Bigger than the question of Postecoglou’s future is the question of what Spurs want to be (again)

There are still nine league games left in Tottenham Hotspur’s season, and a Europa League campaign that could conceivably end in glory in Bilbao on 21 May. Ange Postecoglou could still end this season as a historically significant Spurs manager, ending the trophy drought, and returning the club to the Champions League.

But there is also a sense of uncertainty about the future. The Premier League table tells a damning story and while there are mitigations for this season’s struggles, dramatic underperformance in the league usually only ends one way. No Tottenham team should have lost more than half of their league games by this stage of the season. Postecoglou’s long-term future at Spurs is in serious doubt.

If Tottenham do decide to make a change, they will find themselves in the same position as in 2023, 2021, 2014, 2012 and 2004: coming to the end of one season with an open question over who their manager for the next season would be. This would already be their third summer managerial search this decade. The next man in would be their fifth permanent manager since Mauricio Pochettino was sacked in November 2019.

At every one of these junctures Tottenham have had to ask themselves what sort of a club they want to be.

Sometimes they know; in 2023 they were clear that they wanted a manager to re-establish the ethos of the club, which led them to the appointment of Postecoglou, for better or worse.

Sometimes they do not; in 2021 Tottenham cycled between ever-changing lists of candidates. They were rejected by Hansi Flick and Antonio Conte. They considered going back for Pochettino. They pulled out of moves for Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso at the last minute. They ended up with Nuno Espirito Santo at the end of June. He lasted 10 league games.

If Postecoglou goes, Tottenham will have to learn the lessons of the last few years and ask themselves where they want to go next.

Ultimately it comes down to the strategic choice they made in 2023, to move away from years of defensive counter-attacking football and make a brave appointment of a manager who promised a radically entertaining attacking style. Postecoglou could not be more different in approach from Jose Mourinho, Nuno and Conte. Everyone thought in 2023 it was time for a fresh start.

So the question, if Tottenham do sack Postecoglou this summer, is whether they stick with the logic behind the Postecoglou appointment for the next process? They could go and find another progressive manager, but maybe one that scales better to Tottenham than Postecoglou’s football has done. Or do they draw a line under the last two years, write it off as an idea worth trying, abandon that underpinning logic and go back to something more pragmatic and conventional?

Whichever of those options Spurs go for, the one they can guarantee in a new appointment is Premier League experience. Over the course of the Postecoglou era a theory has emerged that the problem with his appointment was that he was too radical, too ideological, too stubborn, and that his ideas had never been tested in the harsh light of the Premier League. And while those ideas took Spurs to some great heights, playing memorable attacking football on occasions over the last two years, they also struggled to keep Spurs robustly competitive. Tottenham have lost 15 out of 29 Premier League games this season.

All you have to do is look above Spurs in the Premier League table to find the men who would be in the frame to replace Postecoglou this summer. All of whom have had their ideas tested — and proven to work — in this division.

First there is Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth, 10th in the table but still on course for an impressive season, with an FA Cup quarter-final to come this weekend. Iraola has marked himself out as one of the best young managers in Europe, bringing a pioneering brand of dynamic attacking football to the south coast.

Iraola has Bournemouth on course for a top half finish (Glyn Kirk/Getty Images)

There were questions when Iraola replaced Gary O’Neil in the summer of 2023 but they have all been answered now. Iraola took Bournemouth to 12th last season, their best league finish for six years. This season they are on course to do even better than that. They were even on course for their first ever European qualification before a recent dip in form, taking just one point from the last four league games.

When Postecoglou was appointed two years ago, it was in the hope that his ideas would take root and flourish at Tottenham. It would mark a radical departure from years of negative boring football in N17. But ‘Angeball’ has never truly developed, and has largely been abandoned in the last few months because of the injury crisis.

If you want to find the best modern progressive football in the country right now, you look for it in Dorset. “Today modern football is the way Bournemouth play,” Pep Guardiola said in January. At times this season it has felt that Guardiola’s rigid positional game was at risk of being rendered obsolete by Bournemouth’s dynamism, their willingness to attack spaces with the ball.

This is part of the attraction of Iraola. Postecoglou has not delivered on the hope that he could replicate what Pochettino did when he came to Spurs. But of all the potential candidates, Iraola is far closer to the 2014 Pochettino than Postecoglou was two years ago. The similarities hit you right between the eyes: Iraola is a 42-year-old manager who has overachieved during his time with a smaller Premier League club, having previously overachieved with a smaller team in Spain. He is at the sweet spot of his career, young enough to be bold, original and convinced of his ideas. But experienced enough at the top level to bet on.

There is also a growing consensus within the game that Iraola would be the perfect man for this Spurs squad. While his football and Postecoglou’s are not the same, they both require a huge physical output from their players. Bournemouth are one of the few teams who can rival Spurs’ running stats this season when it comes to total distance covered, high speed distance, sprint distance and so on (it should also be said they have come close to matching them for injuries too). Iraola might be able to teach a more dynamic attacking game to a group who already knows how to run.

Silva and Frank are both of Tottenham’s shortlist (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

There are no guarantees in football and the big question is what Iraola himself intends to do this summer. He will still have one year left on his Bournemouth deal and a £10million ($12.9m) release clause. The ball will be in his court.

But Iraola is not the only name under consideration. There are two other potential candidates in the Premier League.

There is Marco Silva, coming up to the end of his fourth season at Fulham. He has done a remarkable job at Craven Cottage, taking Fulham straight back up and then establishing them solidly at mid-table. Like Iraola, he has an FA Cup quarter-final this weekend and could end the season by winning his club’s first ever major trophy. Silva’s first Premier League season, 2022-23, saw Fulham get more Premier League wins (15) than they had ever managed before. This year they could plausibly qualify for Europe via the league.

Silva has done all this while losing key players and having to rebuild the team last summer. He might represent a pivot back to pragmatism but his team are entertaining to watch and he has established a football identity at a club who needed one. And he is no stranger to Spurs either: he got down to the final three in the process that ended with Postecoglou’s appointment in 2023. Silva has one year left on his Fulham contract, which had a release clause in excess of £10m when he signed it. Fulham are confident of keeping him and are already making plans for next season.

And then there is Thomas Frank. He too joined his club, Brentford, in the Championship but he got them promoted via the play-offs in 2021. This is his fourth Premier League season with the club and they have evolved their style during their time in the top flight. Like Silva he has had to lose big players (Ollie Watkins, David Raya, Ivan Toney) but the team has always been consistent. The big question is whether his pragmatic football, with a reliance on set pieces, would work at a bigger club with different demands.

The reality of football is that plans — including managerial short lists — change. This season still has some way to go and Postecoglou is still in position. But however it ends on May 25, with the Europa League secured or not, Tottenham Hotspur will be left mulling over the age-old question of what they want to be.

(Top photos: Iraola, left, and Postecoglou; Getty Images)