Ange Postecoglou gives passionate response about engaging with fans and what Tottenham must do

Ange Postecoglou has stated that he will always fight against fans trying to entice a reaction out of him when recording on their mobile phones. There have been a number of instances this season when the Tottenham head coach has engaged with fans, including in their 2-0 defeat at Fulham three weeks ago and at Bournemouth in early December.

Amid a lot of unrest amongst the fanbase at present with Tottenham defeated 16 times in 30 Premier League games this season, after Pape Matar Sarr scored against Chelsea before it was later ruled out. Asked about his interaction with supporters this season and why he engages rather than ignoring it, delivered a passionate response and outlined his reasons why.

"That's a super point, I'm glad you asked me. That's something I'm definitely going to fight against," said the 59-year-old. "If somebody says to you, 'That was a good article last night but I don't like that point you made', you go, 'OK mate' and you might just walk off.

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"If somebody says (picks up phone and holds it up, as if recording), 'Hey, I didn't like that article', what do you think they are trying to achieve? What I think they're trying to achieve? They're not really interested in answering the question, they just want a reaction. They want their five minutes of fame because that's what this (the phone) gives them.

"That's what I was talking about, right? For young people, this (a phone) is more dangerous than any weapon in the world, as far as I'm concerned. If I don't pull up, especially young kids, who put up a phone in my face, then what's stopping them doing that in the school yard? What's stopping them doing that in general life and bullying people? Because it's a bully mechanism, it's not criticism.

"Do you think after almost 30 years in the game that I haven't received abuse? Mate, from the first day, of course. I don't react to that. But if somebody is holding up a phone, I will react to it because I won't accept it.

". I asked them, I don't know if it's shown in the clip, I said 'Where's your dad?' I wanted to talk to their dad. Or 'where's your mum?' They got slightly sheepish and embarrassed because it's not criticism I'm reacting to, it's them holding up a phone.

"Why are you holding up a phone? What are you trying to do? So you can put it on social media and say, 'Look, I got Ange Postecoglou to react, isn't that great'. I can take it, I'm 60 years old, I don't care. What if they take that in the school yard, what if they do that in general life, what if they do that to you?

"Somebody is walking around and not criticising you, because you'll say, mate, I'm a big boy, I can handle it, but they put a phone in your face to do it. As soon as I see a phone, I'm going to react. I'm not going to accept it.

"Hopefully, I didn't swear in that, I wasn't abusive, all I asked was a simple question. I'm always going to do that. Like you said, I'm fighting the good fight, that sound a bit trite, here's this old man who is going to rail against society. But as I said at the outset, I'm not going to be one of these people who accepts whatever is put in front of them.

"I'm not going to do it, I'm just not at that stage in my life where I'm going to accept people trying to bully you or antagonise me or try to do things that show total disrespect. Again, I'm not talking about somebody just shouting over a fence at me, and that's happened a few times and I always react to it and I always will."

Asked why he feels the need to take on that level of social responsibility, he added: "Because I feel it's right. Sometimes you've just got to do the right thing, mate. It's what I believe in. I've said many times, I've made a real conscious effort of not letting the game change me as a person, it's what I believe in.

"I'm not a perfect human being, I've made plenty of mistakes, but there are certain values that I'll carry through until the day I die. I've got kids, I've got boys, my wife will ban them having a phone until they are 18 if she can get away with it.

"I really fear for where that kind of thing is heading. I'm not going to accept it. It's not different to VAR. Obviously it's a social issue, that's a football issue, but I'm going to stand up for what I believe is right.

"People may disagree with me, I understand that. But part of society is having those dissenting voices to ask those questions. I'm happy to take that on.

"I understand the question, that it just piles extra pressure on me, but I don't see it as pressure, I see it as a responsibility I have while I'm in this public spotlight to call out what I think is not right. I'll happily take on that responsibility."

Tottenham's have endured a wretched year in the Premier League . Postecoglou doesn't believe that winning UEFA's second club competition in Bilbao come May will change everything but it is probably the only way to quieten the noise surrounding the club at present.

"No it doesn’t change everything," he admitted. "For sustainable success you’ve still got to stick to a course of events. But what a trophy does is eliminate some of the noise around the club and what other people feel is missing.

"It’s not what I feel is the only piece that’s missing. I think you need to build something sustainable. And I’ve said that from the start. We started that last year with the way we played and the squad we have, a young squad we want to keep growing, but certainly it would quieten a lot of the noise, whether internally or externally, about what’s missing at this club."

Pushed on if it is the only way to quieten the noise, he said: "Probably, from that point of view. I think you’re right there. I’m well into my second year and if people don’t really see what I’m trying to do at this moment I don’t think they’re ever going to see it so if a trophy is the only way - it seems to be the only way – well OK let’s see if we can deliver that and see what happens."

Not winning a major trophy since 2008 and going through a number of managers in their quest to bring silverware to the club, . Rather than constantly chopping and changing as they bid to find the solution to their trophy drought, the current boss believes that Tottenham at some point need to stick to something.

“It’s hard for me to say because every manager’s got their own sort of views on this. I just don’t think it’s about the managers themselves. I’ve almost lasted two years, it’s pretty good for Tottenham," explained the former Australia boss.

"At some point, I think the club needs to stick to something. If I say it now it sounds self-serving and defeats the purpose, so maybe not now…But I think if that if you want to change the course of your events, you need to change materially a lot of things in terms of the way your outlook as a club.

"From my perspective, while I’m in this chair, is to see if I can find a way to navigate it that others have struggled to do that. But, as you rightly point out, there’s life after this for everybody including Tottenham and including me.”

Facing big challenges in his previous managerial roles, Postecoglou believes the Tottenham job is different to other positions he's held before.

“It’s just different, for sure it’s different. But I kind of knew…I knew that coming in," he said. "If anyone comes into this role and thinks it’s going to be a smooth ride or an easy ride, knowing the history of the club, I think don’t take the role.

"So none of that’s kind of surprising to me. I knew what I was taking on, I knew this was going to be a tough gig for sure because there’s a whole weight of things you’re trying to rail against. So from that perspective it is different to other clubs I’ve been at for sure. But other clubs have had different challenges that you can overcome.

"A lot of it is also how the club is viewed externally. It seems like every fight ends up being an internal fight at this club. There’s never any sort of defending of the club or the club defending itself, it seems like to me which makes it even more difficult because every club goes through tough moments and it’s how you react to them. That’s a unique challenge, but I accepted that challenge so I’ve got to try to find a way to overcome it.”

So how could the club defend itself?

“By being more vocal. I hope not (just the manager). I think you hear enough from me, you probably hear too much from me to be honest, I think," said Postecoglou. "It doesn’t have to be just from people at the club. I hear plenty of people talking and defending other clubs, but it seems with Tottenham wherever there’s a sore there’s a real pile on to sort of stick a finger in that sort and then we kind of accept our fate.

"I think the fact that out of last night the big story out of that is that my interaction with the fans and not the fact a game of football was materially changed by technology, and again I know people will say ‘well, we got to the right decision’, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about VAR said clear and obvious, six minutes for clear and obvious, and I’d have thought that would be the story from last night but it’s not. It’s, again, it’s my interaction with the fans and how I’ve made things more difficult. You kind of go ‘ok, well that’s the challenge we face.”

Given Postecoglou is the only individual at the club fronting up to the media on a weekly basis, he was asked if that is fair.

"But again, that’s not an unknown. It’s not like that’s changed. I knew that taking on the role. So if I wasn’t prepared to accept that, then I shouldn’t have taken on the role. I took on the role, I accepted that challenge," stressed the head coach.

"Fair to say this year hasn’t worked out. But that’s the other thing. We finished fifth last year. In another year, that would have been a Champions League spot. With people it just doesn’t register. If you have five years at a club and you have maybe one or two disappointing years but you have three really strong years you’d say: ‘I’ll take that.’

"But here you can’t have one good year … and last year was a good year, I don’t care what anybody says. We lost Harry [Kane]. I know everyone talks about our start. We lost Harry. We finished fifth. We changed the way we played. But it seems like, well, you have one good year, you have one poor year and then that’s it. Let’s move on to the next.

"But that’s what I accepted so I can’t sit here and say: ‘Ah, woe is me.’ That’s the challenge I accepted. Fair to say at the moment I’m not doing a good job of turning that mind-shift around. But as I said earlier, I am a fighter. I will continue fighting until told otherwise."

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