Ange Postecoglou on Harry Kane and their Premier League opener with Brentford
Ange Postecoglou on Harry Kane and their Premier League opener with Brentford
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00:00 No idea mate, good turnout though, we had to cancel it last week and no one was interested
00:04 in what I had to say so it's obviously not about me, so go for it mate.
00:08 What's the latest with the current KEDC, with the airport's coming in, waiting to fly to Munich?
00:13 Yeah look, fair to say I don't have a blow by blow account of the whole thing but my
00:19 understanding is that it's progressed to the point where it looks like it's going to happen
00:25 and that's all the information I have at the moment and from that perspective it at least
00:32 gives us some clarity unless something unforeseen happens that we move forward with that Harry.
00:38 You need it to happen don't you, you're right the current is important so you can move forward
00:42 better if it's done sooner rather than later now we've reached that stage I guess.
00:46 No I don't have feelings either way in terms of needing anything, it's just like I said
00:52 from my perspective it's just about understanding where we're at and where the sort of status
00:57 of it is and the information I have at the moment is that the deal is imminent and like
01:03 with all these things obviously until it happens you kind of live with a little bit of leeway
01:09 for yourself for the most part moving forward and certainly with training today and preparing
01:14 for Brentford we're doing it without Harry.
01:17 Tough decision for him in the end it seems, how do you think he should be remembered by
01:22 time?
01:24 Yeah I mean I guess it's best Harry speaks for himself in terms of the decision but look
01:32 there's no doubt he's one of the greats of this football club and that doesn't change
01:36 you know his record speaks for itself, he's standing amongst our supporters, stands for
01:45 itself, I'm only new in the building mate but I'm certainly not a spokesman for this
01:53 football club in the sense of proclaiming people's status but I think it's fairly evident
02:01 that Harry Kane will always be one of the greats of this football club.
02:07 With the 85 million pounds up to maybe even a bit more than 100 million pounds coming
02:12 to the club you've got quality strikers, quality forward players in the building already but
02:17 will you be looking for a like for like replacement that way?
02:21 I don't think there's a like for like replacement for Harry mate.
02:24 Position wise?
02:26 In terms of a striker yeah, look again we've been planning for this fair to say for a while
02:34 so I think it doesn't take too much investigative work to realise that this was going to happen
02:44 so we've been sort of planning for it to happen anyway so a lot of our business up
02:49 till now is with that in mind so this doesn't change things dramatically from my perspective
02:54 anyway in terms of what we're trying to build.
02:57 So there's still movement in the squad absolutely, we've still got a fairly big squad that we
03:04 need to move out, some players and I think some players will seek opportunities elsewhere
03:09 and there's still three or so weeks to go in the transfer window so I think there'll
03:16 still be movement but that's not because Harry's gone, that's always been in the plan.
03:22 In terms of a 20 goals plus a season, will you give him a family video list?
03:29 I don't think it works that way mate, it's not my wife handing me a shopping list to
03:34 go down and get some milk and bread for the kids.
03:38 Like I said our whole strategy has been around the fact that Harry wasn't going to be around
03:45 more than likely so we've had that for pow wow this morning and we knew it was coming
03:52 and we've been working towards that and from my perspective we're preparing now for Brentford
03:59 and there won't be anyone in coming between now and Sunday so that's where my focus is.
04:04 Micky van der Ven has joined the club, has he settled in and how many training sessions
04:13 has he had? Do you expect him to be available on Sunday?
04:16 It's good to get Micky in and he's settled in well. It's easy for me to say but having
04:25 just been through it myself it's not as simple as him coming out and training, they've got
04:30 to settle themselves off the field as well and all these kind of things take time but
04:35 he's looked bright at training. He's had a pre-season with Wolfsburg, he hasn't played
04:40 90 minutes yet so it's fair to say again match conditioning wise he's probably not at the
04:44 level but he's definitely available for the weekend. We'll have a look at him, he trained
04:49 today, he trained well today. We've obviously got a session tomorrow and in terms of the
04:55 team selection I'll make some decisions after that but he's available for selection.
05:02 Any other injury concerns outside of the sector that you don't know about?
05:06 No, we've obviously got some long-termers who won't be available but everyone else who
05:13 played the last two games, Shakta and Barcelona, apart from some minor knocks, they've all
05:18 trained today so there's no-one we'll miss out from the guys who've been involved recently.
05:26 How are you feeling about Brentford on Sunday? What kind of threat they've posed? Do you
05:31 feel you're set and ready?
05:33 I think I see you say we have to be ready. The league's not going to wait for us, it
05:38 starts Sunday so we have to be ready for it. Obviously it's a great test for us, Brentford
05:45 away is tough for anybody in the league, they showed that last year and I think you've seen
05:49 growth in their team every year. They've been in the Premier League, they've made some really
05:54 astute signings to strengthen in the areas they need to. It's going to be a great challenge
05:59 for us, it's a great physical challenge when you play Brentford, they work hard as a team,
06:06 they're well organised, they're difficult set-pieces and we've got to try and counter
06:10 all that stuff but also from our perspective, try and play our football, we've been working
06:14 hard on that in the pre-season and this is our first chance to start to lay some foundations.
06:20 Hi Ansh, I know you said you've been planning this summer knowing this deal is likely to
06:27 happen but when the news broke yesterday, was there a fear of an executive? Was there
06:32 any part of you that thought Harry might say no, I want to stay? Did you try and convince
06:37 him to stay, this is his team, this is his home and nobody's picked up?
06:41 Again, I think if you're involved in the football business as long as I know, clubs aren't talking
06:50 to each other unless the player knows about it. We weren't negotiating with Wolfsburg
06:55 for Mickey Van Der Beene and then trying to figure out whether he wants to come to us,
06:59 all those kinds of things are decided. Those conversations, I had a conversation with Harry
07:05 the first day I arrived and he was upfront and honest and I was the same and you kind
07:12 of get an indication there that he kind of made up his mind that if the clubs agreed
07:17 that he would go, particularly if it was, obviously his emphasis was before the first
07:22 game, that was my preference as well. And there's nothing been along the way that's
07:27 sort of made me feel like there's anything other than this outcome. I said none of these
07:33 things happen in isolation, everyone's pretty clued in to what's going on. So from my perspective
07:39 I hadn't received anything either from Harry or from the club or anyone else to suggest
07:44 to me that anything had changed about his stance.
07:46 And on James Madison, lots of us fans are happy to see him here at Tottenham. Was he
07:50 a player that you wanted to have more of? You've got him more, you're expecting him
07:54 to be with this team?
07:55 Yeah, I mean he was probably one of the first pieces of business we did, yeah. I mean he
07:59 was available and yeah I was really excited to bring him into the group, knowing sort
08:05 of what we needed to build here. And again, in the back of my mind knowing that if Harry
08:11 was going to leave that's a fair few goals walking out the door and you can't just replace
08:16 that, I thought, with one player. I think an area of the club that probably needed some
08:21 bolstering was midfield threat in terms of goals and that's what Madison provides, goals
08:27 assists. And if we're going to sort of cover the fact that Harry's gone and all the goals
08:33 are leaving with him, we can certainly try and spread that out and Madison definitely
08:39 provides that. And he's been brilliant since he's come in to be fair, he's been outstanding.
08:43 Not just in the games but in training and the way he's kind of embraced the club and
08:50 the way he's kind of developed in the football we want to play.
08:53 Do you sense that despite it's been a difficult couple of years, the Spurs and some negativity
08:58 in particular last year, do you feel as if you've, despite Kane going you've really sort
09:02 of united all the fan base? I mean a lot of Spurs fans are coming in, you're an optimistic
09:07 guy, you're very enthusiastic, I think Spurs fans have really taken to you early on. Do
09:11 you feel as if you kind of brought everyone aside early on and everyone seems really united
09:15 going into the new season?
09:17 Yeah look I think, probably belies the general impression of managers but we're all eternal
09:25 optimists or else we wouldn't do this right. There's enough people telling you you can't
09:30 do things that if you don't go into any challenge believing you can be successful and believing
09:34 that you can bring success then there's no point being in it. So I was under no illusions
09:41 of the enormity of the challenge but at the same time I was bullish in myself that we
09:47 could accomplish something here. And in terms of the supporters, I've said all along, they've
09:53 got the right to feel the way they want to and it's up to us to change that if we don't
09:59 feel. If there's a negativity amongst them it's up to us to turn that around, it's not
10:04 up to them to just sort of blindly, they'll always have this eternal faith in their football
10:11 club but in terms of us, the people who represent it, we've got to prove to them that there's
10:16 something to get behind here and Sunday's an opportunity for us to begin to do that
10:21 and then hopefully that positivity transfers to our next home game because the energy that
10:30 they provide the players will be enormous in us trying to achieve what we need to.
10:35 Obviously Harry's been wearing the armband in your pre-season matches, Hugo doesn't seem
10:42 to be showing plans, have you decided on your captain cap?
10:46 Yeah I have mate. No I'm not telling you, no. We'll kind of go through that process tomorrow.
10:57 As you said, I think again, knowing that Harry was going to be here was something that I
11:04 kind of had on my radar. I'm not a massive one on having an outstanding captain, I think
11:12 leadership is very much a thing that's very transferable amongst the group. Your youngest
11:19 player can show leadership skills but it's about creating a culture and environment that's
11:26 driven by the players and the people you have in those positions, captains or leaders, whatever
11:32 sense of the word you want. I have to drive that and that's been part of my brief here
11:38 in the early bits, just to observe the players and how they interact and the kind of environment
11:46 they've set for themselves and which players seem to take the lead in that. I'll go through
11:53 the formalities of that probably tomorrow.
11:57 Is Sonny a strong candidate for the role?
12:02 Well it's not like a leadership poll, not having votes or anything. There's obviously
12:09 some people here, some players who have been here who have already contributed outstandingly
12:15 to the club. For me it's not just about experience, it's not just about playing ability, it's
12:22 as much about the person they are as anything else and how it's going to represent us as
12:27 a football club and how it's going to represent the playing group. So there's all kinds of
12:30 things that will go into it and from my perspective I'm really comfortable now with the group
12:37 we have here that will have a really strong leader out of it and hopefully some lieutenants
12:43 alongside him.
12:44 Even Perisic has been playing a lot for you in pre-season and obviously contributed a
12:50 lot. Does he have a future?
12:53 Yeah, I don't see any reason why he doesn't. Like I said, he's been playing and he's been
12:58 playing very well. Obviously I've followed Evans' career for a very long time and he's
13:06 an absolute professional. The way he looks after himself physically, he's in an unbelievable
13:10 condition and he's had a really strong pre-season for us, both in games and training. So yeah,
13:18 he's definitely got a future with me and with the football club more importantly.
13:24 Okay, we've only got a couple of minutes left of this section so we'll go to the gentleman
13:27 in the suit, Alan Runn and George please.
13:29 Hi there, it's Matt Gray from Newcastle Sport. You mentioned you had a conversation with
13:33 Harry when you first arrived at the club. Obviously you had a vision, you said his ambitions
13:37 as well, but did you try and convince him to stay?
13:41 No, I didn't see the point in that because whatever I was going to say was going to be
13:49 irrelevant to what he felt being here for the last month. I could sort of plan this
13:58 grand vision but I'm sure he's heard it all before. It's how people feel and what they
14:04 see and perceive as they train with the group and the way the environment changes that has
14:08 a bigger effect. So for me that was more, not that I was going to make a pitch for him
14:15 but my feeling was we'll get to know each other over the next month, that's the best
14:19 way to navigate this early bit of our relationship as manager and player. But having said that,
14:32 in my mind after that initial conversation it seemed to me that Harry had made up his
14:36 mind that if the club agreed he would go, if not he was also happy to stay. It wasn't
14:42 like he was forcing it on me. He was very professional about it and I tried to treat
14:49 him with the respect that a player of his standing deserves.
14:52 You understand negotiations take time but there were a lot of negotiations over the
14:57 summer, I appreciate you thought Harry's mind may have been made up, but was there
15:01 frustration on your part that this has taken so long and we just aged from the open up
15:05 against Brentford and we're getting a new official yesterday?
15:08 Yeah, look again I've been around long enough not to get frustrated by these things because
15:13 in various parts of my career I've been involved in the negotiation side and it's
15:18 never a simple process. I mean all us managers would love it if it was. And you're talking
15:24 like I said about one of the greats of this football club, there's got to be some torment
15:30 and turmoil on every side about this decision. It's not a real simple one. So whilst it
15:37 would have been great to have it clarified earlier, I didn't feel like in my mind that
15:45 it was that was going to happen, it was always going to be borderline. I think the one thing
15:50 we've tried to stay strong on, I think on all sides, is that we don't want to go into
15:54 the first game with still stuff undecided because then it gets even murkier if you put
16:02 it that way. So it's happened, like I said hopefully confirmation over the next few hours
16:07 and then we can move forward, Harry can move forward.
16:10 We've had big values being given to us, 86 million pounds of new is the last one I heard.
16:16 Have you been given any reassurances that a big chunk at least of that money will be
16:20 available at your disposal to bolster the squad?
16:24 No, again I think I said earlier that I don't need assurances. We've been working on that
16:28 premise already so there's nothing that's changed today from yesterday or a month ago
16:34 when I started. We've had a clear idea about what we wanted to do in terms of bringing
16:41 in players to bolster the squad, the areas we needed to bolster. Like I said there still
16:46 needs to be some movement out, that's still a big part of what we need to do and within
16:53 that context we'll wait and see how all that unfolds and there's still areas where we can
17:01 maneuver to do some business but that's not because of what happened today, that's sort
17:07 of been planned from day one.
17:09 What is the successful season looking like for you now?
17:16 The same thing it looked for me yesterday, nothing changes. Like I said we will try and
17:23 build a team that hopefully plays football that excites our fans and brings success to
17:31 this football club and the ultimate measure will be our fans. They'll tell me whether
17:35 they're satisfied or not with what I've done and that will soon be relayed to the people
17:41 here and to you guys and you'll all be able to have a running measure of how I'm going
17:48 but I'm not putting any specific goals to it. I think I know what I want to achieve
17:55 and that is create a football team that excites our fans.
18:00 Thank you.
18:01 When it comes to Harry Kane, he's a record-breaking player, he's a pivotal for this club but despite
18:12 that he wasn't able to bring his first fans any trophies. So in the post-Harry Kane era
18:17 what does your side need to do to change that?
18:20 I think that's a little bit unfair on Harry as well because they've got close a couple
18:27 of times but obviously in this business that's the reality of it until you lift a trophy
18:31 that kind of thing is always sort of branded against you but that doesn't diminish his
18:37 contribution and I think it's only fair that on a day like today that our supporters do
18:43 have a sense of mourning and loss because irrespective of the lack of success of the
18:50 club he's been a hero to them and I think he'll continue to be so. Again him going to
18:56 this club doesn't change my vision of what I'm going to try and bring to this football
19:01 club. It's fairly obvious that a club of this stature has to find a way to win things and
19:10 I think you can do that in many different ways. I have a very specific way of trying
19:16 to bring success to a football club, this football club or any football club and that
19:19 is playing the game a certain way and that's what I'm going to focus on. That's all I
19:25 have ever done in my career is get the teams to play a certain way because I know it brings
19:29 success and that's my sort of challenge here as well and hopefully moving forward that
19:38 not just the fans but the players themselves and everyone involved in the football club
19:41 will see that the road we've embarked on will hopefully give us the opportunity for success
19:47 because that's all you can do, you can put yourself up there to try and be successful,
19:52 nothing's guaranteed but we want to be in a position where we can bring success to this
19:56 football club.
19:57 Does the loss of Harry Kane give your project more time knowing that the fans will understand
20:04 and maybe the board will understand that Harry was such a pivotal part of this club previously
20:08 and you're starting a fresh journey with a new group of players?
20:12 I don't know if you lot will be there forgiving me to give me some more time. I think it's
20:18 just the nature of football these days that we all love. The reality is it does take time
20:26 but none of us know how much we have and I've worked on that premise my whole career. I
20:32 said before I go into every job thinking I'll be there for life knowing that I won't be
20:36 so when that end date is who knows but that's not going to affect what I'm going to try
20:40 and put in place and I don't expect people to cut me slack or give me time if I'm just
20:49 bumbling along and making mistake after mistake. They need to see evidence. I think that's
20:55 always the best way forward if you want to build something that's long and sustainable
20:59 and might take a bit longer is that along the way people actually see progress rather
21:04 than me just telling them it's going to come after three months, six months or twelve months.
21:08 If they can see it and feel it then that buys you the time because they can actually see
21:14 what you're saying happening rather than me saying can I have an extra six months now
21:19 because Harry's gone why should they give me an extra six months if I'm not doing my
21:23 job. Hopefully they're seeing that anyway and saying let's go another six months, let's
21:28 go another year because we like what we see and we're getting closer to where we want
21:31 to be.
21:32 What's your message to the fans?
21:41 As I said earlier I'm not going to tell them how to feel, they need to go through that
21:46 process themselves. I guess for me and the players what's really important now is that
21:55 when they see their team play that fills them with hope and belief that potentially we can
22:01 build something that they're going to be proud of. I'm just really reticent to tell people
22:11 how they should feel. If they're not feeling great about things that's their right, there's
22:16 probably a reason for that, maybe a good reason for that. What I want to do is hopefully give
22:22 them something tangible on the field that excites them. I think if we do that they'll
22:29 find their own way to get to the place where we're all united and feeling good about the
22:34 prospects of the Football Club.
22:35 Is Richarlison fit for this weekend? He's Brazil's number nine and he seems to relish
22:48 that tag. Is he the sort of character you think would relish the chance to try and feel
22:52 that the goals are going to be left behind later?
22:55 Yeah, he's fit. There's no issues with him. We didn't play against Shakta but he was never
22:59 going to. To be honest we were always going to play two different XI's and he picked up
23:04 a slight knock at training. He got through the Barca game really well. Richie's a fantastic
23:12 player. He's got some really strong attributes that fit in well with the way my team's set
23:20 up. He's a hard worker for the team apart from doing the stuff he needs to in front
23:27 of goal. There's all aspects to his game. As you said, he's represented his country
23:33 at a World Cup, not an insignificant thing. Sometimes when things like this happen, opportunity
23:40 exists. It's up to somebody to step through that door, whether that's Richie or anyone
23:44 else. That's all you can ever ask for in football. It's opportunity and him and the others.
23:51 Like I said, I wouldn't be expecting one player and it's not the way we'll be set up to cover
23:58 the absence of Harry. It's about the collective, how we can become a really strong, offensive
24:06 force with the players we have. We have some really fantastic attacking players, Richie's
24:15 one of them.
24:16 There will be a lot of debuts on Sunday, it will be your first time managing in the Premier
24:21 League. How excited are you about that and about this being a new era that hopefully
24:26 can be exciting and successful?
24:28 Yeah, looking forward to it. Absolutely. Every new challenge, the beginnings are always
24:36 exciting. It's the way I see them. Obviously, when the real stuff starts, particularly in
24:44 the league, then you know you're up and running. I'm looking forward to it. Probably two or
24:50 three that will be making their debut potentially, which I'm sure they're excited about as well.
24:57 I'm looking forward to it. As I said, all us managers are deep down eternal optimists
25:02 and I'm sure there's 18 Premier League managers who are looking forward to the first game.
25:07 We'll assess our feelings after the first game and see how many of us are still bullish
25:12 about it.
25:14 Okay, we'll end the broadcast section there please and we'll move on to the embargoed
25:17 section for 10.30pm tonight.