Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou says 'We live in a world where people are constantly looking for someone to blame'
14/02/2025
Tottenham Training Ground, London, UK
14/02/2025
Tottenham Training Ground, London, UK
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00:00What do you say to people who seem to be saying that quite a lot recently?
00:21I've said it a million times. I think we just live in a world now where people are constantly wanting someone to blame.
00:32That's just the world we live in. No one will accept the facts as they are.
00:37The reason of our poor results and inconsistency has not been because of Sonny or because of my tactics.
00:44It's just that we've had 11 injuries for the last two months that have meant we've had a tired group of players.
00:51But that doesn't suffice because that doesn't provide a head on a plate.
00:55It doesn't give anyone... they want somebody to...
00:58Society, that's how we live our lives these days. You look at anything that happens in life, what we want.
01:03If somebody makes a mistake, we want to tear them down.
01:06There's no leniency anymore. There's no understanding.
01:09There's no contextualising of why maybe this happened.
01:14It's just like, no, just burn him at the stake. Let's just go and do that.
01:18So they're looking for someone.
01:20If people think that Sonny hasn't done everything in his power to try and help us through this...
01:26So what if he's a nice guy? What's wrong with being a nice person?
01:30Why do you have to smack people around?
01:33I've seen plenty of captains who are the opposite and they're pretty poor captains.
01:38Sonny is Sonny and I've got no complaints about his leadership.
01:41I've got no complaints about the way he's gone about things.
01:44He's handled it his way.
01:47The reason we've struggled is pretty clear, I think, if you want to look at it objectively.
01:51But if you're looking for...
01:53As I keep saying, if you're looking for someone to blame, you're talking to the guy who's most culpable.
02:00Part of the issue about Sonny being a captain and that nice guy sort of narrative,
02:04a lot of people have in their mind Roy King, Tony Adams, as a captain.
02:10They're not nice people?
02:11No, it's more like...
02:13You said that, not me by the way. Just to be clear.
02:16No, I mean it's kind of a perception of what captains do.
02:19They may not even exist anymore. Is that a part of it?
02:21I don't think... Yeah, I don't think they...
02:24Maybe, yeah, a little bit.
02:26But I think, as I keep saying, the world's changed.
02:30Dressing rooms have changed.
02:35Even for the likes of Roy and others.
02:37In today's dressing room, I think they find it challenging.
02:40They probably adjust because the good leaders do adjust.
02:43But they're not the same kind of dressing rooms.
02:45The same way I can't be the same manager I was 20 years ago.
02:49You can't be that person anymore.
02:51You can't just go in there and give people ultimatums,
02:55players ultimatums about if you don't like it, you're out of here.
02:58That world doesn't exist anymore.
03:00It's a different world.
03:02So the way you lead now has to be different.
03:05I'm not really sure what people talk about nice.
03:07I think if somebody's got good values and are good people,
03:11I don't think that's a bad thing.
03:13I'm not really sure why you need to be anything different than that.
03:16That doesn't mean you can't – that doesn't inspire people or motivate people.
03:21If you're coming into training and you see Sonny
03:26kind of really bouncing around, enthusiastic about training,
03:30well, that's going to rub off on you.
03:32You can't go around moping because you'll say,
03:34well, if I'm doing it, why aren't you?
03:36So there are many ways to lead.
03:38I think the key to leadership is being yourself,
03:40and Sonny certainly is that.