The importance of Tottenham being able to go to The Emirates and not just the honours, but take the threat to Arsenal with an impassioned display was worth its weight in gold.
There’s clearly been a shift within the club; new players have been brought in to address a number of key weaknesses, a number of the old guard shunted on or simply ignored. One gets a sense that a new chapter has begun, even if Daniel Levy rather lucked into the situation, with his perhaps third or fourth choice of first-team coach.
Speaking on The Boy Hotspur’s Substack[£] Alan Smith has shared what he’s been told by the Tottenham legends he has spoken with at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The mood is lighter and more focused, and the atmosphere within the squad has greatly improved since the departure of Antonio Conte.
The Tottenham legends are delighted with how everything is going at their club at the moment. The feel-good factor is back at Tottenham, players are smiling on the training ground, and everyone knows where they are from one day to the next.
Antonio Conte famously didn’t tell his players their schedule for the week, which can impact players’ lives away from the pitch in terms of planning things with their own families. Things are much more settled now. Everyone connected to the club feels optimistic. It is a bit of a cliché, but the people around the club do feel like they’ve got their old Tottenham back.
The day-to-day working conditions for footballers can be privileged, but surely there needs to be a compromise, or a manager can end up taking all the good out of a situation.
Clearly, Conte had enjoyed success at all of his previous appointments and was hired by Levy, after the second time of asking, and one cannot help but feel that the churn of new blood at Hotspur Way was seriously overdue.
If the club Legends are happier with what they are seeing from within, and we are witnessing a greater degree of harmony on the pitch, then Spurs are certainly heading in the right direction under Big Ange. The father figure routine certainly looks like the way forward and Postecoglou must continue to be backed in the markets. What looks to be the case with the former Celtic boss, is that he doesn’t need the huge money signings that some managers crave, another facet that should also work in Levy’s favour.