“You realise I’m the manager?” – Postecoglou shuts down reporter’s suggestion that Spurs believe they already have one foot in Europa League final | OneFootball

In his pre-match press conference ahead of the second leg of Spurs’ UEFA Europa League semi-final against Bodø/Glimt, Ange Postecoglou shut down a reporter who suggested that the rearrangement of the club’s Premier League match against Aston Villa is a sign the North London club believe they already have one foot in the final.

Spurs are just two games away from winning Europe’s second-tier club competition – and their first trophy in almost two decades – after picking up a 3-1 win against Norway’s Bodø/Glimt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last week.

The return fixture, played in a town with a population of around 50,000 people, will be disputed on an artificial pitch on Thursday, which Postecoglou said poses a “different” challenge for his squad.

“Whether it’s the pitch, whether it’s the atmosphere, whether it’s the conditions, there’s always something that you need to overcome, at the end of the day. You’re playing in a major competition, away – there’s always challenges there.”

“Whatever that challenge is, you need to overcome it and we’ll do that tomorrow,” the Australian insisted, confirming that the squad will train on the artificial pitch tonight because the “players are used to training the night before at the venue.”

Spurs have been consistently mocked by opposition fans for their failure to win silverware in recent seasons, and while the club are lingering deep in the bottom half of the Premier League table, Postecoglou hopes that “some of [the narrative] becomes redundant for sure” if the Lilywhites win the Europa League.

“A lot of the narrative around the club is that we haven’t won for a very long time. Anything. I think it’s 15 [17] years for a trophy and 21 [41] for a European trophy, so that is part of it. Some of it will still exist beyond that, but as I said, from my perspective how do you create a winning culture? It all starts with winning.”

“I think the more experiences you have of winning, if you can land a trophy along the way, it certainly gives belief within the whole club that it is capable and possible of doing. We’ve still got a big game tomorrow to get through to get to a final before we can start talking about that,” he acknowledged.

Spurs’ Premier League match against Aston Villa has been rearranged so that, in the case they reach the Europa League final, they have more time to prepare for a midweek match in the Basque Country. Postecoglou was in no mood to entertain a reporter’s suggestion that the rearrangement indicates that Spurs already “think [they] have one foot in the final”, though.

“Oh my God, really? Next question, please. No idea. You realise I’m the manager, yeah? I don’t make the rules, I don’t change fixtures. I’m the manager,” he snapped.

If Spurs can maintain their aggregate advantage against Bodø/Glimt and see off either Manchester United or Athletic Club in the final later this month, they’ll win automatic qualification to the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League – a prize that has been criticised by ex-Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger.

The Frenchman told beIN Sports that “they should qualify automatically for the Europa League again, but not necessarily for the Champions League […] especially when you’re in the Premier League where already five teams qualify.”

Postecoglou’s opinion on the matter was clear: “That’s a debate that’s been raging for years, like at least the last eight days. I’ve never heard that before, so… I’ve said it before, Spurs does crazy things to people. It does.”

“You can put that club into any sentence or any issue, and invariably they all come out and try and diminish as much as they can,” he continued, questioning “why wasn’t there an issue before, and it’s an issue now?”

The Australian noted that “last year, fifth [in the Premier League] didn’t get you into the Champions League. This year it does – what does that mean? There are competition rules, and the rules say that the winner goes into [the Champions League]. It’s not the first year; there isn’t an asterisk against it that you have to do something as well. But it’s Spurs, mate. They love it. Oh they love it – you love it, don’t you?”