By Emily Benammar
He's not done yet.
Ange Postecoglou firmly believes his future in coaching is with Tottenham despite reports for the last four months that win or lose the Europa League final, he is out.
The Australian ended a 17-year trophy drought for Spurs after leading his side to a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in Bilbao, Spain. It was the club's first piece of silverware in Europe since 1984.
The win also assures the club of Champions League involvement in the 2025-26 season.
Europe success is a stark contrast to Tottenham's domestic season which has been dismal. They sit 17th on the Premier League table which is a record worst for the club.
Delirious with the result - which he had prophesied when he declared "I usually win a trophy in my second season" - Postecoglou was elated after the final whistle.
“I couldn’t put it in words to be honest,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s no secret we’ve had a tough year. I’ve just had this thing inside me in the back half of the year of ‘one focus, one target’.
“I just felt that this was it. To achieve it today… I know what it means to the club. It’s had the tag of a ‘nearly team’ for a long time and the only way you break that is by winning things.
“We did that today.
“My thought process and what I’ve been doing this year has been trying to build a team that can be successful for four or five years
"I want to stay, I haven’t completed a job yet, but the moment I accepted the role I had one thing in my head and that was to win something, I want to build on it.
"I know what it means for this football club. The longer it goes, the harder it is to break that cycle.
"I could sense the nerves in everyone at the club and until you take that monkey off your back you never understand what it feels like.
"We have a young group and I hope by tasting this, the players feel different about themselves and what it means to them is unbelievable.
“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 was lauded from all sides of the world after the final whistle went.
Former Spurs great Gareth Bale hailed the 59-year-old.
“Ange goes down as a legendary manager to win the European Cup,” Bale told TNT Sports.
“Tottenham’s gone from winning European Cups to, obviously, a massive drought, to now getting that off their backs.
“Hopefully now this is a stepping stone to build on, they’ll have a cash injection, qualify for the Champions League, they’ll be able to get players in who want to play Champions League football and strengthen from there.”
It was not pretty football against United but it all counts.
Brennan Johnson was awarded the only goal of the game even if it did look like it had come off a United defender. Ugly yes, care factor low.
“This season hasn’t been good at all, but I swear, not one of us players right now care about that,” Johnson told TNT Sports.
“This club hasn’t won a trophy for 17 years, this is what it means — it means so much! All the fans get battered, we get battered, not winning a trophy, not winning anything, but getting to get the first one in a while today, I’m so happy.
“Ever since I came here it’s been, ‘Tottenham are a good team, but they never get it done’ — we got it done!”
Asked for his thoughts on Postecoglou's future, Johnson added: “He’s done his job, he said he wins in his second year and he has.
“I’ll be looking forward to his interview, but I can’t thank the manager enough for how much trust he’s had in us because some of the performances this season, as I say, haven’t been good enough. But especially in the Europa League, he had a really good way of getting everyone up for it and today it shows.”
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Crafted by Project Diamond