Ange Postecoglou reveals when he knew he'd be sacked by Tottenham | OneFootball

New Nottingham Forest boss aware that Spurs dismissal was coming despite Europa League success ending 17-year trophy drought

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The Australian was sacked at the end of last season, just a few weeks after Spurs beat Manchester United in Bilbao to lift a first trophy since 2008.

However, Tottenham finished 17th in the Premier League having lost 22 of their 38 matches, and the decision was made by the club to part ways with Postecoglou.

The 60-year-old has secured a swift return to the Premier League this week by taking over from Nuno Espirito Santo at Nottingham Forest, and in his first press conference at the club was asked to reflect on Spurs' decision to sack him.

"It wasn't great," Postecoglou said. "I knew it was coming so it wasn't a surprise, that's one thing. I knew it was coming a fair way before the final.

“But we won it and we had the parade, it was a great three days. I didn't want it to tarnish that.

"But after that I kind of knew it was done. From my perspective, you have the chance to process that.

“Whether I feel it was unjust, other people made those decisions, made those determinations. That's up to them, you'd have to ask them their reasoning for it.

"What I do know is I had two years where it was very, very challenging but I worked with some fantastic people in the football department."

Postecoglou was a popular figure among the Spurs squad and wrote himself into the history books as the first manager to win a European trophy for the club since 1984.

He is set to make his first return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in March next year and is likely to receive a warm reception from the home supporters in north London, with Postecoglou enjoying regular reminders of what Europa League success meant to the fanbase.

"The supporters, we put them through some tough times," Postecoglou said. "But there isn't a Spurs supporter that I come across now that doesn't want to hug me and take me home for dinner, so I must have done something right.

"Ultimately, that's what we do it for. I'm very proud of what we achieved there and it will always take a special place in my heart.

"How it ended, I don't really think about it a lot. To be fair, I've done it a couple of times myself.

“I left Celtic and I'm sure they were disappointed. I left Yokohama and they were disappointed. You understand that's part of the business we're in.

"That's ok, it's allowed me to move into this and maybe these things happen for a reason."