Ange Postecoglou has made it very clear that he will not be contributing his vocal abilities even if the Tottenham players were to record a song for the Europa League final.
Cup final songs used to be a regular occurrence in the past with footballers called upon to show their vocal talents or often lack of. 'Ossie's Dream', recorded for the 1981 FA Cup Final, is a particular favourite among Spurs fans, who have repurposed its lyrics during this season's Europa League run to sing 'Spurs are on their way to Bilbao'.
Former Tottenham managers have lent their vocals to various songs over the years with the late Terry Venables a bit of a crooner and Glenn Hoddle teaming up with Chris Waddle while players to record 'Diamond Lights'.
Postecoglou had earlier told football.london that he was partial to a bit of AC/DC on his music playlist. So is there any chance of the Australian lining up with the Tottenham players for a 2025 cup final song? The look on the 59-year-old's face quickly dispelled that notion.
"Nah, nah, nah. If you walk in our dressing room, there are too many extremes in the playlist, to get some consensus from the South Americans to I don’t know what Biss and the others are listening to and then you have got some of the other lads," he said. "Anyway, none of that would be on my playlist, so I definitely wouldn’t contribute."
One thing that has been clear in recent weeks has been a growing togetherness once more between those Spurs players and the fans, notably after the Europa League victories at Frankfurt and then in Bodo on Thursday night.
At times this season, with struggles in the Premier League, that relationship has been fraught and fragmented but it feels like it's piecing back together at just the right time.
"It’s kind of understandable with the season we’ve had, but I’ve certainly felt the supporters have played a huge role in our European run," said the Tottenham head coach. "The AZ game at home, then Frankfurt home and away and then Bodo home and away, they’ve been brilliant.
"The Bodo game at home, I know people got a bit nervous when we conceded but I thought we were so dominant that night and a big part of that was the way we started the game and that was because of the crowd and the energy inside the stadium from the moment the boys walked out.
"With the energy in the stadium we scored within a minute and there is no doubt the crowd have played a huge part in our cup run for sure. I am sure come the final they will have an important part to play there as well."
Dominic Solanke scored a goal in both legs against Bodo/Glimt and now has 23 goal involvements for the season from 42 games despite missing a couple of months with a knee injury. He has been scoring in some big games for Tottenham, including the quarter-final in Frankfurt with a high-pressure penalty that night.
"I think he started that scoring run just after you asked me that he hadn’t scored for quite a while right?" Postecoglou joked to one reporter. "That’s why always take a breath. Bit of yoga. Just let things go.
"He missed a lot of football, Dom. He is the kind of guy who when he has been playing for us he just works his socks off but he has had an interrupted season as well. He is crucial to us. No mistake it's not just the goals he scored. He adds so much to our game in terms of how hard he works for the team with and without the ball but he is getting goals at crucial stages.
"Especially when you are talking about knockout games, you know it comes down to moments. It’s easy to say it was just a penalty [against Bodo and Frankfurt] but they were big penalties for us, massive moments. You need somebody with real calmness and clear-headedness to take those chances, even the one the other night."
He added: "I have been really pleased. The hot topic for us last year was set-pieces. Our set-pieces this year have been outstanding. We are a threat every time we get one. We stop the opposition and that is something the guys and coaching staff worked on a lot.
"Dom getting into those areas from set-pieces, again he was in the right place. Big goal for us in the context of the game. Pleased for him.
"That’s why it’s important — it’s his first year at the club — I think he has been outstanding but again he has had his issues with unfortunate injuries, no fault of his own, but guys you can really build something around for the next few years."
Postecoglou told football.london on Saturday that he had spoken to Yves Bissouma a month ago to tell him to be ready because he just felt like the out-of-favour Mali international was going to be crucial to the team at the end of the season.
So it has proved in recent weeks with the 28-year-old stepping in with some big performances after Lucas Bergvall's ankle injury. Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur linked up to provide a near impenetrable shield in front of the Spurs defence in Norway in the Europa League semi-final second leg on Thursday night.
"With both these guys, [they bring] experience which we haven't had a lot of this year in crucial stages. Real good game understanding," said Postecoglou. "Both are, with and without the ball, really disciplined in terms of understanding their roles. I think particularly in Europe, it's a different beast and you need that real tactical understanding of what is required in that midfield role.
"They have complemented each other with the way they have both played and adapted to the roles we have needed them to in the last period. It has worked really well for us."
Postecoglou explained that he has been making sure that Tottenham's injured players such as Bergvall, James Maddison and Radu Dragusin are kept involved around the team despite their disappointment at being absent at such a crucial time of the season.
"There is always a role to play. It’s a funny one when you are injured. You don’t want to be hanging around either because you want to give the guys space to prepare and train. I have encouraged both of them, Radu the same, to make sure they stay around the group," said the Spurs boss.
"I think it is important because it can be pretty lonely when you are trying to rehab. Particularly when it is the end of the season and you know you are not playing for the rest of the season. It’s almost easier when the season ends because everyone is on a break and you are not missing out on anything.
"The idea is to keep them around the group as much as possible over the next couple of weeks, making sure they are engaging with their team-mates and a part of everything we do. For sure they will stay involved and I think it’s good for them and it’s also good for the group."
Spurs return to Premier League action on Sunday with the visit of Crystal Palace, who will play in the FA Cup final on Saturday against Manchester City.
Postecoglou has already said he will make changes for the game because when Tottenham last played on an artificial surface at Tamworth, they suffered injuries in the next game. So could the Australian make the full 10 changes to his outfield starting XI?
"I don’t know how many changes we will make because we still haven’t trained yet, so I don’t know how the boys are, but there are a few things to consider," he said. "One is yes, the artificial pitch does take a lot and I could see after the game the boys were pretty sore, and we got back really late, so a lot of them yesterday were probably sleeping all day just to recover so you have to factor all those things.
"We’ll definitely make changes tomorrow because it is just the right thing to do for the players themselves. We’ve got to look after them irrespective of obviously us having a major game to look forward to. I’ll see how the boys are this morning and make decisions then."
Postecoglou is hoping the good feeling from Thursday night seeps into Sunday's match among the crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against Oliver Glasner's side.
"Last week’s game against West Ham wasn’t great, but at least the boys showed they are not dismissive of the league and are still fighting and want to arrest where we are at in terms of that," he said. "A lot of our supporters, we only had sort of 400 to 500 the other night and the rest are all here and they’ll be euphoric and this will be their first chance to maybe share with the people they go to games regularly with, that experience of the other night at the game on Sunday.
"We want to make sure we continue giving them that positivity, so it’s important we go out there and put in a performance. It’s not easy when I’m going to be making the changes and sometimes I feel it is unfair on the lads, but that’s the situation we’re in and I thought last week we handled it a lot better. We need to do a similar thing tomorrow, just to be really resilient, make sure we put in a positive performance so we get the chance to continue the positive feelings they have around the whole at the moment."
Ruben Amorim said that the odds are in United's favour for the Europa League final despite Spurs beating the Manchester side three times already this season because "if you think about the odds, it's hard to lose four times in a row".
When that statement was put to Postecoglou, the Tottenham boss responded: "I'm sure in there there's some Portuguese humour, like my Aussie humour that gets lost on people, there's a little bit of Irony there. I'm sure Ruben doesn't think that way.
"He's had his own challenges this year, but I think it's credit to him, he's got his club to a European final and we are looking forward to matching up with him. We've had some good games against United this year and last year, we have sort of come out on top, but its the final of a major tournament. I think the one thing you don't look at is previous head-to-head comparisons. They become irrelevant, it's all about who performs on the day."
