Management harder job than prime minister – Postecoglou
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has described football management as the “hardest job in any walk of life,” even comparing it to the role of a prime minister.
Speaking after his team ended a five-game winless streak with a Premier League victory over bottom-placed Southampton on Sunday, Postecoglou noted that managers face an “election every weekend.”
The win at St Mary’s Stadium moved Spurs up to 10th in the league table but also led to the dismissal of Southampton boss Russell Martin. This came just hours after Wolves parted ways with their manager, Gary O’Neil.
“This job is the hardest job now in any walk of life. You can say politics, but this is harder than any job,” said Postecoglou on Wednesday.
“The tenure and longevity of this role now means that you go in to it and very few are going to come out of it without any scars.”
Postecoglou has faced criticism over his side’s inconsistency in recent weeks and chose to confront disgruntled supporters after the defeat by Bournemouth this month.
Asked whether management was harder than being prime minister, the 59-year-old Australian added: “Oh yeah, how many times does he have an election? I have one every weekend.
“We have an election every weekend and either get voted in or out.
“We have lost all sort of modes of respect in our society where guys are in jobs and they are putting up names of who is going to replace them while they are still working.
“As a society, we are so quick to just throw people in the trash and move on really quickly with no thought or any care around it. I don’t know if there is a good way or a best way of handling it.”
Tottenham Hotspur, still seeking their first trophy since 2008, will continue their Carabao Cup journey with a quarter-final clash against Manchester United at home on Thursday.
Manager Ange Postecoglou believes that breaking the club’s long-standing trophy drought could significantly uplift the spirits of the fans and shift the overall atmosphere around the team.
“If I go on the general sentiment since I’ve been in this job, it feels like a trophy will just make this place transform into something, so let’s see,” he said.
“Me personally? Like I keep saying, I want more than that. I don’t think it’s just about getting a trophy.
“I think when you want to build a successful, sustainable club in terms of competing for trophies every year, it’s more than that, but it wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong about something while I’ve been in this job. Maybe a trophy is what it needs, I don’t know.”