As Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino prepares to return to Tottenham for the first time, he might reflect that in different circumstances he could easily be taking a familiar seat in the home dugout on Monday night.
Pochettino was open to a return to his former club at the start of the summer but Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, ignored clamour from fans to reinstate the popular Argentine, who eventually accepted a call from Spurs’ bitter rivals Chelsea.
Levy faced heat from Spurs’ supporters during almost every game in the latter half of last season, as the club’s uncomfortable marriage with Antonio Conte unravelled towards a messy divorce, and rehiring Pochettino would have been the simplest way for the chairman to claw back a degree of support from a fanbase which appeared to have definitively turned against him.
Instead, Levy opted for Ange Postecoglou, a 58-year-old Australian who had never managed in one of Europe’s top leagues and was relatively unknown on this side of the Scottish border back in June.
It is far too early to assume “the rest is history” but the decision is working out remarkably well for top-of-the-table Spurs, particularly considering Chelsea’s patchy form has only continued under Pochettino.
Spurs could open up a 17-point gap over their rivals with a win in north London on Monday.
Levy has returned to the comfort of the background during Spurs’ unbeaten start to the campaign and there are no longer open calls for his head; everyone at the club is, frankly, too busy enjoying the feelgood factor brought on by Postecoglou and his players.
Levy remains a divisive figure among supporters, however, and the question of how much credit he deserves for the club’s giddy form is, for many fans, uncomfortable or even provocative.
Appointing Postecoglou does not make up for Levy’s previous three managerial picks, his failure to back Pochettino and subsequently sack him, the decision to join the Super League, trying to furlough staff during the pandemic — nor any of the chairman’s other missteps in recent years.
It would be churlish to deny Levy credit for picking Postecoglou, a head coach who appears custom-built for Spurs right now
It would be churlish, though, to deny Levy credit for picking a head coach who appears custom-built for Spurs right now.
Levy’s detractors argue that he ignored Pochettino out of hubris rather than judgment, and got lucky with Postecoglou. Admittedly, Postecoglou has acknowledged that he was “the last man standing” for the job and, had they been more willing, Thomas Tuchel (now at Bayern Munich) or Feyenoord’s Arne Slot may have ended up as Spurs boss.
Postecoglou was nonetheless on Levy’s longlist from day one and, just as importantly, Pochettino was not.
Whatever his motives, it took steel for Levy to both refuse to pick up the phone to Pochettino and take such a risky punt on Postecoglou.
In Levy’s only public appearance since the Australian’s appointment, he stuck a faintly triumphalist note, telling a fans’ forum in September: “We’ve got our Tottenham back.”
Maybe so, but it is too soon for any self-congratulations and the real measure of whether Levy deserves to be rehabilitated in the eyes of his detractors is still to come.
Whether by lucky accident or clever design, Spurs now find themselves with another outstanding manager in Postecoglou presiding over a squad brimming with young talent, and they are well placed to kick on.
The situation was broadly similar back in summer 2014, when Pochettino arrived in north London fresh-faced from Southampton.
His exhilarating five-and-a-half years in charge, though, remain both memorable and a cautionary tale of opportunities missed — now coloured as much by nagging regrets as a sense of happy nostalgia.
From refusing to sell players at the height of their value to ignoring Pochettino’s repeated warnings to refresh the squad, Levy and the club ultimately failed to capitalise on the manager’s work nor build on it in the years since he was sacked, which was four years ago this month.
Eventually, Levy’s best relationship with any of his coaches turned sour — although the chairman was quick to text Pochettino when he landed the Chelsea job — partly explaining why Spurs opted for a completely fresh start with Postecoglou in the summer.
So, really, the big question is not whether Levy deserves credit for hiring Postecoglou but whether he has learnt lessons from Pochettino’s tenure and can ensure that history does not repeat itself.
