The soccer manager on the verge of a major championship — and losing his job

Tottenham is in the bizarre position of being on the verge of a trophy it has long dreamed of to end a dreadful season it would otherwise rather forget.

Standing inside a small, Norwegian stadium north of the Arctic Circle this month, Ange Postecoglou, the manager of the English soccer club Tottenham, blew kisses to his wife in the crowd. Around him, players and fans who had made the trek joined in the celebration of a rarity in the club’s 142-year-old history: a berth in the championship final of a European tournament. 

Tottenham’s palatial stadium in north London, modern practice facility and international fan base rival those of its biggest competitors in the sport’s richest league, the English Premier League. Its trophy case, however, does not. The club has not won a major trophy since 2008 or a major European tournament since 1984. Its history of coming close but failing to win during both the domestic season and the European championships that play out in parallel has spawned a pejorative description — “Spursy.”

That drought could soon end. And so, too, could the tenure of Postecoglou, the manager who got them there.

Because when Tottenham won in Norway to advance to Wednesday’s Europa League final against Manchester United in Bilbao, Spain, it put the club in the bizarre position of being on the verge of a trophy it has long dreamed of to end a dreadful season it would otherwise rather forget.

That discordant contrast between Tottenham’s awful Premier League season with its run to the Europa League final — which guarantees the victor a position in next season’s Champions League, Europe’s most prestigious club tournament, and millions in revenue that come with qualification — has reignited the debate of what defines success in the upper level of global soccer and whether a trophy would be enough to save Postecoglou's job.