The 2024/25 season was one that had to be endured to fully grasp it; I lived it watching every single game across the season in one way or another… every minute, every kick of the ball… all the goals scored, all the goals conceded… and of course one magical night in Bilbao.
There is a term that has haunted this club for many years and that is Spursy. The definition being to grab defeat from the jaws of victory, to be the bridesmaid never the bride, to be close but never the winner etc etc. To be 3-0 up and lose 4-3 … you get it….
You could argue that in fact this season is the most Spursy season in the history of the term as we finish 17th in the Premier League, our worse ever finish. Losing a record amount of games for a team that has not been relegated and also losing a new club record number of games in a season…. yet… this season we finally ended our trophy drought lifting the Europa League!
If you were to break the season down into sections starting with the Premier league in isolation its just terrible. All season from the first game to the last we were poor, with the odd bright moment… however you do not end the season 17th if you were anything other than garbage.
This should not be ignored obviously but from various journalists who are reliable, various interviews and post season quotes you can now piece together whats happened behind the scenes at the club which possible led to this mess and as per usual with our club, despite what Daniel Levy would like you to believe, its not all on the manager!
Post season Ange has said three things, in different interviews that everyone should take note of I think.
Point (1) Ange stated that the club got pre-season very wrong and the squad started the season sluggish. He said he would learn from that. Now it is worth noting that our pre-seasons are all about tours and money, that is a club hierarchy decision and one that every manager we have had in this modern era has moaned about.
However given the money it earns the club it will not change. Last summer was the first time Ange had ever had to deal with that, he has recognised errors and will make sure things are different ahead of the 2025/26 season.
Point (2) is the injury crisis. It really was insane and not something Ange or anyone could have planned for and it could not have happened at a worse time / to a squad less prepared for it. You have to remember Ange is not in charge of squad building / planning. In his first season the Australian had a squad of 27 senior players and had three competitions to play in. In his second season he has 19 senior players and had four competitions to play in. Now who is classed as a senior player could be debated but anyone who is a teenager I am not adding to that bracket because no matter how talented they simply are not a senior pro – they are not experienced and you need that when competing across multiple competitions.
In his first summer transfer window Ange was given Maddison, Vicario, Johnson and Van de Ven. Four senior experienced players ready for the first team. In his second season he was given one in Dom Solanke. The rest were players with great potential…
When the injury crisis hit it was obvious we are a club were struggling but we were in all cups still and mid table in the league, which was congested and as the January window opened we were actually just 4pts from 4th place. We needed to back Ange, but more over we needed to back the players who were exhausted and we simply did not do that.
Kinsky was signed first and early, for a keeper he again is a very young player – without doubt a massive upside and potential but was a keeper the most drastic position we needed to fill at that moment? Danso came later in the window once Dragusin has ran himself into the ground and suffered a season ending injury – and finally Mathys Tel, another teenager!
I believe and this is purely my opinion that the lack of support given to the squad in that window broke the spirit of a lot of players. They are not deaf, dumb and blind. They all knew they needed help and didnt get it. The results after that window show, for me a clear drop off… and that brings me to the final point from Ange’s post season comments.
Point (3) Following the win in Bilbao Ange told TNT sports that he made the decision in January that there was no way with the squad as it was to compete like he would want so they shifted everything to fully focus on the Europa League. They believed it was a trophy they could win but it would cost as the squad would need to train to prep for these games due to the injuries it would mean resting and rotating players that would normally be starting in the league etc and all to try and get the strongest possible 11 available for each knockout game and the final. It worked.
I have read many counter points to what I have said above so let me address them here. (1) Ange signs off on all transfers so they are on him. Yes he does, however if you are offered Bergvall, Gray etc you do not say no… but that does not mean you do not need senior players in addition… he was clear on that all the way back to last summer but the club failed to deliver him those players.
(2) Ange style of play / training causes the injuries. This one is the most common but I would direct you all to the players on this one. Have you ever seen a team finish 17th and all, I mean ALL the players back the manager like this squad does? Do you think players who felt their careers were being threatened by training or playing styles would stay quiet? Managers / agents for these players would be screaming to every journalist possible.. we have all seen it before with Pochettino and Toby, Jose and most the squad, Conte again… when players are unhappy for whatever reason they are not quiet so perhaps… PERHAPS… the players who work there day in day out know its nothing to do with him and we should listen to them.
The third and final thing I see a lot is he is naive, arrogant and doesn’t adapt. If he had changed things up during the injury crisis we would have more points etc. I think there is fair points in there but I also think people greatly miss understand him due to the media narrative. Ange-ball is there for sure, which is a beautiful thing when it all clicks.. but we also saw the Ange-Wall and that is as effective.
People seem to discount the possibly that coaches, like players and like all of us evolve and learn and sometimes the most trying of circumstances can teach you lessons that your career to that point had not.
The most recent post I see a lot on social media is that we should not be making a decision on Ange based on the emotion of winning a trophy, he should be gone. This is a tough one for me as over the season I will admit I was ground down, it had become clear it was not working and so we had to make a change even though I was very understanding that this would likely simply see another manager join, get let down and the cycle repeats…
The game is about glory no? Was it not all we heard about for years as finished consistently in the top six that it didnt matter as we never won anything yet now we have won something… we should fire the manager as the league form was not good enough?
Tottenham have won the FA cup eight times. I am not sure how many of those wins you were alive for if you are reading this but off the top of your hear how many league places can you remember for those seasons? How about the previous two UEFA / Europa league wins?
…. how about our most recent trophy, it was 2008 I believe…. anyone remember where we finished that season in the league? ….
The Premier League / Sky and all their pundits do an amazing job in making sure we all think that the league is the metric to measure all success but its bollocks. Trophies = success and yes I am a great believer in there has to be more than support that winning a trophy but having experienced that night in Bilbao, the parade… honestly can you all tell me finishing 5th the season before was a better season? Was a better experience?
Fans have long protested against ENIC, profit over glory and yet a lot of these same fans I now see want Ange sacked… well what is a league place. If he had finished 10th would you be okay? 12th? 8th? Where was an acceptable place to finish and deliver us a first trophy in 17 years?
All a league place is, is money.. you know that right? The higher up you finish is financial rewards. Due to the bottom three being so poor we were not going to get relegated, Ange knew that and he gambled, put all the eggs in one basket and he won. We won.
Next season we are in the Champions League and we have a trophy in the cabinet. The squad are more together than I have ever seen and all, ALL are backing Ange. Perhaps we as fans should pay attention to them and not the pundits who tell us we were poor etc and back him too and like the man said, season three is going to be even better than season two!
I will leave you with this final thought. Our most successful managers in our history are Bill Nich and Keith Burkinshaw; these two men share a record with Ange. No, its not about a trophy.. its club worst ever league finish. Each of these three men were the men in charge for our record setting worst ever league places, points totals…. imagine we had sacked the previous two…. imagine if we sack Ange now…
Back the man, back this team… and demand that the board add experience to this squad so we CAN compete in four competitions next season. COYS!
