Football365

Ange Postecoglou is confident Tottenham teenager Mikey Moore will keep his feet on the ground and not buy a Ferrari after comparisons to Neymar.

Moore made only his second Spurs start in Thursday’s 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar and, after he again caught the eye, team-mate James Maddison made a tongue-in-cheek reference that it was like Brazil international Neymar played on the wing.

With Son Heung-min still not 100 per cent after he reported muscle soreness at the start of this week, Moore is in contention to make his full Premier League debut against Crystal Palace, but Postecoglou does not expect the hype to go to the 17-year-old’s head.

“Just to be clear, I didn’t call Mikey, Neymar,” Spurs boss Postecoglou said with a smile.

“I think you’ll find that my demeanour around Mikey will be the same today as it was yesterday and that’s what he’d expect.

“The best indicator is the person himself and I’ve got a feeling that won’t affect Mikey. I don’t think we’ll see him arriving with a different colour hair or a Ferrari. Well, he can’t drive can he! I think he’ll be fine.

“I think Mikey just wants to be Mikey and like I said after the game, what I see with him is that he’s very mature for a 17-year-old, he handles things really well.

“Sometimes young players are exciting but you can see pitfalls down the road, but I don’t see that with him. At 17, you think what is he going to be like at 21 and hopefully I am the manager then!”

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Postecoglou was coy over whether Moore would start a second successive match in reference to the Selhurst Park trip on Sunday, but has limited options.

Richarlison and Wilson Odobert have only just returned from injury, while Timo Werner, who deputised when Son was absent for three weeks with a hamstring issue, has failed to score in his last 16 appearances for Tottenham.

On Moore, Postecoglou added: “I think he’s ready to start a Premier League game, for sure.

“For us what we want to do is to continue to develop Mikey in the right way and give him a platform to keep improving. So far whatever we’ve asked of him, he’s made a real impact and the plan is to continue to do that.

“He’s one of the options (against Palace). Again, two games in a week, the biggest concern I have for him is physically more than anything else.

“He’s still a growing kid, his body is still adjusting to this level, so to ask to play two games in a short space of time, I’d be cautious about that, but we’ll have a look at how the team shapes up.”

The emergence of Moore has delighted Tottenham fans, who have given him the chant ‘he’s one of our own’, which had belonged to Harry Kane before his 2023 departure to Bayern Munich.

Postecoglou revealed there may be more to come from Spurs’ academy, with Luca Williams-Barnett an exciting prospect in the Under-18s.

“When we brought Mikey up last year and he played a couple of times in the Under-21s, he stood out,” Postecoglou explained.

“(Academy director) Simon Davies and the guys in the academy were really strong about his potential, how he trains, his behaviour. As soon as he came into the training environment, he showed no fear.

“In pre-season, he was always a standout for us. There are some others in there. Some young boys who are starting to make some inroads, some a bit younger around the 15-to-16 age group.

“If you go through a successful period, it’s more sustainable if you’ve got players at the club coming through.”

According to reports, Amanda Staveley’s ‘interest’ in Tottenham Hotspur is ‘genuine’ as she ‘seeks to take majority stakes in big assets’.

Staveley was part of the consortium that bought Newcastle United from Mike Ashley as she purchased a 10% stake in the Premier League at the end of 2021. PIF bought an 80% share, while the Reuben Brothers had the other 10%.

The 51-year-old was heavily involved in Newcastle’s rapid rise under PIF as they rose from being a relegation candidate to being back in the Champions League.

However, the 2023/24 campaign was difficult for Newcastle as they exited the Champions League at the group stages and finished seventh in the Premier League.

There was a major overhaul at Newcastle in the summer as new sporting director Paul Mitchell replaced Dan Ashworth, while Staveley sold her stake in the club and gave up her role as chairman.

It’s since emerged that Staveley was ‘forced out’ of St James’ Park and she would be open to buying a stake in another Premier League club.

Responding to reports linking her with Tottenham, Staveley refused to close the door on her joining another Premier League club.

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Staveley said: “Mehrdad and I are keen to be hands-on. We’re hard-working people, I love to be very busy and to engage and I love football.

“Very sadly, we have to move on to other projects and that might involve us taking a stake in another club or buying another club and that’s difficult. But it’s possible.”

A new report from The Athletic claims Staveley’s ‘interest’ in Spurs is ‘genuine’ and she has a ‘plan’ to take a ‘majority stake’.

‘Sources with knowledge of Staveley’s plans say her interest in Spurs is genuine and has picked up pace over the last few months. They say her fund has a global remit, with investors from the United States to the Middle East rather than having a single, state-owned investment fund behind it like PIF.

‘The idea with Spurs would be to take an initial minority stake — this is what she has been working on — but ultimately her fund is seeking to take majority stakes in big assets and has also been looking at sporting franchises in other countries. Much as she did at Newcastle, Staveley is keen to build community links and to be “hands-on” as she said above.’

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While Spurs were among the clubs to have opposed Newcastle’s takeover by PIF, Staveley is said to have formed a positive relationship with Levy when they worked together on the Premier League’s Financial Controls Advisory Group and has spoken in private about the respect she has for him.

‘Yet deals such as this are rarely straightforward and it is also worth remembering that over the years there have been plenty of talks about possible investments into Spurs. The view at Tottenham right now is roughly that this is just noise about nothing.’

It is also noted that it ‘would certainly be a big surprise to see Staveley owning part of Tottenham and working alongside the existing board’ as ‘there has been remarkable boardroom stability at the top over the last 24 years’.

‘Tottenham always pride themselves on running things a certain way, on being a quiet, private, discreet organisation, headed up by the same people for almost one quarter-century. Staveley’s reputation is as one of English football’s disruptors, a broker who, like all good brokers, knows how to generate noise.

‘On the surface, they do not seem like an obvious fit. But people doubted Staveley before she arranged the Newcastle United takeover in 2021. If she could pull this one off, it would be one of the biggest stories in years.’

Arsenal are reportedly ‘exploring’ an expansion of the Emirates Stadium to ‘catch up’ with the matchday revenue of their Premier League rivals.

The Gunners moved into the Emirates from Highbury in 2006, leaping from a 38,000-capacity stadium to one with around 60,000 fans.

It was the biggest stadium in London until West Ham moved into the Olympic Stadium. It has also been surpassed by Tottenham, who built a 62,850-capacity arena.

Arsenal plan Emirates expansion to ‘catch up’ with Spurs, Liverpool

According to the The Times, Arsenal are now ‘exploring how they could upgrade and expand the Emirates Stadium’.

Mikel Arteta’s side want to ‘compete’ with their rivals matchday revenue numbers, namely rivals Tottenham, who earn close to £6million per match, a sixth of which comes from food and drink.

The new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has ‘surpassed’ the Emirates in terms of ‘its size, catering and corporate facilities’ and Arsenal recognise ‘without a renovation, they cannot significantly increase their match-day income’.

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In 2022/23, Arsenal earned £102.6million from matches and are projected to earn over £120million in the next accounts after reaching the Champions League quarter-final.

The report adds that the Gunners consistently fill their stadium in the Premier League, but expanding the capacity will not be easy.

Arsenal’s matches regularly sell out and they realise that they need to keep pace with the huge demand for tickets, as well as adapt to supporters’ changing catering and corporate needs, for example by improving internet access.

Arsenal’s owner, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, has experience of constructing stadiums, having built the state-of-the-art SoFi Stadium, the home of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams NFL franchises. The ground has a capacity of 70,240 and was first used in 2020.

It is not clear how Arsenal could increase the capacity beyond 60,704 in a cost-effective way, having added 780 seats in 2018. Experts have suggested that they could consider changing the gently sloping elliptical roof, which was shaped to help airflow and sunlight reach the grass, but have also pointed out that lowering the pitch will almost certainly not be possible, not least because it would affect sightlines.

Arsenal have 146 executive boxes, which is twice as many as Tottenham, who recognised that corporate fans increasingly prefer using hospitality lounges.

In the shorter term, Arsenal have appointed Populous, the firm that designed the Emirates Stadium, to improve the catering potential.

Manchester United have explored renovating Old Trafford or moving to a new 100,000-seat stadium, while West Ham are also looking to expand the London Stadium from 60k to 68k.

Liverpool, meanwhile, recently expanded Anfield to 61,276 and Spurs are able to earn more than £105million a year due to hosting NFL and rugby union matches, on top of music concerts.

The report mentions Arsenal want Populous to ‘improve their catering potential’. Chris Maddison, the head of food and beverage at Populous said last week: “The demand for food and drink has grown so much more.

“We are doing a redesign of the main production kitchen to triple it in size. That space is necessary to deliver the extra revenue that is being demanded, but it comes down to space. That links itself to cost.”

West Ham were truly atrocious but they did at least kindly help show Ange Postecoglou and Spurs the difference between ‘irrelevant’ and excellent subs.

“If you’re not competitive, it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re not going to get rewards. You don’t deserve to win. So we didn’t deserve on our second-half performance, irrespective of subs or anything else, to get something out of the game.

“But I do think if you do get something out of the game, then you’re falsely rewarded, and I don’t want to get falsely rewarded.”

It was, frankly, the latest in an increasingly worrying series of strange opinions for a football manager to publicly and willingly express. You could see Ange Postecoglou’s point – it was a ‘the performance levels are more important than the result’ thing, an attempt to underline how unrepeatably abysmal Tottenham’s capitulation against Brighton was – but it was ultimately just another bizarre show of tetch from the Australian.

Spurs were fortunate Postecoglou didn’t deem substitutions as “irrelevant” in the first Premier League game after the international break as the last before it. James Maddison might well disagree but there is no guarantee the hosts would have enjoyed their Saturday lunch as much had the Sunday roast stalwart lasted beyond the first 45 minutes against West Ham.

That half-time change was a monumental gamble. Maddison had created five chances and assisted Dejan Kulusevski’s excellent equaliser. He had been very good. There was one point when he seemed to sustain a knock of sorts but he played on and much of the half-time analysis centred around how Spurs would need his influence to complete a comeback after Mohammed Kudus’ opener.

Once the various commentary teams assembled in north London relayed the information that Pape Matar Sarr had replaced the England international in a purely tactical move with no injuries involved, there was no grey area: win and Postecoglou the genius had nailed it to get this Spurs season back on track; lose and the fraud had completely and utterly f**ked it.

It would have been an awkward narrative to retrofit had Sarr contributed little towards the Sisyphean task of scoring against West Ham without reply, so his tackle and pass for Son Heung-min to humiliate Jean-Clair Todibo wrapped a neat bow around the discourse of this victory.

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Sarr was involved in the build-up to the second and third goals too as Postecoglou’s pragmatism paid off. Kulusevski and Son were plenty creative enough to cause West Ham problems and another body in those areas was cluttering up the spaces. Yves Bissouma was instead granted a partner to exert control and the visitors crumbled.

Brighton’s three goals in 18 second-half minutes became Tottenham’s three in eight after the break. West Ham’s disintegration was such that it should have been four in nine but Son hit the post from Max Kilman’s latest unfortunate attempt at defending.

It felt at one stage as though Spurs would be beaten with that stick yet again. Kudus scored a fine opening goal from Jarrod Bowen’s cutback after 18 minutes, and being undone by two incredibly talented attacking players is in itself no crime. But almost precisely the same move had unfolded a handful of minutes prior and yet still Spurs learned no lessons.

Postecoglou must have been fearing the worst then but the response was impressive and spearheaded by one of the great goalless centre-forward displays. Dominic Solanke was phenomenal, his selflessness extending even to the critics who will use his humble goal and assist numbers to soon criticise a player who makes Spurs tick like no other.

West Ham never could quite track him and this truly was the perfect away collapse: an opening goal which offered hope; a strong defensive showing undone only once by individual excellence to get to half-time level; a sudden and inexplicable collapse; an own goal; a multi-man brawl resulting in a sending-off for about three different red-card offences.

David Moyes has his faults but until his final season he would have insulted Marouane Fellaini to his face before overseeing such an immediate and collective cave-in. Not conceding in quick succession was the backbone to his tactical philosophy. Michail Antonio literally said it once:

“That’s one thing with our gaffer, literally, he loses his mind. When we concede one he’s like ‘you do not concede two within ten minutes’. Just try not to concede two. Concede two, do not make it three… just try and shut up shop so the game doesn’t run away.”

Julen Lopetegui opened the cash register, walked into the back and said it’s none of his business. It was so farcical that the triple substitution West Ham were preparing at 2-1 down was only actually made when Spurs scored twice more to make it 4-1. And the most Edson Alvarez, Crysencio Summerville and Carlos Soler did to turn the tide was for the third of that trio to get booked within six minutes.

Those were “irrelevant” subs. Fair play to Postecoglou for spending the last fortnight figuring out how they can make the difference.

Ange Postecoglou has rubbished Antonio Conte’s infamous rant about Spurs, saying if he believed the Italian he would be ‘really stealing a living’.

Conte effectively handed in his resignation after a 3-3 draw with Southampton in March 2023, launching into a passionate tirade at his “selfish” and “scared” players.

The Italian took aim at his squad’s lack of “spirit” and “heart” before saying that “they can change manager, a lot of managers, but the situation cannot change. Believe me.”

Some compared it to Postecoglou’s reaction to the Brighton defeat before the international break, when the Australian slammed his players for not being “competitive” and throwing away a similarly dominant lead.

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“We didn’t do what you need to do at this level, it’s kind of non-negotiable,” he said. “We didn’t win our duels, we lacked intensity, we didn’t deliver the things you need to at this level, the basics of the game, and paid the price for it.”

Conte left Spurs soon after his public outbursts but Postecoglou has shouldered the responsibility to change that culture, replying when asked whether he agreed with the Italian’s sentiments: “Mate, if I accepted that, what am I doing here?”

“Seriously, if I accept that this is somehow impossible to change I am really stealing a living. I don’t believe that and I never have,” he continued.

“And if I fail to do it, the failure is on me, it’s nothing to do with the club. It’s on me because I know that coming into it that the club hasn’t won anything for x amount of time.

“I know the tag on the club, I know all these things when I accepted the position so it’s no good me saying now, ‘you know what? I can’t do this, it’s impossible no matter who you have’.

“From where I sit here right now I don’t see it as impossible. I think it is achievable and that’s why I’m going to do everything in my power to change it.”

Liverpool and Chelsea have made excellent starts under new managers, but this weekend signals for both the start of a run of tricky games that should tell us plenty about their season-long credentials.

Game to watch: Liverpool v Chelsea

A really intriguing Big Six match-up here, pitting first against fourth and two teams who have started better than many might have expected, with surface similarities – new manager, difficult summer – belying deep-rooted differences.

What this game should at the very least provide is a bellwether for both sides’ longer-term prospects across the season. Liverpool have looked near flawless under Arne Slot and there’s plenty of reason to justify the thinking that this is just because they and he are very good. But there is no denying the quirks of the fixture computer have up to now left some reason for doubt. This, Liverpool’s eighth game of the Premier League season, is their first against anyone else who finished in last season’s top seven.

And it’s not an entirely dissimilar tale for Chelsea; since the most easily explained 2-0 defeat in history to Man City on the opening weekend, they too have until now faced no other litmus test of their deep-lying credentials.

The suspicion – and it can be only that – is that Chelsea’s fourth position is flakier than Liverpool’s top spot. Certainly it’s Liverpool you’d feel more confident will still be in the top four when the music stops.

But for both teams this game represents the start of a run that could be season-defining – or perhaps more accurately season-revealing.

After this trip to Anfield, Chelsea play Newcastle, Manchester United and Arsenal before the international break, with Villa and Tottenham soon after it. For Liverpool, it’s Arsenal, Brighton and Villa before the break with Man City and Newcastle lurking on the other side.

We can already be reasonably confident that Man City and Arsenal are in the title race. Sunday sees the start of a few weeks that will tell us if either of these two heavyweights have what it takes to stick around with them.

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Team to watch: Tottenham

The last Premier League game before the break was Spurs’ absurd implosion at Brighton, and the first game after the break on Saturday lunchtime sees Ange Postecoglou’s relentlessly unserious side straight back on the horse to face West Ham in a fixture that rarely disappoints football fans with a penchant for nonsense.

An unscientific survey carried out just now in our own head tells us that Spurs against West Ham is the Premier League fixture to have thrown up more late winners and inexplicable collapses than any other. It might not be true, but it feels right, doesn’t it? And isn’t that more important at the end of the day? This is the fixture of Paul Stalteri, of Manuel Lanzini, of Eric Dier on his Tottenham debut, of Harry Kane scoring twice in the last three minutes as well as being just one of the games in which Gareth Bale did a nonsense.

Even when they played a pre-season friendly a couple of summers ago, these two couldn’t help themselves as West Ham ran out 3-2 winners. West Ham won at Spurs last season when Postecoglou’s side were in the grip of the madness that compelled them to go 1-0 up in every single game before losing it.

It is, we would contend, the Barclays’ most 3-2 fixture as well as one of its most reliable sources of antics. And this really does feel like the perfect time for it. That defeat at Brighton was just so monumentally Spurs, bringing to an end one of the less convincing five-match winning runs you can imagine.

Even by their lofty standards, Spurs are serving up a lot of daftness this season – for good and bad – and have now had two weeks to stew on the Amex defeat before taking on a fixture that almost never lets you down.

Spurs could very easily swat aside a West Ham team that has yet to really convince this season under Julen Lopetegui, or they could win it from behind with goals in the 98th and 101st minute or they could lose it 3-0, or 3-2 having been 2-0 up. None of that would remotely surprise us about this team in this fixture.

In fact the only thing that would surprise us about Spurs in this game is being drearily sensible. They could be absolutely anything but they won’t be dull. So yeah – watch them.

Manager to watch: Gary O’Neil

Because what you want when you’ve won one of your last 17 Premier League games is a visit from Manchester City, isn’t it?

O’Neil’s Wolves haven’t, in truth, been as relentlessly awful as the table might suggest. There have been narrow defeats to Brighton, Newcastle and Liverpool that could all have gone differently with a bit more luck and a touch more confidence.

But those are the times when it’s gone right, and they’ve still lost. And when it’s gone wrong they’ve shipped six at home to Chelsea and five at Brentford.

There’s a forlorn look to much of their football, with a gameplan that does at times appear desperately basic and as unimaginative as it is ineffective. It looks, really, like the sort of thing one might have expected from Gary O’Neil when he was first given that hospital pass at Bournemouth.

It could have been explained then. Now, it’s reasonable to expect a bit more despite the way the rug was pulled from under him in the summer with the loss of key players in both attack and defence.

Getting a result against Man City – as Wolves did last year in this fixture when times were very different – is surely asking too much, but O’Neil urgently needs to show something here to suggest he can turn around what is now close to half a season of Derby-record-threatening form or he might even do the unthinkable and beat Erik Ten Hag to Sack Race glory.

Player to watch: Bukayo Saka

Arsenal have still profited from his impeccable set-piece delivery on more than one occasion this season, but there is nevertheless a sense of weariness around Saka and his contributions from open play have largely lacked their usual fizz and sparkle.

He must constantly be knackered because he plays so very much of the football, and in that context perhaps a minor knock that forced him off during another quiet performance for England against Greece in the international break might have been no bad thing.

Easy to see why it will have given Gunners fans conniptions given their players’ injury record on international duty this season, but with all reports suggesting only the most minor of knocks and a return to action this weekend at Bournemouth it means a rare week off for a player who has once again been the one Mikel Arteta simply cannot conceive of going without. He has started every game for Arsenal this season, up to and including the Carabao rout against Bolton.

He will surely therefore go again despite the interlull knock and hope to build on what was only his second Premier League goal of the season in the slightly-wilder-than-anticipated win over Southampton before the break.

Football League game to watch: Hull City v Sunderland

The current Championship leaders make what is by their standards the relatively short away-day trip to Hull looking to build on that chaotic 2-2 draw against Leeds last time out.

We say current leaders but a Sunday afternoon fixture in East Yorkshire means that will very likely not be the case by the time they get back into the post-international break swing, with either Sheffield United or Leeds as well as Burnley and West Brom all having the chance to leapfrog them on Friday and Saturday.

European game to watch: Roma v Inter

Eye-catching enough with Inter sitting second in the table and Roma looking to kickstart a season yet to really get going either domestically or in Europe, but gets the nod here for being the highest-scoring fixture in Serie A history with 530 goals scored in 182 meetings.

We’d be backing a Marcus Thuram-propelled Inter to be the likelier to make significant additions to that tally this weekend; they’ve scored 16 goals already in the league this season, while Thuram himself is only one goal behind Roma’s overall tally of eight.

Those 10 games at the start of last season really are starting to look like one of the cruellest tricks ever played on any Premier League fanbase. Twenty-six points Spurs got from those games. Twenty. Six. Points. Proper, no-doubt-about-it Premier League title form.

And since then, mid-table slop. With the emphasis on slop.

They are a relentlessly sloppy, infuriatingly stupid football team. That Ange Postecoglou has rocked up offering a glimpse of something real and better and an end to the Spursy behaviour and then actually built the single most ‘Lads, it’s Tottenham’ team the Premier League has ever seen is a remarkable act.

The thing is, while they are crap by ‘big six’ standards’, they are not crap by overall Tottenham Premier League standards. They are a lot of fun. They are, when the mood takes them, capable of playing some of the best football in the division. They are also, obviously, never more than one minor setback from playing some of the worst.

This itself becomes self-fulfilling because if teams never feel like they’re out of the game against you then teams never are in fact out of the game against you. Lads, it’s Tottenham.

Spurs know they could collapse at any moment. Every team they play knows they could collapse at any moment. It is always possible – likely, even – that the fondue they’ve set up on the nuclear power plant safety console is about to topple over.

Now there is a fairly substantial subsection of Tottenham fans who can live with this. Who actually wouldn’t mind going back to the pre-Big Six days of being reliably entertaining, of knowing that every season will bring its share of brilliant and memorable highs to go with the mortifying lows, while occasionally finishing fifth but more often winding up eighth or 10th.

It’s fine if that’s what you want; it’s certainly less stressful than having to be in a constant fight for fourth place that makes every single result matter and every single inevitable setback sting that much more.

But the problem you’ve got now is that this is not how Spurs see themselves in big 2024. They have the best stadium in the country. They have more money to spend than almost anyone. It’s rather overlooked that Big Ange has had more cash lavished on his underperforming squad than any of his predecessors.

There is always that disconnect with Spurs. They are a big club in all the ways that don’t really matter and not remotely a big club in the one way that does.

On the field, nothing is going to change under this set-up. There will be more ‘3-0 win at Old Trafford’ days, and plenty more ‘3-2 defeat at Brighton’. And so Spurs will remain forever stuck between how they are and how they see themselves, with almost no straightforward way to square that circle.

A football finance expert claims former Newcastle United chief Amanda Staveley is ‘laying the groundwork’ to make a ‘big investment’ in Tottenham Hotspur.

At the end of 2021, Staveley purchased a 10% stake in Newcastle United, while Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) became their majority stakeholder with an 80% share. The Reuben Brothers bought the other 10%.

Staveley and her husband – Mehrdad Ghodoussi – left the Premier League club in July 2024 as part of a major reshuffle behind the scenes at St James’ Park.

In recent weeks, Staveley has been heavily linked with Tottenham as she reportedly looks to become a shareholder in the Premier League giants.

Earlier this month, a report from Football Insider claimed a ‘decision’ on Tottenham’s takeover is ‘coming soon’ as Staveley is ‘advancing’.

READ: Man Utd narrowly avoid bottom spot in all-important Premier League mood rankings

The report said.

‘It is believed that she and Ghodoussi have been laying the groundwork for a significant stake in another Premier League giant.

‘Sources say discussions have been held about the pair heading a new Middle East consortium that will plough “huge” funds into Tottenham.

‘Forbes state that Spurs are currently valued at around £2.42billion, so if Staveley wishes to purchase a 25 per cent stake in the club it would cost approximately £605m.

‘It is said Staveley has reportedly already raised £500m through her investment fund PCP Capital Partners, as she gets closer to her overall goal.’

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Former Everton chairman Keith Wyness has provided a fresh ‘update’ in an interview with Football Insider.

Wyness points out that Staveley’s recent moves to liquidate her businesses are ‘not a blow to her hopes of investing at Spurs’ as she is “clearing house”.

He explained: “I don’t think this is a negative sign in any move for Tottenham.

“This is more of a housekeeping exercise for Amanda and her past companies. There are some legal issues with a Greek investor who loaned her some money.

“There is also PCP, the vehicle she went through for the Newcastle investment.

“Everything will be tidied up, and this may well be in advance of the Tottenham deal getting done. It’s making sure everything is in order.

“She’s cleaning house and getting everything set so any vehicle she uses to invest in Tottenham is totally clean and free of any problems.”

In a recent interview, Staveley admitted her “preference” was staying at Newcastle but she refused to rule out the prospect of her investing in another Premier League club.

“My preference would have been to stay with Newcastle, but life doesn’t always work out exactly how you want it to. Nothing is going to replicate that. I fell in love with Newcastle, the club and the people and that can’t change, but I didn’t want to get in Newcastle’s way. It’s got to be about what’s best for Newcastle,” she said.

“Mehrdad and I are keen to be hands-on. We’re hard-working people, I love to be very busy and to engage and I love football. Very sadly, we have to move on to other projects and that might involve us taking a stake in another club or buying another club and that’s difficult. But it’s possible.

“I don’t know what my future holds, but you can never move on from the love I have for Newcastle and I would love to come back for matches. I’m a Geordie now. I’m a Yorkshire Geordie, but I will always have that chemistry and that love.”

England and Tottenham legend Paul Gascoigne thinks Spurs are “going to struggle” to reach the top four under Ange Postecoglou this season.

Tottenham have lost three of their last five Premier League matches with Postecoglou’s side taking just ten points from their opening seven matches.

Spurs are having little issue scoring goals with Postecoglou’s side hitting back of the net at a rate of two goals per match in the Premier League.

Their 3-2 loss against Brighton just before the international break, after being 2-0 up, now has some fans and pundits questioning whether Postecoglou is still the best manager to take the club forward.

When asked if he thinks Tottenham can achieve a top-four finish under Postecoglou, Gascoigne told Football365 in association with sportscasting: “I mean, when I played for Tottenham, we used to change in like the nursery kiddies school and now they’ve spent one billion pounds on a training ground and a pitch.

“They’ve got it all on plate for them and I thought, ‘they’re going to struggle,’ you know. Everything’s there for them.

“Some of them park their car up and then they have to walk 50 yards, but they’re sitting in a little buggy to go 50 yards. Getting rid of Harry Kane, that was a shock he went to Bayern Munich and not Real Madrid. They just seem to be dependent on [Heung-min] Son and if he’s not in form, then they seem to be struggling.

“They’ve got so much money, you’ve got to buy players and the manager, he’s foreign, isn’t he? Australian. The managers I played for, I respected them so much that I wanted to play so well for them.

“And I just feel like some of the players are letting him down, thinking, ‘he’s from Australia, he doesn’t really know much about English football,’ and just f***ing going out there to play the game and collect their wages. At Celtic, you’re pretty much guaranteed to win every game. I was more shocked with Steven Gerrard and why he left Glasgow Rangers. He definitely regrets that decision.”

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Tottenham have drawn Rangers in the Europa League group stage with the two British teams facing on December 12 at Ibrox Stadium.

On the clash between the Premier League side and Scottish giants, Gascoigne added: “If they’re at home, definitely. It’s difficult, that one. I was so close to Rangers. At Rangers, I’m welcomed in every way and at Tottenham, I asked for a couple of tickets and they said ‘that’ll be 400 pounds each.’

“I was like, wow, with all I did for that club, you know? When I left Tottenham I got them a lot of money when I signed for Lazio and I put in my contract when I went to Lazio that Tottenham had the first option to sign me back and they didn’t so I was a bit upset at that, considering the teams I could’ve went to.

“I made the right choice in going to Rangers, the fans were fantastic, they love me up there. I didn’t like doing venues up there because I speak for an hour and they start singing for 55 minutes.

“The last time I went, ‘can I please talk?’ I said, ‘let me say something.’ They’re singing ‘The Bluebells Are Blue’ and then all the Gazza songs. Let me get my money’s worth at least! When they play Spurs, I think I’ll be a Rangers fan.”

According to reports, a Premier League manager could ‘replace’ Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou as a takeover is ‘weeks from completion’.

Spurs appointed Postecoglou ahead of the 2023/24 campaign. The former Celtic boss was lauded at the start of last season as he successfully overhauled their style of play and arguably made the North London outfit the most exciting team to watch in the Premier League.

Tottenham had a successful season as they finished fifth in the Premier League. However, they missed the chance to finish fourth as a poor end to the season cost them a spot in the Champions League.

Postecoglou is among the favourites to be the next Premier League manager sacked after Spurs lost 3-2 to Brighton before the international break. They were beaten despite leading 2-0 at half-time.

This result leaves Spurs ninth in the Premier League as they have won just three of their first seven games.

Former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter is the current favourite to replace Postecoglou, but Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe could actually be Tottenham’s next manager.

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Howe has been under pressure himself over the past 18 months and it has been suggested that he could leave Newcastle following his fallout with new sporting director Paul Mitchell.

There was a lot of change at Newcastle in the summer as Mitchell replaced Dan Ashworth, while former co-owner Amanda Staveley left the club.

In recent weeks, Staveley has been heavily linked with Tottenham and a takeover ‘decision’ is expected soon.

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The Sun are reporting that Howe ‘could receive tempting offers’ to leave Newcastle and he’s been ‘tipped to replace Postecoglou at Tottenham if Staveley invests in Spurs’.

‘Howe will shoot to the top of Tottenham’s managerial hit-list if Staveley and her money men invest in the North Londoners.

‘The Newcastle gaffer is also strongly fancied within the FA as they look to find a permanent successor to Gareth Southgate. But Wembley chiefs are unwilling to pay compensation and Howe’s long-term contract — believed to run to 2027 — would involve a huge compensation bill.

‘Former Toon co-owner Staveley and her mega-rich backers are keen to take a stake in Spurs and she is a massive fan of former Bournemouth boss Howe. He would top her wish list if things do not improve for Ange Postecoglou after a stuttering start to life in N17.

‘The projected buy-in by Staveley and Co is taking some time to happen and that project still appears weeks from completion.

‘England technical director John McDermott is keen on Howe for the national post because of his playing style and experience. Howe, 46, is thought to consider himself too young for that job, especially as he still enjoys club football so much.

‘He would also cost a fortune to appoint with salary demands and Toon compensation to work against him in the FA’s equation. But with the FA yet to commit to Lee Carsley on a permanent basis that door will remain open for him.’