‘Failure is not an option’, sacking Postecoglou was emotionally difficult — Levy

Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy says sacking manager Ange Postecoglou after he led the club to victory in the Europa League was “emotionally” difficult.

The Australian was relieved of his duties just 16 days after a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the final in Bilbao secured Spurs’ first major trophy for 17 years.

Postecoglou paid the price for a poor domestic campaign in which his side finished 17th in the Premier League, with former Brentford boss Thomas Frank brought in to replace him.

“I don’t regret appointing Ange, I’m very grateful to Ange. In his first season we finished fifth and in his second we were over the moon to win a trophy,” Levy told the club’s media team.

“But we need to compete in all competitions, and we felt that we needed a change.

“Emotionally it was difficult but we feel that we’ve made the right decision for the club.”

Levy has held his position at Tottenham for more than 25 years with Frank becoming the 13th permanent manager in that time.

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“I’ve got very broad shoulders,” Levy said.

“Failure is not an option, the desire [is] to succeed. And because it’s so difficult, I want to succeed even more.”

Levy and newly-appointed Spurs chief executive Vinai Venkatesham were both involved in the process of bringing Frank in after he spent seven successful years at Brentford.

The 51-year-old Dane has signed a deal that will keep him in charge at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium until 2028.

“We ran a really, really thorough process – at speed,” Venkatesham said.

“We defined 10 characteristics that we think are important to be a successful manager at Tottenham Hotspur, we analysed in real detail, through our technical staff, more than 30 candidates.

“We had a lot of time with the shortlist and Thomas was absolutely the number one candidate.

“We could not be more excited to have him join the club.

“Personally, one of the things I’ve excited about is that he is an outstanding developer of young players so I really look forward to seeing what he can do with the squad we have here.”

Levy added: “Whenever you have a new coach, it’s always a fresh start. [They] always have different ideas but we want to build on the success of winning a trophy last season.

“One of the things that stood out to me with Thomas was that he is clearly highly intelligent, a great communicator, super human being plus all the technical aspects which are obviously important.”