Ange Postecoglou: Tottenham will soon appoint a Sporting Director
Postecoglou says he likes working with a Sporting Director
Written by Training Ground Guru — September 3, 2023
ANGE POSTECOGLOU expects Tottenham to appoint a new Sporting Director soon - and says he is in favour of the role.
Spurs have been without a Sporting Director since Fabio Paratici was forced to step down in April this year. The Italian, whose official title was Managing Director of Football, had been banned from all football activities for 30 month after his former club, Juventus, were found guilty of false accounting, market manipulation and filing misleading financial statements.
Australian Scott Munn had arrived at the club as Chief Football Officer a few weeks earlier, but his background is more in commercial than football matters. He was previously Chief Executive Officer of Melbourne City FC and Executive Officer of City Football Group China. This still leaves the Sporting Director position vacant.
When asked about a possible appointment, Postecoglou said: “I think it will [happen soon], that's definitely the club's plan. It's fair to say that going into the (summer transfer window), there was no point in rushing that appointment, particularly with a new manager in.
“I’m not going to appoint the person, I’m certainly not going to get involved in that process. The club have already got a clear idea of the way I work and the way I think and the way I want my teams to play. Whoever that person is … it’s my role then to get him to understand me and see the game through my eyes.
“What I will have a say in is whoever it may be that they get to know me and understand me.”
Postecoglou, who took over at Spurs in the summer, said he was in favour of working with a Sporting Director.
“I like working with a Sporting Director because they do most of the leg work that I just don’t have the time to do,” he explained. “When you’ve got a good Sporting Director, you work together.
“They see the game through your eyes and they say, ‘This guy is going to be perfect for you,’ and you look at it and you go, ‘Brilliant, I don’t even have to worry about it.’
“I’ve never felt encumbered with whoever I work with. I usually get my way with whoever I work with. I don’t have total control. I have control of one side of it, [by saying], 'This is a player I think could fit'.
“But there’s a whole range factors that come into it from the financial side of it. These kind of things I have zero control of. Obviously other people take over then. It’s not like I can do what I want. But it’s something I’m really strong on. I wouldn’t see the sense in bringing a player in I didn’t think would fit.
“I don’t care who was putting him forward or giving him to me. Because I think ultimately whatever happens I’m going to take responsibility. I would never say: ‘I didn’t sign this player’ or ‘He’s not one of mine’. Once a player comes into the club he’s mine. That’s how I see it.
“I will never say a signing wasn’t mine. So if I’m going to take that stance, I want the final say. I don’t say that [I get my own way] in an arrogant way. I like to think it gives people comfort. I’m going to take responsibility for it.
“It’s not like I go around telling people what to do. I want people to be at ease that whatever decisions we make as a collective, I will take responsibility for."
Without a Sporting Director in place, Chairman Daniel Levy took the lead on transfers this summer in consultation with Postecoglou. The Austrlian admitted the situation was “unusual” but had worked.
“If you look at the way the club's worked previously, [a Sporting Director has] always been in place,” he said. “So that means it's different, which I assume won't be the case moving forward.
“It's just unusual, it's different. When there's already a process in place, then you know how it's going to work. Whereas there's a new manager and no Sporting Director so I think anyone would say it's unusual. Usually you'd have one or the other.
“Maybe a new coach, maybe a new Sporting Director, but there's processes there. Here, you've got both so you're going into a window where a lot of things that are usually embedded in this kind of period aren't there.
“The thinking behind it was that probably the best way to charter this unusual process is to have less involvement with new people as possible. So far, when you see the players we've brought in, I think we've navigated it pretty well."
