Ange Postecoglou insists “Spurs does crazy things to people” after Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger called for UEFA to “review” Tottenham’s potential qualification for the Champions League next season.
Spurs sit 17th in the Premier League after a miserable domestic campaign which has seen them lose a whopping 19 of their 35 top flight games.
And yet they still retain hope of qualifying for the Champions League next season despite being 25 points behind Chelsea in fifth, the last spot to grant entry into Europe’s showcase competition through the league.
If Spurs can get past Bodo/Glimt in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday and then beat either Manchester United or Athletic Club in the final, they will be given a place in next season’s Champions League.
Speaking to beIN Sports, Wenger claimed the Europa League winners should be rewarded with a place back in the same competition and said the rule was particularly unfair for English clubs.
“No – they should qualify automatically for the Europa League again but not necessarily for the Champions League,” Wenger said.
“Especially when you’re in the Premier League, where already five teams qualify.
“I think it’s something [for UEFA] to think about and to review. On the other hand, people will tell you that to keep the Europa League focused, interesting and motivated you need to give them that prize [of qualifying for the Champions League].”
Postecoglou laughed off Wenger’s claim, insisting “Spurs does crazy things to people” as everyone tries to “diminish” their achievements.
“Well, I mean that’s a debate that’s been raging for years, like at least the last eight days,” he said.
“I’ve never heard that before, so… I’ve said it before, mate, Spurs does crazy things to people. It does, it does.
“You put that club into any sentence or any issue, and invariably they all come out and try and diminish as much as they can.
“Why wasn’t there an issue before and it’s an issue now? What’s the difference? I don’t understand what the difference is.
“Last year, fifth didn’t get you into the Champions League, this year it does. What does that mean?
“There are competition rules and the rules say that the winner goes into [the Champions League]. It’s not the first year, and there isn’t an asterisk against it that you have to do something else as well. But it’s Spurs mate, they love it. They love it. Oh, they love it, you love it, don’t you?”
When it was pointed out that Wenger is a former coach of Spurs’ bitter north London rivals, Postecoglou added: “I don’t want to go down that road because I’ve got a great respect for Arsene.
“He’s one of the legends of the game, but it does crazy things to people, mate, I love it. I love it, bring it on. it’s going to upset people, so that makes me happy.”
Asked whether Spurs was turning him crazy, Postecoglou said: “It hasn’t made me crazy at all.
“I was talking about other people, I wasn’t talking about me. I was asked the question about apparently there is a massive raging debate about the legitimacy of us or Man U potentially being in the Champions League next year. They need to change the rules because Spurs are involved.”
Postecoglou believes that winning a first European trophy in 41 years would go some way to changing the perception of a club that’s not won silverware of any kind since 2008.
“I don’t know if [winning the Europa League] will change it, but certainly some of it becomes redundant for sure because a big part and a lot of the narrative around the club is we haven’t won for a very long time. Anything… so that is part of it,” he said.
“Some of it will still exist beyond that, but as I said, from my perspective how do you create a winning culture? It all starts with winning.
“I think the more experiences you have of winning, if you can land a trophy along the way, it certainly gives belief within the whole club that it is capable and possible of doing. We’ve still got a big game tomorrow to even get through to a final before we can start talking about that.”