Tottenham waited and waited, but, finally, just when everyone thought he'd be staying, Daniel Levy and the club made the decision to part ways with manager Ange Postecoglou after he brought them their first Europa League title in 41 years and first real trophy of any kind in 17 years.
Although Postecoglou had his tactical issues and often grated the ears of supporters with his "Mate"-filled press conferences, the fondness of the Europa League title and the profound meaning behind that success was enough to get most of the fanbase behind the charismatic Australian.
Postecoglou had the dressing room singing his praises and backing him to the fullest in public, and yet after making him mull over all the uncertainty while on holiday with his family, Levy twisted the knife and forced Postecoglou to walk with his head down out of the building.
Maybe it was the 17th-placed finish in a meaningless Premier League season that did him in, but the whole way the situation was handled was the cruelest part of it all. Firing Postecoglou was one thing, but doing so after getting everyone's hopes up and leaving them in the dark for weeks while the best transfer targets on the market, like Rayan Cherki, and the best managers available, such as Simone Inzaghi, cleared the board is a misstep too stomach-turning to simply forgive.
Daniel Levy is the architect of Tottenham's woe
It's merely the latest callous misstep in a series of them from Levy, as Postecoglou is the fourth manager in a row whom the Tottenham chairman fired under dubious circumstances and in, arguably, poor taste. Postecoglou may be the least established name of the four, but with a Europa League title under his belt, he was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most successful.
First it was Mauricio Pochettino, who had Tottenham closer to Premier League and Champions League titles than anybody else. He was fired for wanting a full-scale rebuild of the team, which he was absolutely right about, and now all these years later, Spurs are still trying to fully follow the sagely advice Poch gave them.
Then it was Jose Mourinho, the most accomplished manager in modern history. The man who built Chelsea into a dynasty, won a treble in Serie A, brought the Champions League to Porto, and stood toe-to-toe with the greatest (Barcelona) team of all-time was dismissed days before he could bring the League Cup back to Tottenham.
After that, Tottenham had Antonio Conte, who, by the way, just brought the Scudetto back to Napoli in a wild title race against Champions League finalists Inter Milan just one season after the Partenopei didn't even qualify for European football. Conte verbally undressed Levy in public after Levy did everything to undermine him behind closed doors and sabotage his success with his miserly transfer policy, and Conte was fired for telling nothing but the truth far too soon before he and Fabio Paratici could truly rebuild Spurs.
And now it's Postecoglou canned for winning a Europa League title with the most stingy-spending big club in European football. Yes, he finished 17th, but this was also one season after he turned Tottenham around to finish 5th, and as ridiculous as it may be to hear him say that he would have qualified for the Champions League this season with a 5th-placed finishf rom last season, it isn't entirely false.
After winning the Europa League, Postecoglou, like his predecessors, deserved better. He deserved better than to have been strung along for weeks, made to stew in rumors on holiday, and then promptly dismissed for a manager who may not even be an upgrade on him. For shame, Mr. Levy.