Exclusive: ‘Ange Postecoglou paid for own Tottenham sack’
Ange Postecoglou may have been the master of his own downfall by securing the funding for Tottenham to sack him.
That is the view of football finance expert Dan Plumley, who told Football Insider exclusively that hiring and firing managers was eating into Spurs’ prize money.
Tottenham parted ways with Postecoglou, in spite of the Australian boss leading the North London side to their first trophy since 2008.
The former Celtic boss led Spurs to a fifth-place finish in his first season, but the club were atrocious domestically in his sophomore campaign, finishing 17th.
Given the importance of strong Premier League performances, Tottenham have chosen to replace Postecoglou with Thomas Frank.
The Dane has proven himself a capable manager when working with limited resources, although he lacks experience in European competition.
But the moves will not come cheap, as it has cost Tottenham £4million to sack Postecoglou [The Mirror], and Frank’s release clause from London rivals Brentford is estimated to be £10m [MailOnline].
Tottenham bank £68m for Champions League
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, finance expert Plumley outlined how Postecoglou’s Europa League final victory and subsequent Champions League qualification would have lightened the financial burden of sacking the manager and paying for his replacement.
Frank’s £10m release clause is a significant sum, but qualifying for UEFA’s most prestigious tournament will likely generate “€80m (£68m) minimum” for Spurs.
He said: “If we look at this in the here and now and the £10m release clause [to sign Frank], that’s off the back of just qualifying for the Champions League, which will generate Spurs somewhere in the region of €80m (£68m) minimum.
“English clubs will take a lot of that prize pool from the Champions League, and they’ll be in the group stage, and that’s the kind of marker that we’re working on now.
“I think when you look at that, you then go, okay, that decision can be taken into the context of where the overall revenue of the club is at.
“It’s a tricky one, because you don’t want to be spending that money if you can avoid it, but it is that risk and reward of hiring and firing managers that does come with financial costs as well.”
