Ange Postecoglou finished his post-match press conference on Sunday by mentioning how important it was for Tottenham to win on Ugo Ehiogu's birthday. Ehiogu, who was Tottenham's Under-21s manager, suffered a cardiac arrest at the club's Hotspur Way training base on April 20, 2017 and died the following morning.
A tragic event that left the whole club in total shock, Tottenham assistant coach Matt Wells was Ehiogu's assistant manager in the Under-21s at the time and witnessed what happened. Something he admitted that he has struggled with given the nature of how everything happened, the 36-year-old spoke to the Tottenham squad in the lead up to the Aston Villa game about Ehiogu as a way of bringing everyone closer and also to show a bit of vulnerability.
Wells' talk proved to be a big inspiration for the squad going into Sunday's encounter at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as they won 4-1 on the day against Unai Emery's impressive side. Speaking to Tottenham's official website on Monday about his speech to the first-team squad, Wells also revealed how Postecoglou surprised him in the dressing room before and after the Aston Villa encounter.
"So, I spoke at the end of the team meeting on Saturday. It was a good opportunity to talk about Ugo, not least the timing of it, with Sunday his birthday and we’re playing Villa, the club he’s most associated with as a player, alongside Middlesbrough," he explained.
"The gaffer gave me the opportunity to do it, so I put up a photograph of the pair of us sat together in the academy restaurant back in the day. We had the salt and pepper shakers out and we were planning our pressing strategy for a game against Chelsea. Jenny Stephens [our former assistant football secretary] came through and snapped the photo, the two of us sat at the table, salt and pepper set up 11 vs 11!
"I was telling the lads what that photo symbolised and what it meant to me, and the whole timing of it, his birthday on Sunday. I wasn’t linking it to the game and saying, ‘let’s win it for Ugo’, it was just a way of bringing everyone closer with that family vibe, and I just thought it was a chance to show a bit of vulnerability, because the lads don’t normally see that side of it.
"They only really know me as a coach and wouldn’t have known what I went through, and what I’m still going through and processing. Everyone can relate to it, though, because everyone has had people they’ve loved and lost. So, it was just about that and my relationship now with Ugo’s wife Gemma, and his son, Obi. It was a nice moment and a privilege to be able to share that with them.
“Then, before the game, the gaffer, at the end of his team talk, something I didn’t know he was going to do, but off the back of that, put a picture of Ugo up on the screen in the dressing room before the game, which was really nice, and he spoke a bit about my talk and the pain I’ve gone through and just linked it back to the squad and how everyone can relate to that and the fact that it was Ugo’s birthday and, again, not saying, ‘let’s win for Ugo’, but more about the togetherness vibe.
"I didn’t know he was going to mention it in his interviews after the game and in the dressing room afterwards, he caught me off guard a little, he came in and where he usually does his team talk, he stood up and said, ‘Wellsy, the floor’s yours’, and let me speak to the lads again.
"I couldn’t tell you what I said, because I was quite emotional, so I just rambled on a little and thanked them all for the performance. It was a memorable day with the victory and performance and, for me, on many emotional levels as well. It was class from the gaffer.
“It’s been nice to talk about it this week. It’s something I’ve struggled with, especially with the nature of how everything happened, the trauma, I guess, of witnessing it, being there. In a way, it was quite cathartic.
"I did get quite emotional, but I said to the lads, it’s also been a privilege to be able to share memories of Ugo with them and I’m glad the performance and the victory made it a special occasion. It’s certainly a day I’ll remember for a long, long time.”
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