Charlie Nicholas warns Ange Postecoglou over the great non-achievers

Charlie Nicholas doesn’t believe that money will be the motivating factor if Spurs offer their manager’s job to Ange Postecoglou.

With Mauricio Pochettino joining Chelsea and Arne Slot deciding to stay with Feyenoord the grapevine has been buzzing with speculation that the Celtic boss is in the thoughts of the Spurs hierarchy.

Postecoglou has diplomatically side-stepped the issue in his media dealings over the last couple of days but until Spurs announce their next boss the possibility remains open that they could move for the current Celtic boss.

Nicholas left Celtic for Arsenal in 1983 and kept in touch with the London scene while he was a regular on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday.

Discussing the Spurs vacancy in the Daily Express, the Daily Record reports Nicholas saying:

Becoming Tottenham boss would bring a different torment to Ange Postecoglou, so I hope he doesn’t turn his back on Celtic and Champions League football for the Premier League’s great non-achievers.

There’s no denying the Spurs job is an enormous one. It would provide Postecoglou with a passageway to the real big boys in England’s top flight and it would be bang-on financially.

But I don’t think money is what floats the Aussie’s boat. It would be more about testing himself against the best in one of the world’s top leagues.

Spurs have brilliant infrastructure in terms of its stadium, academy and training ground but they are renowned for a lack of tangible success. Their last trophy came back in 2008 with the League Cup, which remains their only silverware this century. I know quite a few Tottenham fans and they aren’t overly excited at the possibility of being managed by a guy who has done well at a Scottish club.

They have a track record of appointing high-profile managers such as Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Another one, Mauricio Pochettino, deployed a similar brand of football to Postecoglou when he was at Spurs and that didn’t stop him getting sacked just six months after leading them to the 2019 Champions League final.

Another issue at Tottenham is that the club could be bought over, amid reports of various interested parties. Where would a takeover leave Postecoglou? That is why he has to be so careful with his next move and the timing of it.

Postecoglou took on a massive challenge when he joined Celtic in 2021 but if he got things right he had only one realistic domestic challenger.

After finishing in eighth place in the EPL Spurs have a massive task trying to reclaim a Champions League place with Liverpool and Chelsea also chasing that target.

At this stage even the most fervent Spurs fan is unlikely to expect a top four finish next season with the issue of Harry Kane in the final year of his contract likely to dominate the close season and their transfer plans.