It was the night when Tottenham Hotspur changed the narrative. No more ‘Spursy’, ‘Dr Tottenham’ or jokes about a dusty trophy cabinet and ‘Lads, it’s Tottenham’ means something else entirely now.
When that final whistle blew in Bilbao, the Spurs players immediately felt the weight of what they had just achieved. Some dropped to the floor, others just took off and sprinted around the pitch. Ange Postecoglou and his coaches embraced and the travelling fans erupted in delirium.
Seventeen frustrating years had come to a close with a night in Spain that nobody there in white will ever forget. Everything Tottenham had been criticised for lacking in the past, they displayed on the big stage and then some.
Can’t keep a clean sheet. Fixed it. Won’t battle when it matters. Fixed it. Postecoglou hasn’t got a Plan B. Fixed it. Romero will lose his head. Fixed it. Bissouma can’t be relied upon. Fixed it. Players have to leave to win trophies. Absolutely fixed it.
The list could go on and on because there’s been so much written or said about this north London side not only this season but for years, but in one night Postecoglou’s men banished it all.
They were up against a Manchester United side that had all of the experience. Casemiro alone had won in 17 different finals and here he was vanquished by an understrength Tottenham side.
Spurs were shorn of their creative talent, but they battled like warriors for everything. Cristian Romero barely missed a header, Micky van de Ven made an incredible goal line clearance, Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro never stopped running while Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur screened everything in front of them while Pape Matar Sarr never stopped running.
Everyone contributed to the cause. Even Guglielmo Vicario’s shaky start to the match gave way to big saves at the end from Garnacho and Shaw to ensure this group of players wrote their name into the history books.
They just wanted it more on the night. United had indicated it wouldn’t change their season, for Tottenham it could change everything.
It meant everything to Son Heung-min. He fell to his knees and roared at the final whistle before sharing a tearful embrace with his vice-captain James Maddison.
The South Korean star will make it to 10 years at the club this summer and he has always been desperate to win a trophy for the fans. When Harry Kane left last summer having been unable to do so, it was left to Son to deliver the goods as the club’s star and he did.
In doing so he also bears a new head wound after being pushed forward by his jubilant team-mates in the exact moment he finally lifted that trophy, and managed to headbutt the base of it in the process. The Tottenham captain will not care one bit. It is the very best of battle scars.
Players young and old celebrated the victory because they had all played a part along the way. Academy youngsters like Mikey Moore, Damola Ajayi and Dane Scarlett had just as much right to lift that trophy after their goalscoring exploits against Elfsborg.
Those who contributed along the way but couldn’t do so in the final were there to be a part of it. Even Dejan Kulusevski, who had undergone his knee surgery in Barcelona, made his way by land to be there for the team because he was not able to fly.
He wouldn’t miss it for the world. That’s because this team has become a family. They have grown closer through adversity and also understanding what lies within each other in the toughest moments.
Brennan Johnson forced the winning goal on the night, with one of those runs Postecoglou has drilled into him, to meet Pape Matar Sarr’s cross and the Wales international spoke after the game about a pivotal moment during this campaign when the squad really became a family.
“We sat down halfway through the season and everyone told their stories. You got a little glimpse of what everyone’s been through. It’s not easy. We’re football players, we’re privileged, we’ve got an unbelievable job but some guys in this team have been through things that I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” he explained.
“I’m so proud of every single player and I love them all. There are different characters, everyone is from different places but what brings us together is this shirt. The manager has made it clear since we started doing that, that you have your family who you’re related to by blood, but when we put on this shirt, that gives us our bond.
“Tonight, I think any player, any member of staff, any fan will have genuinely run through a brick wall to win. I know I would have. I’m so proud of everyone and it means the world.”
It’s testament to what Postecoglou has done that he’s managed to create such an environment and culture of family within the chaos of this season with the injuries and the poor Premier League campaign.
He won’t admit it publicly but it feels like he’s got closer to this squad than any before. Young Lucas Bergvall had an arm draped around Postecoglou from behind in a hug at the trophy ceremony, Archie Gray tapped him on the shoulder before the two men shared a long embrace and Porro jumped on his back during the celebrations around the pitch and he gave him a piggy-back.
He tried to remain out of the trophy lift and celebrations, allowing them their moment, but Vicario and Porro dragged Postecoglou into all the madness. This was his win as much as it was theirs.
The players have never doubted Postecoglou for a moment. He’s always tried to shield them from the outside criticism, taking the bulk of it himself, and they won’t forget that.
Even Sergio Reguilon, who has played a bit part this season, helped Maddison hold aloft an image of the Australian at the final whistle that said “I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year”.
For Postecoglou’s statement of fact continues to be one. What happens next for the 59-year-old remains to be seen but it will certainly take a brave and brutal man in chairman Daniel Levy, who hugged the Australian after the final whistle, to sack the manager who managed to do what only two others in Tottenham’s history have managed and win a European trophy.
With that victory in Bilbao, Postecoglou launched himself into the pantheon of most successful managers the club has seen and he gave Spurs fans a night they will never forget.
That counts for a lot and many supporters who were on the fence with the Australian will give him more time. Some might call it the emotional decision, others will say he’s earned the right to have more time by being more successful at Tottenham in doing what so many others have failed to do.
There would be a certain irony if Levy were to finally get what he craved – with Postecoglou delivering a trophy and Champions League football in one fell swoop as well as a place in the UEFA Super Cup – only to open the trap door on the man who finally delivered it.
Many of the candidates to replace Postecoglou are relative rookies and do not have a European title to their name. It’s a huge call and made all the more difficult now by what Postecoglou has achieved.
The Greek-born Australian certainly has no intention of walking away when he believes the platform is now there to build upon with the acceleration that comes with a trophy win, even if he knows he hasn’t always had the trust of everyone inside the club.
“It’s definitely been the toughest thing I’ve ever done without a shadow of a doubt and I knew that going into it,” he said. “This club’s had some unbelievable world class coaches, world class players and they haven’t had a night like this.
“It’s fair to say that it’s been really challenging because wherever else I’ve had success, by this stage I’ve kind of had the faith and trust of everybody, and here it’s been different. And I understand. That’s not a criticism. It’s just I think, because of the club, and its history, I don’t think they could ever go all-in on one person.
“For me that’s always how it’s worked well, when people back my vision. But within that, I think when we got to the end of January, the end of the transfer window, and assessed our situation, I just made a decision there and then that this was the trophy we were going to go for. And probably was at odds with what other people at the club believed at the time we should do.
“Again, that’s understandable. But I just really believed we could win this. And everything we’ve done since then, everything we’ve done in terms of games, the teams I’ve selected, has been about making sure that when these games came around, the Europa games, that we’re in the best possible condition to tackle them.
“That’s come at a cost, for sure, in the league. And I’ve got to take the responsibility for that. I just felt like the end-game of winning something was more important, and it was the only way I was going to do it.”
Postecoglou was asked straight, how does a club let go of a manager who has just won their first European trophy in 41 years?
“I am pretty kind of.. not relaxed. Relaxed is not the word because I would be disappointed if we couldn’t continue on this path, but it’s not a criticism,” he said.
“I understand why it would be difficult for a club like this to buy into one person’s vision. I remember even when I signed, the club and even Daniel said, ‘we went after winners, it didn’t work and now we’ve got Ange,’ but mate, I’m a winner. I have been a serial winner my whole career.
“It’s what I have done more than anything else. I know people talk about my football, which I am very proud of. I know people dismiss my achievements because they didn’t happen on this side of the world, but for me they were all hard earned and all I have done my whole career is win things.
“I understand, obviously the way things have gone in the league, people are right to be concerned about that, but I don’t think that’s a true reflection of where it is at. Whatever happens, my own belief in what I do doesn’t waver and I’ll continue to push on and do what I do.”
For years Spurs have struggled for an identity, flip-flopping from one idea to the next with very little joined-up thinking. Postecoglou came in with his very singular vision of ‘It’s just who we are mate’.
Who Tottenham are now are European champions. The trophy jinx is gone. Spursy is a meaningless expression and if anything it now means winner.
Postecoglou fittingly ended his press conference in Bilbao with three Spanish words – “Que sera sera”. Nobody knows what the future holds, especially at Tottenham, a club where instability festers amid constant change, but whatever will be, will be, because the present and this one night in particular was something very special and that will never ever change.
They only went and did it! Click here to listen to a special episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham on Spurs’ Europa League triumph.
