Postecoglou sacking came as a shock to Spurs´ Van de Ven

Micky van de Ven admitted he was shocked by Ange Postecoglou’s sacking at Tottenham, claiming he “by no means anticipated it to occur”.

Postecoglou took cost of Spurs in June 2023 and led them to the Europa League trophy in 2025, ending the membership’s 17-year look ahead to silverware.

Nevertheless, he was sacked simply 16 days after that trophy win, with Spurs ending seventeenth within the Premier League, having racked up simply 38 factors that season.

Postecoglou grew to become the primary Premier League supervisor to win a serious trophy and be sacked on the finish of that season since Antonio Conte in 2017-18 with Chelsea.

He was changed by Thomas Frank this summer time, with Spurs now sitting eleventh within the desk after a combined begin to life underneath the Dane.

And Van de Ven says the choice to let Postecoglou go got here as a shock.

“He was a extremely good supervisor. I nonetheless actually like him,” Van de Ven instructed The Overlap podcast.

“I don’t know the way all the pieces went backstage. I didn’t count on it. It was unusual how all the pieces went after – he’s the supervisor that received silverware for Tottenham.

“Afterwards, when he obtained sacked, I despatched a message to my dad and my pals and mentioned, ‘I by no means anticipated this’.”

Postecoglou’s Spurs facet struggled with accidents of their second season, having initially seemed set to mount a title problem.

They suffered 22 league defeats in 2024-25 and received simply 11 of their matches within the competitors, with Postecoglou’s fashion of play usually coming underneath scrutiny.

“I appreciated the offensive play [under Postecoglou]however I like what we have now now with Thomas Frank,” the defender added.

“We’re safer on the again. I don’t like getting uncovered each recreation on the counter-attack.

“At the start [under Postecoglou]no staff was used to taking part in towards our system. We had been taking part in unbelievable soccer. However managers analyse all the pieces, and folks knew what we had been doing.

“Typically we didn’t actually have a plan B, and we had been getting uncovered. We didn’t have options to get out.

“At one level [me and Cristian Romero] walked as much as the gaffer and mentioned we have to change some issues and play extra defensive to ensure we win these video games. He was like I agree with you, however I count on you two guys to kind this on the pitch, be certain everyone is aware of.”

Postecoglou returned to administration with Nottingham Forest in September, however his tenure on the Metropolis Floor was quick lived as he didn’t win a recreation earlier than being changed by Sean Dyche in October.