Postecoglou delivers on second-season promise as Tottenham lifts Europa League trophy

Ange Postecoglou has lived up to the early-season promise he made.

“I always win things in my second year. Nothing has changed,” the Tottenham manager said in September after back-to-back defeats in the Premier League.

That narrative has followed him all season yet eight months later, Postecoglou delivered on his word by leading Tottenham to the Europa League title with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the final in Bilbao on Wednesday.

“It wasn’t me boasting. It was a declaration … If we fell short, I was ready to cop it,” Postecoglou told TNT.

His stint at Spurs has been “the toughest couple of years” of his career, he said.

“I knew it going into it,” Postecoglou told CBS Sports. “This football club has had world-class managers, a lot better-credentialed than I am, and haven’t been able to get there, so I knew I had a massive challenge in front of me.”

Here’s a run-down of those second-season trophies won by Postecoglou across his career:

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South Melbourne (1996-2000)

In his first job as a head coach, Postecoglou won Australia’s top-flight title — the National Soccer League — in his second season with South Melbourne and again the following year.

Brisbane Roar (2009-12)

Postecoglou achieved the same feat at Brisbane Roar, winning the league title — by now it was called the A-League — in his second season and retaining it the following year.

Australia (2013-17)

During the second year of Postecoglou’s four-year stint with the Socceroos, Australia hosted the Asian Cup in early 2015 and reached the final against South Korea. The Australians conceded an equalizer in stoppage time — coincidentally scored by current Tottenham captain Son Heung-min — but clinched a 2-1 win after extra time. It was Australia’s first Asian Cup title.

Yokohama F. Marinos (2018-21)

In his first big job outside Australia, Postecoglou lost the Japanese Cup final in his first season with Yokohama F. Marinos but made up for it by winning the top-flight league title by six points the following year. It was the club’s fourth Japanese league championship.

Celtic (2021-23)

At Celtic, Postecoglou was in charge of the biggest team in Scotland — albeit one which had relinquished its league title the previous year. Under the Australian, Celtic regained the Scottish Premiership title by four points in his first season and retained it — by seven points — in his second season. Postecoglou then left for Tottenham.

Postecoglou’s other clubs

Postecoglou has been coach at three other clubs in his managerial career, but never got to the end of a second full season with any of them. He was at Greek lower-league team Panachaiki (2008) for less than a year, with Australian team Whittlesea Zebras for just three months in 2009 and at Melbourne Victory for 18 months — but left at the start of his second full season to take over the Socceroos.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer