Ange Postecoglou insists he has not experienced anything at Tottenham which has ‘curtailed’ his ambition to achieve sustained success at the Premier League club.
It comes as Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is under the microscope after a controversial excerpt in the autobiography of former captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Tottenham have failed to win a trophy since 2008 but five years ago made the Champions League final, and Lloris revealed a gesture which made him question Levy’s burning desire to win silverware.
Levy arranged via a club sponsor for the whole squad to receive a watch with the engraving of ‘Champions League finalist’ days before the subsequent 2-0 loss to Liverpool in Madrid.
However, ‘Aussie Ange’ emphatically rejected suggestions there is not a constant will to succeed at the north London club.
‘I’ve said in my own life, people will often talk about experiences they’ve had and shared with me and I’ve got a totally different view on it than they have,’ Postecoglou said.
‘I haven’t read it [autobiography], so I don’t want to take it out of context. Hugo is talking about his own experience, but is that the experience of everyone?
‘I am sure Daniel [Levy] had a different view on it.
Ange Postecoglou insists he has not experienced anything at Tottenham which has ‘curtailed’ his ambition to achieve sustained success at the Premier League club
It comes as Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is under the microscope after former captain Hugo Lloris accused him of lacking a winning mentality ahead of the 2018 Champions League final
‘I think when something doesn’t work, it is very easy to look for reasons why.
‘I think it is bigger than that, but it would have been a very different story – because it was a pretty tight final as well – if it had gone the other way.
‘My dealings with Daniel and anyone at the club, I haven’t changed from the moment I took on this task.
‘I know the ambitions I have for this football club and there has been nothing here that I feel has curtailed me trying to achieve what I want to.
‘A lot of that is in my own power and the rest of it is to get people along for the ride and hopefully get them to believe in what we’re trying to do.’
League Cup triumphs in 2008 and 1999 represent the club’s only trophy wins during the past three decades.
The drought has increased impatience amongst the Spurs fan base, but Postecoglou has been consistent in his messaging that one Cup victory will not guarantee long-term success.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Premier League home fixture against Ipswich, the 59-year-old reiterated: ‘I’ve always said, I don’t see just a trophy as the panacea for sustained success because there is plenty of evidence that is not the case.
Former captain Hugo Lloris claimed in his autobiography Levy arranged via a club sponsor for the whole squad to receive a watch with the engraving of ‘Champions League finalist’ days before the 2-0 loss to Liverpool in Madrid
After 10 EPL games this season, Spurs sit in seventh spot on the ladder (Postecoglou is pictured with James Maddison after the last start 4-1 win over Aston Villa)
‘Not here, just sport in general. ‘I get the fact when you’re at a club this size and it hasn’t won, people think ‘well that is the missing piece’.
‘What I have been trying to rail against since I’ve been here is there is never just a missing piece.
‘It is always more than that. It’s about having a clear idea over what you’re going to build, how you’re going to build it, and staying true to that.
‘I think I said last week the biggest part of that is it’s not important what people say about you, it’s how you respond to it.
‘I could be going, ‘let’s just win a trophy this year, everything will be fine’, but I win a trophy, we finish 10th and five games into next year I get sacked.
‘Not that it’s about me but then the club has to change direction again so have you really done anything? I don’t think so.’