Ange Postecoglou is likely to leave Tottenham Hotspur regardless of whether his side wins the Europa League – while the club is set to carry out a wide-ranging summer overhaul of its football operation.
The Australian has overseen a deeply disappointing season in the Premier League with their loss against Nottingham Forest – the 18th of the season – leaving them in lowly 16th.
However, it has been a different story in the Europa League with Spurs in the semi-final and potentially three games away from the Champions League qualification awarded to the winner.
Should that be the case Postecoglou could avoid the axe, but belief has grown over the past few weeks that the 59-year-old will depart regardless.
Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola and Fulham’s Marco Silva would be among the leading candidates as a replacement, while Mail Sport understands Scott Parker, who guided Burnley to promotion, also has admirers within the club.
Parker played for Spurs, was well-liked by supporters and also coached within the club’s academy set-up.
Iraola would, however, appear to be more suited to the shift in tactics and focus on attacking football engineered by Postecoglou while Parker’s success at Turf Moor has been built on the back of a resolute defence that has conceded just 15 times in 44 Championship matches.
Former boss Mauricio Pochettino would like to return at some point but is currently the USA coach and has a home World Cup to come next year. Brentford’s Thomas Frank is also on the radar.
Mail Sport revealed last week that another Aussie, Scott Munn, is expected to leave the club after two years as the club's chief football officer. And it can now be disclosed that others are likely to follow after a review into the reasons for the club’s underperformance is carried out.
Various departments within the football operation are under the microscope and a series of changes are expected across areas such as medical, sports science and analytics. There is a belief that the season has not been good enough across the board and that responsibility for that lies not just on the head coach. ‘Nobody is safe,’ said one insider with knowledge of the situation.
Munn led a review that ended with the exit of long-serving head of medicine Geoff Scott last year. This season's injury record has not improved and is arguably worse.
Tottenham will play Norway’s Bodo/Glimt in the semi-final and, should they be successful, would face Athletic Bilbao or Manchester United in the final, which is in Bilbao.
Postecoglou has often spoken of his record of winning trophies in his second season at a club and doing so this year could open the door for a more dignified exit.
A victory in Bilbao could set up a similar situation to that United faced when they beat Manchester City to lift the FA Cup and subsequently handed then manager Erik ten Hag a new contract. Ten Hag was backed in the summer window but was then sacked in October with the episode viewed as an expensive mistake. The way that the scenario unfolded in Manchester will not have gone unnoticed in North London.
Spurs have not won a trophy since 2008 and Postecoglou has had to contend with a series of issues as he seeks to end that drought.
A crippling injury list has decimated his squad, while matches have often played out to chants against chairman Daniel Levy and club owners ENIC. Postecoglou has also overseen an investigation into a suspected leak within the club. When asked if he was going to remain as head coach he responded that he had ‘no idea’ and told reporters ‘you’re going to have to put up with me for a bit longer’ following the unexpected quarter-final win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
There are changes expected elsewhere regardless. The club has already seen one new arrival with Vinai Venkatesham to join as chief executive officer in the summer.
Venkatesham is highly-regarded following his time at rivals Arsenal but the extent of his influence remains to be seen. A high-level trio of Levy, executive director Donna-Marie Cullen and operations and finance director Matthew Collecott are widely viewed as those who call the shots and some have wondered if change may be afoot in that axis following Venkatesham’s appointment.