First came the unprecedented appointment. “Joy comes from suffering,” Ange Postecoglou told supporters before his first home game as manager at Tottenham Hotspur in 2023. Then came a record unbeaten run for a new coach – for those who saw the first Australian to manage a Premier League side as their sign to follow the club, there was only joy.
Next came a scratchy, mixed period: a respectable, Europa League-qualifying finish in the first season. As the second progressed, occasional highs – thumping away wins against both Manchester teams – gave way to consistent lows, including home defeats to Chelsea and Liverpool.
Finally, came the real suffering: a second half of the season afflicted by injury and painful losses (don’t mention north London rivals Arsenal), capped by a 5-1 defeat to title-winners Liverpool – a team meant also meant to be in a rebuild – equalling a club record for the most losses in a campaign.
For many of the new Australian Tottenham fans Postecoglou brought in, it’s too late – they say they’re hooked. And there’s still a chance for more joy, and an elusive trophy, with all eyes on Spurs’ Europa League semi-final second leg away to Norwegian outfit Bodo/Glimt following Friday morning’s 3-1 win. But for their beloved Ange, most admit it is over, rumour has it by the end of the season – some even want him out now.
Dan Wiltshire, 18, a Brisbane-based fan, is among them. “Whether or not he wins the Europa League, it’s probably time to move on,” he said. “I was a devout ‘Ange In’ for a long time, but it’s gotten to the point that even I recognise that it’s kind of unsustainable.”
Sydneysider Chris Southwell (right) with his family at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April last year.Credit: Chris Southwell
Others are resigned to his departure. Michelle Eattell, 42, from Melbourne, ended up supporting Tottenham after following the Matildas’ success in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, and then individual Australians in the Women’s Super League. Postecoglou’s role in the mens’ setup made Spurs an obvious EPL club to follow. Soon she was watching early morning games and fan YouTube channels.
“I feel like emotionally [Postecoglou] is done when you’re listening to him in the press conferences,” she said. “I think he’s gone.”
Eattell, who also follows AFL, thinks she will continue to support Tottenham, although she’s been taken aback by the way some fans have turned on Postecoglou’s team. “When they boo the players after a bad loss – culturally, I just can’t embrace that.”
It’s a slightly different story for Chris Southwell, 61, from Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, who followed Postecoglou’s career from Celtic to Tottenham, when a family fanaticism took hold. He and his brothers made a special trip for his 60th to see Tottenham beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 in April last year.
“I’ve got right into the Tottenham thing,” he laughed. “I can’t go to an NRL game anymore, I’ve realised there is just no atmosphere.”
Postecoglou’s second season at Spurs has hampered by injury, including that of star midfielder Dejan Kulusevski, pictured with him in August 2024.Credit: Getty Images
He invokes the two things often said of Postecoglou, that he is the victim of monumental bad luck because of injuries to as many as a dozen key players this season, or the financial management of the club by chairman Daniel Levy. Some British fans are “Levy Out”, some “Ange Out”, and many are both.
The new Australian Tottenham fandom has its unique rites and texts: staying up late or getting up early for games; listening to Spurs podcasts – even if they have become a bit negative recently – and reading Herald journalist Vince Rugari’s biography Angeball.
Many, like Jaden Roberts, 29, from Lake Macquarie saw their friendly against Newcastle in Melbourne last year. A lucky few have made pilgrimages to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a cathedral built on an ancient place of worship, the old White Hart Lane, farewelled six years before Postecoglou – and many Australian fans – joined.
Jaden Roberts, 29, from the Lake Macquarie region, pictured with his family at Tottenham’s pre-season friendly against Newcastle in Melbourne last year.Credit: Jaden Roberts
Sydney-based Lucinda Starr, 30, and her husband Tom, 31, spoke to this masthead from Europe, after seeing Tottenham lose 2-1 to Forest at home earlier this month.
“I feel torn about the state of the club. I understand why so many fans are ready for a change, but I don’t think sacking Ange is the right move,” said Lucinda.
As Rugari describes in Angeball, Postecoglou’s love of risk-taking, attacking football came from watching late night soccer at home in Melbourne, as his father Jim pointed out the teams and players that excited him.
It was a similar story for Melburnian Jim Charatkis, 61, who first watched Spurs on the ABC’s Channel Two in black and white during the 1960s. He has followed the club ever since, but when Postecoglou took over, it reached a new level.
“It made it more passionate,” he said. “It being a local, Greek, Melbourne boy.”
But living through many eras of the club, including the multiple, world-class managers broken on the wheel in the last ten years, has not made him lose faith: “Oh no, I’m ‘Ange In.’”
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