Under-fire Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou says being a football manager is a harder job than prime minister
ANGE POSTECOGLOU claims being a Premier League manager is a harder job than being prime minister – because in football, you have an election on your role every weekend.
Spurs boss Postecoglou watched with dismay as Russell Martin and Gary O’Neil lost their respective jobs at Southampton and Wolves at the weekend.
The Aussie has felt some pressure himself for his side’s wildly inconsistent campaign, upping the ante on tonight’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United.
Tottenham fans are back to calling for chairman Daniel Levy to go, as they did throughout Sunday’s 5-0 thrashing of Saints which did for Martin.
It all adds up to Postecoglou feeling like most managers who want to build something are hamstrung from the get-go, making it a tougher role than any other.
The 59-year-old said: “This job is the hardest job now in any walk of life. You can say politics but this is harder than any job.
“The tenure and longevity of this role now means that you go into it and very few are going to come out of it without any scars.”
Asked if he felt it was tougher than the PM’s task of running the country, the ex-Celtic chief replied: “Oh yeah, how many times does he have an election?
“I have one every weekend, mate. We have an election every weekend and either get voted in or out.”
Postecoglou’s side thrashing Southampton 5-0 – with all the goals coming in the first half – sparked the end for Martin, who was axed a little over an hour after the final whistle.
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The Spurs chief added: “You don’t even get sacked in the morning now, you’ve got to change the song!
“It’s crazy. I don’t get it. This notion that clubs want to bring managers in and build stuff doesn’t exist.
“We all understand every one of us in our positions at the moment is that the moment there is a bit of a wobble there will be coming from all areas.
“Gary and Russell are both outstanding young managers who have long careers ahead of them.
“Unfortunately I think for them at the beginning of their careers that’s what a manager’s career is going to look like.
“You’ll find that from now on managers are going to have about 20 clubs on their CV, even the successful ones because the ability for clubs to just stick with one person just doesn’t seem like it’s feasible anymore.”
Tottenham fans sang anti-Levy chants relentlessly in that Saints clash, with a protest planned for Sunday’s hosting of Liverpool in the Premier League.
Postecoglou is never going to tell supporters how they can or cannot feel.
But he has urged them to create a similarly hostile atmosphere for United tonight as his Spurs experienced in the Europa League this term.
The ex-Celtic boss added: “I have spoken about the atmosphere at Ibrox and Galatasaray and how I’d like that to be our atmosphere because it would certainly help us overcome a tough opponent in a really big game.”
Spurs are waiting to see if Destiny Udogie will overcome soreness for the game.
But they have been boosted by the return to training of 17-year-old wonderkid Mikey Moore, who has been out since October with a virus.
Meanwhile, Postecoglou was giving nothing away as to whether Spurs would be interested in a January move for wantaway United star Marcus Rashford.
He said: “If I looked at everyone we were linked to, I would have no time to do anything else to be honest.
“That’s a ‘not on my radar’ (response). You can ask me about Marcus but you can ask me about every single Premier League footballer and I’ll say the same thing.”
How does the Unify League work?
A NEW version of the European Super League has been proposed - now branded as the Unify League. Here's all you need to know about how it works...
Who plays in it?
The proposed competition would see 96 teams from across Europe taking part each year.
All positions will be earned by performances in domestic competitions the previous campaign – just as it currently is with the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
What’s the format?
There would be FOUR leagues: Star League, Gold League, Blue League and Union League.
The top two divisions, Star and Gold, would each have 16 teams in them, split into two groups of eight.
The groups of eight would play each other home and away, a total of 14 matches per club each season.
The bottom two divisions, Blue and Union, would have 32 teams each, split into four groups of eight.
They would also play each other home and away.
In the Star and Gold leagues, the top four of each group would play a two-legged quarter-final.
In the Blue and Union, it would be the top two teams from each group making up the quarter-finals.
The winners of those matches would then progress to a “final four” week of one off matches to provide the champions of the four different leagues. Those games would be played on a neutral ground.
How many English teams will take part?
The Premier League would have three guaranteed entrants in the Star League.
Two English teams would go into the Gold League.
Up to five further slots for Prem teams would be spread across the remaining pair.