.

Amid reports that owner Evangelos Marinakis is considering making a second managerial change of the season just seven games into Postecoglou’s tenure, the Forest boss has spoken out on his future.

This weekend, the team host Chelsea in the early kick-off at the City Ground, live on TNT Sports.

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Ange Postecoglou takes swipe at Tottenham Hotspur in fresh dig

Ange Postecoglou gesticulates on the touchline (Image credit: Getty Images)

Failure to win for an eighth successive match could spell the end for Postecoglou, just months on from his Europa League triumph and subsequent sacking by Tottenham Hotspur.

“I guess from my perspective I just don’t fit, not here, just in general,” the outspoken manager began during his pre-match press conference. “If you look at things through the prism that I am a failed manager who is lucky to get this job, I know you’re smirking at me, but that’s what’s been said, then of course these first five weeks looks like this guy is under pressure. But there is an alternative story.

Postecoglou was unveiled as Nottingham Forest boss only a matter of weeks ago (Image credit: Getty Images)

“I came to the Premier League two years ago and I took over at Tottenham, I was told by the chairman [Daniel Levy] that this club has to win a trophy. He said we’ve tried to bring winners in: Jose [Mourinho], Antonio Conte, and it hasn’t worked. We need something different. I was slightly offended by that because I see myself as winner.

“I took over Spurs who finished eighth. Massive club, but no European football, and one that can’t go two years without European football. We finished fifth in my first year and every time Harry Kane scores a goal [for Bayern after leaving Spurs] I go, ‘I wish he stayed just one more year’. It would have been handy to have him after finishing fifth.”

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The 60-year-old won 47 of his 101 games in charge at Spurs but, crucially, also lost 39 times which proved costly.

Tottenham salvaged Champions League qualification by clinching the Europa League last season but teetered above the relegation zone for the majority of the campaign, which the club’s hierarchy deemed unacceptable, even if the Aussie ended the club’s 17-year trophy drought.

The ex-Celtic manager is notorious for speaking his mind (Image credit: Alamy)

“Somehow that [first] year [at Spurs] has disappeared from the record books. It was even used as a reason for me losing my job because even Tottenham decided to exclude the first ten games. Yet the first ten games here [at Forest] are important apparently.

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“But anyway, we finished fifth. I got them back into European football, which is where a club like Tottenham should be. Then I was in [post-season] meetings and was told we need a trophy because it will mean everything to the football club. That’s fine.

“We win a trophy. We shed the tag of being ‘Spursy’. [We get] Champions League football, which brings some rewards and the opportunity to bring greater players. But all I have heard since I finished at Tottenham is that we finished 17th last year.

“So if you look at it through the prism of finishing 17th, then I am a failed manager who is lucky to get another opportunity. But again, if I have to explain why we finished 17th, it’s really basic. It doesn’t have to be too in-depth.

“Just look at the last five or six team sheets of last season to see what I prioritised [the Europa League], and who was on the bench. And the last game against Brighton, the players were out partying for two days, which I sanctioned because I felt they deserved to. So yes we finished 17th. But if people think that’s a reflection of me and my coaching then again, I think they are looking at it through the prism of I just don’t fit.”

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