Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has admitted that he was caught off-guard by the club’s decision to sack Ange Postecoglou.
He said it was ‘strange’ that they decided to cut him loose after leading Tottenham to their first title in 17 years and their first European trophy in over four decades.
Postecoglou pulled off a miracle in the Europa League to kill two birds with one stone. He ended Spurs’ title drought and maintained his sparkling record of winning silverware in his second season.
It was a fairytale finale to a miserable campaign that saw Spurs finish 17th in the Premier League, their worst-ever final placement in the English top flight.
Tottenham lost 22 games last season, and only the relegated trio were worse than Postecoglou’s troops.
The Australian’s European success wasn’t enough to earn him a third season despite his optimism at the bus parade, with Spurs already on the cusp of announcing a replacement.
Speaking in an interview (via The Times), Van de Ven reflected on the dressing room atmosphere, saying that the 59-year-old was popular with the players and had a track record of success.
“I think many of the players got along with him well,” he said. “And of course, he is the first coach who has brought success to Spurs in a long time.
“That also shows that he has a certain quality and a winning mentality, 100 per cent. From that, you would, of course, say that it is strange that he was fired.
“That was ultimately a choice from the club. We will see what happens now. Of course, we see some rumours about the Brentford head coach, who it will probably be.”
Tottenham have wasted no time replacing the Australian gaffer, with Brentford’s Thomas Frank on the cusp of signing a deal with the North Londoners.
The Danish tactician has close ties to Tottenham’s technical director Johan Lange, having worked together previously at Lyngby.
Frank has done a fantastic job with limited resources at Brentford, so it’ll be interesting to see what he brings to Tottenham.