Archie Gray has revealed that his family were ‘really excited’ at the prospect of him working under Ange Postecoglou.
Postecoglou has been in charge of the Lilywhites since the start of last season, returning to the Europa League last season with a fifth-place finish and cultivating an exciting style of football.
It hasn’t been all positive, of course, with Spurs currently languishing in 10th place in the Premier League table and on a run of three defeats in their last five across all competitions.
But if there’s one thing you cannot question about Postecoglou, it’s his willingness to give young players a chance.
Spurs signed four teenagers last summer in Gray, Wilson Odobert, Lucas Bergvall and Yang Min-hyeok, while academy products Mikey Moore and Will Lankshear have also enjoyed opportunities this season.
Gray has made 11 appearances across all competitions so far since his big move from Leeds United, including six full-90 appearances in the Europa League and EFL Cup.
Archie Gray admits excitement at playing under Ange
Gray comes from strong footballing stock, with his father Andy, grandfather Frank and great-uncle Eddie all playing professionally for Leeds United and Scotland.
What’s more, he comes from a family of Celtic supporters, making the prospect of working under Postecoglou — who won five major trophies in charge of the Hoops — even more appealing.
“Yeah,” laughed Gray when asked on Tottenham’s YouTube channel if working under a former Celtic manager was an exciting prospect. “And all my family were like that as well, especially Eddie and Frank and my dad (Andy), they were really excited that I’ve got the opportunity to work under him.”
Tottenham travel to Celtic’s arch-rivals Rangers in the Europa League in December.
Gray is likely to start that match at Ibrox and it would be particularly sweet for him and his family if Spurs took all three points back to London.
On the prospect of playing Celtic’s Old Firm rivals, Gray added: “My family, Eddie, they’re all from Glasgow, and they all support Celtic so I always follow them and I’m definitely very excited to play Rangers.”
