We are now approaching a year since Johan Lange joined Tottenham Hotspur as their technical director, and he’s largely operated from behind the scenes during that time. But, he’s spoken now about how that might change, and how much Ange Postecoglou has a say in transfer strategy, too.
Lange plans to step out of the shadows
Much has changed at Tottenham over the last couple of years. Fabio Paratici’s global ban from football sparked the need for an overhaul in the scouting and recruiting department at Tottenham, but the club’s successful transfer record of late has been maintained with effective signings over the summer.
Spurs moved swiftly and shrewdly in the summer market to sign Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert, and the more high-profile Dominic Solanke.
Discussing how he operates within the club, and how his role may evolve in the near future, Johan Lange reflected on the ways of the past and how the demands of modern football now call for something different from a man in his position.
He told TV 3 Sport: “[The lack of public comments] is undoubtedly cultural… In the old days, there was a local rich man who owned his local club, and he hired his manager, and then they met on Friday afternoon for a cup of tea, and then they turned the world upside down and found out how the team was supposed to play the next day, and what kind of players they had to buy.
“But you could say it’s about changing a culture, it’s not something that happens overnight. It takes time, but I think you’re starting to see sports directors and technical directors in the clubs be a bit more in the media as well, and I think you’ll see that more in the future.”
Postecoglou is key to transfer talk
There is always a concern that, when there are technical directors and the sort involved in a club, a manager can be excluded from important decisions when it comes to transfers.
MORE SPURS STORIES
There should be no such fear at Spurs, though, as Lange explains the way he and Ange Postecoglou collaborate to determine the short-term and long-term future of the squad.
He added: “It’s not like, you can just put it in a formula and say, well then it’s me who makes the decision at that point. It’s about discussing different topics over months and weeks, and then of course you arrive with a shorter list, and then you discuss back and forth.
“It’s about a process where we end up agreeing, that this is our top target. We discuss our performance and the game, but Ange and his coaches are the ones who work with the game and the players, for everyday life, and prepare the team for matches.
“And then my role is more to concentrate on the longer term, and ensure that we are successful, not only this year, but also in three years, in five years.”
The system seems to be working at Spurs
There appears to be a real cohesion and clear strategy at Spurs right now, with the owners, the higher-ups like Lange, the coaches, and the players all pulling in the same direction. I don’t want to get carried away, but everything I see and hear from within the club tells me we are destined for great things very soon, and for a long time beyond that, too.