There’s no point in denying it any longer — Ange Postecoglou is in some serious trouble at Tottenham Hotspur. While Spurs have been standing by their man for much of the season due to the incredible string of misfortune and injury that saw them forced to play literal teenagers repeatedly during the Christmas fixture season and start of 2025, several outlets, including David Ornstein, have reported that the sense is that Postecoglou is no longer getting the best out of the players at his disposal.
The club is almost certainly putting out feelers for a new manager this summer, and one of the names most strongly linked to a move to north London is Bournemouth’s 42-year old gaffer Andoni Iraola, who has impressed over the past two seasons. But a new article in the Telegraph is casting doubt on whether he’d want to leave the Cherries at all.
Mike McGrath writes that Iraola is “moving towards committing his immediate future at Bournemouth” despite the Tottenham interest and the sense is that he could even sign a contract extension, taking him off the board entirely. Bournemouth are currently eighth in the table behind the strong performances of players like defender Dean Huijsen, Antoine Semenyo, and Milos Kerkez and are in contention for a European place this season, which would be attractive.
Now, a couple things here. First, this report names Spurs as a “possible destination” for Iraola along with Fulham’s Marco Silva and Brentford’s Thomas Frank, but while the source of that info could be club briefs it’s still a pretty thin foundation for these kinds of rumors. It’s also important to note that while it would make a ton of sense for Spurs to be reaching out and contacting Iraola about a hypothetically available managerial position at Tottenham Hotspur, we don’t actually know that’s the case. Ange Postecoglou still has a job, after all, and it certainly wouldn’t be unprecedented for links to managerial candidates to “fall apart” in the media only to find out later that Spurs never contacted them at all.
Or to put it another way, here’s noted Spurs historical author Gareth Dace:
So yeah, we should be extremely careful about these kinds of rumors, especially those about a job that isn’t even open yet. That said, if Spurs were to move on from Ange Postecoglou, I would absolutely want the club to have their ducks lined up and a successor to be named in short order, if only to avoid the chaotic and depressing “process” post-Jose Mourinho that led to the appointment of seventh-choice manager Nuno Espirito Santo (his tenure at Nottingham Forest notwithstanding). When Spurs fired Conte, it didn’t take them long to settle on Postecoglou. I would hope for a similar, pre-considered process this time around as well.