Sky Sports has lifted the lid on what’s likely the real reason West Ham did not fight Spurs to lure Ange Postecoglou from Celtic.
West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady made it clear she liked him and so too did many Hammers fans, but Ange Postecoglou is now the new manager of bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
A detailed dossier on the Australian boss and the job he did at Celtic suggests West Ham may deeply regret missing out on Postecoglou to Tottenham.
He is exactly the progressive, modern, attack-minded coach West Ham needed and the fans wanted.
Spurs are lucky to have him and, given time, he will prove a shrewd appointment by Daniel Levy after a string of poor decisions.
Brady sparked speculation Hammers wanted Ange as the man to replace Moyes
With uncertainty surrounding David Moyes’ future at West Ham and Tottenham managerless, both clubs had been linked with the man who has transformed Celtic.
Back in March we said Postecoglou was the ideal modern, progressive manager to take over from Moyes this summer.
Then last month Hammers vice-chair Karren Brady made it clear Postecoglou would get her vote as the next West Ham boss as she raved about him in her newspaper column.
In fairness West Ham were somewhat snookered if they did want to appoint Postecoglou.
Having stuck by Moyes when he looked destined for the sack on more than one occasion, West Ham have to let him at least see through the club’s Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina.
Sky Sports lifts lid on what’s likely the real reason West Ham did not fight Spurs to lure Ange Postecoglou from Celtic – view
Tottenham would have known that and perhaps Levy took advantage of the situation by moving for him before the Hammers could.
But there would have been nothing stopping West Ham having private discussions and striking a gentleman’s agreement with Postecoglou and Celtic over a switch to east London when Wednesday’s final is out of the way.
There could be a much simpler explanation, though.
Sky Sports has lifted the lid on what’s likely the real reason West Ham did not fight Spurs to lure Postecoglou from Celtic.
Or five million reasons to be more precise.
Five million reasons West Ham didn’t fight harder for new Tottenham boss?
According to Sky Sports Tottenham are paying Celtic a cool £5m in compensation to hire Postecoglou.
West Ham’s owners have never been ones to fork out to take a manager from another club. It is not their style and never really has been. That’s not to say it is the wrong approach, it’s merely a fact.
And who knows, in a few months Sullivan and co may be proved right if it does not work out for the ex Celtic man in north London and Levy is having to fork out sizeable compensation having already paid £5m to get the manager in the building.
Had Postecoglou resigned then he would likely have been put on gardening leave by Celtic.
So Spurs had to cough up to land him and West Ham would have had to do the same.
David Sullivan and co showed they are willing to pay their managers big money when they brought in Manuel Pellegrini on £8m per year.
But they had their fingers burned with that appointment in many ways, having to pay the Chilean compensation when sacking him and bringing back free agent Moyes.
That would only have reinforced their stance on manager compensation and payouts.
Of course the Premier League is a big step up for Postecoglou. But the fear at West Ham will be that he proves a steal at £5m, vindicates Brady’s gushing prediction and leaves the Hammers with egg on their faces.
MORE WEST HAM NEWS
Related Topics
Have something to tell us about this article?
