TOTTENHAM manager Ange Postecoglou said he was “very” hungry to build on his success after winning the Europa League on Wednesday, with speculation still swirling around his future.
The Australian’s job is still on the line with the club 17th in the Premier League after a dismal domestic campaign and he said the decision is not up to him.
Spurs ended a 17-year trophy drought by beating Manchester United 1-0 in Bilbao to win their first European trophy since 1984.
“Very (hungry to build on it), we’ve got a really young group of players and you can talk to them about success and what it means but until they feel it, it doesn’t become real,“ Postecoglou told reporters.
“I still feel there’s a lot of work to be done and I think that’s quite obvious — but not as much work as people may think.
“People can bang on about our 20 league defeats and where we are but they’re missing the point of what we’re trying to build here or what I’m trying to do anyway and I really feel that tonight can be a great platform for us to keep on.”
The coach said he was not sweating on his future, which he accepts is under heavy scrutiny, but would prefer to stay if he can.
“Relaxed is not the word (for how I feel), because I’d be disappointed if we couldn’t continue on this path,“ he continued.
“I understand why it would be difficult for a club like this to buy into one person’s vision…
“I’m a winner, I’ve been a serial winner my whole career… people dismiss my achievements because they didn’t happen on this side of the world but for me they’re all hard-earned and all I’ve done my whole career is win things.”
Postecoglou, who won trophies with Celtic, Australian side Brisbane Roar and Japan’s Yokohama F. Marinos, said he thinks Tottenham can progress to further success in the near future.
“We’re in the Champions League (next season), my thought process of what I’ve been doing this year is trying to build a team that can be successful for four, five, six years,“ he told TNT Sports.
“But I’m the manager of the football club. That decision is not in my hands.”
Postecoglou had stated that he always wins a trophy in the second season at the helm of his clubs and his words came true at San Mames.
“It was me just making a declaration, and I believed it — at the time I said it, I was still looking out for our club,“ said the 59-year-old.
“I know our league form has been terrible, but us finishing third wasn’t going to change this football club.
“The only thing that was going to change this football club was us winning something. And when I said that, that was my intent.”
