“I’ll correct myself – I don’t usually win things, I always win things in my second year. Nothing’s changed. I’ve said it now. I don’t say things unless I believe them.”
It’s now assured of its place on the list of great sporting quotes. The sheer size of the enormous brass balls required for Ange Postecoglou to say that in September – after a defeat in the North London Derby, when manager of Tottenham Actual Hotspur would have been oddly admirable enough even in failure – so ridiculous and far-fetched a notion did it appear that you couldn’t help but be both impressed and appalled that someone would say something so, so brave.
To actually then deliver on that silverware after chucking absolutely every single egg at his disposal in the one fragile basket that might make it work elevates it to the stuff of absolute legend. It’s now almost certain to be the quote that will always first be associated with Ange, and that’s saying something because the man has a lot to say.
High as he was on delivering that promised second-season silverware, it was no surprise to see him go to the well again and try to land another slice of Nostradamus-like prophecy bolster his legend further.
This time he reached beyond the established facts of his own career and said – or more accurately roared – this at Tottenham’s giddily cathartic open-top bus parade.
“I told them and they laughed. I told them and they didn’t believe. And here we are. I’ll leave you with this, all the best television series, season three is better than season two.”
Cue huge cheers from the assembled masses and delight from the press hordes who knew they’d just been handed yet another glorious narrative strand.
Here’s the thing, though. Postecoglou’s second-season silverware prophecy was more specific yet also a statement of fact. Measurable, accurate fact. He had at that time always won something in his second season at all his managerial jobs. The doubt lay in his seemingly wrong-headed belief that he would go on to retain that proud record here.
This is not that. This contains two elements in need of further examination. Whether his season three at Tottenham is better than season two – or indeed if season three even in fact exists or gets cancelled by unforgiving network bosses – we cannot yet possibly know.
But what we can do is investigate his claim that ‘all the best television series’ have a superior third season to the second. That definitely feels like it’s not so straightforwardly correct as that second-season trophy claim.
We are nothing if not intrepid, though, and have thus set out to prove or disprove Big Ange’s latest wild prophecy by spending quite literally some minutes looking at the average IMDb episode ratings for season two and season three of quite literally some of the best television series.
Because we are serious football journalists. And we don’t say things unless we believe them.
The Sopranos
Season 2: 8.59
Season 3: 8.70
An unmissable ground-breaking spectacle in which the chaotic action unfolds around its main protagonist, a larger-than-life and endlessly quotable character capable of moments of great charisma and charm but also prone to whiplash-inducing mood swings and truly appalling acts, Spurs are a football club based in north London.
The Sopranos, meanwhile, tells the story of the head of a New Jersey mob and their various trials and tribulations.
It’s a strong start for Big Ange Postecoglou here, though, with the legendary season-three episode Pine Barrens scoring a 9.7 to help nudge it beyond the second season when the show really started to find its feet.
The Wire
Season 2: 8.42
Season 3: 8.65
The early part of season two caused some confusion and thus lower scores for being so completely different to how the first series had begun, with established fan favourites moved to smaller roles while new characters took centre stage.
The Wire, meanwhile… well, you get the idea with that. Our expectations were confounded, and from thence the humour arose.
The better joke here would probably be one about ‘corners’ but we’re buggered if we’re capable of pulling it out of our arse. Why not have a go yourselves? Instead of always leaving all the work to us. Honestly, the nerve.
Anyway, the show that people are still most likely to say is their favourite when wishing to look particularly clever and not like most of their TV viewing is old episodes of Friends on Netflix undeniably adds further fuel to Postecoglou’s theory.
The Wire was always a series that required you to step back and take in the whole overarching narrative of a season and how its seemingly disparate strands would be tied together at the end, and while it was at its heart a deeply serious and dramatic enterprise it was never afraid to pierce that very serious message with moments of comedy.
We’re starting to think Ange’s whole ‘Spurs as TV programmes’ theory isn’t as crazy as we first suspected.
Breaking Bad
Season 2: 8.78
Season 3: 8.75
A decent man forced to extreme lengths by a desperate need of a cash injection to fund desperately needed surgery and okay fine we’re going to stop doing the same ‘expectations confounded’ intro to all of these.
It’s a first misstep for The Great Postecoglou TV Series Prophecy, though, with season three coming in just ever so slightly behind season two. But Postecoglou’s argument here would surely be that seasons four and especially five – the iconic Ozymandias episode scores a rare perfect 10 there – are even better than season two so Spurs should definitely stick with him.
Season two of Breaking Bad also contained an ingenious easter egg – and we’ll make no apologies for spoilers on a very famous and now 15-year-old show – where the titles of key episodes that begin with black-and-white teasers actually describe the major catastrophic event that comes to define and explain the season’s entire narrative arc: ‘Seven Thirty-Seven’ ‘Down’ ‘Over’ ‘ABQ’.
We’ve had a look at a list of Spurs results from this season to see if we can make them spell out anything of great meaning, but it mainly just looks like the unpronounceable and lengthy name of a Welsh railway station. So that might be a dead end.
Game of Thrones
Season 2: 8.81
Season 3: 8.93
Specialising in delivering often wildly unexpected standout moments of the very highest drama and vast narrative significance right at the end of a slow-burning season of narrative twists and turns… and we promise this is the last time we do that.
Still, though. If the Europa League final was Ange’s Blackwater then we’re surely all now massively invested in what the f*ck his Red Wedding might be next season. Come on. That has to be worth keeping the faith for another year.
Although equally crucially, definitely not for another five years. Absolutely nobody wants that.
Better Call Saul
Season 2: 8.50
Season 3: 8.72
A surprisingly brilliant and human prequel/spin-off centring on a character who, in his original Breaking Bad form, was a key plot driver for sure but also often just comic relief.
Excellent central performances and fascination with seeing just how this very different character arrived at what we knew to be his ultimate destination held the whole thing together wonderfully well and meant everyone was willing to go along with the ride, suspend their disbelief, and accept the sight of visibly older actors now playing younger versions of their long-running characters, and there’s probably a Ben Davies joke to be made here.
Ultimately, though, we once again have yet more evidence to throw on the pile that Ange was not speaking merely from overenthusiastic exuberance when pitching for a third season of his own riotously entertaining show.
