Ange Postecoglou reveals the four players he tried to sign at Tottenham

Gary Neville couldn't have asked for better timing. For episode 116 of The Overlap's 'Stick to Football' podcast, Neville, Jamie Carragher, Ian Wright, Roy Keane and Jill Scott were joined by Ange Postecoglou to talk all things Spurs.

Conveniently, his arrival on set coincided with the news of Thomas Frank's departure from N17 after a miserable eight months at the helm.

Daniel Levy opted to part ways with Postecoglou in the wake of the club's glorious triumph in Bilbao, with the former executive chairman citing a need to compete on multiple fronts as the main reason for sacking the man who oversaw our Europa League success.

Ultimately, Levy's final big decision has proven to be a poor one. Allowing Ange to embark on "season three" simply couldn't have been worse than what we were subject to under his successor.

Now, the Australian carries a distinct air of vindication, and he used his opportunity with Neville and Co. to lay into his former employers.

Postecoglou reveals a distinct lack of belief around Tottenham

Ange once again proves his worth as an excellent orator with supreme storytelling capabilities, as the five regular pundits each take turns with the 60-year-old to take digs at a football club described as being in "freefall" in the YouTube thumbnail.

It's a revealing discussion, even if the same sentiment is repeated but dressed up differently for much of it. There's plenty of focus on Tottenham's fragile mental state, on which Ange said: “Look, Spursy. 100% there is [a lack of belief]. That was the thing I was trying to break.

"My whole statement about winning things in my second year was, I was doing that for the Club, because no one internally would dare say that, because they were just scared."

Ange is merely echoing what plenty before him have bellowed from the hilltops. José Mourinho and Antonio Conte, for example, were each accused of using the higher-ups as scapegoats to cover their backs when things went south, but it's evident that there's a culture issue at Spurs, a deep-rooted vulnerability to success.

Postecoglou explains why Tottenham are not a "big club"

There's undoubtedly a sense of self-aggrandisement on Ange's behalf, too, and likely some exaggeration to fit the narrative of being the saviour of a club whose actions contradict its ubiquitous 'To Dare Is To Do' mantra.

When discussing transfer policy, he attributes our wage structure as the primary reason why Tottenham can't be regarded as a "big club".

The 60-year-old recalls that at the end of his debut season, during which we finished fifth after losing Harry Kane the previous summer, he wanted to sign Pedro Neto, Bryan Mbuemo, Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guéhi, but ended up with just one "Premier League ready" player in Dominic Solanke to complement teenagers Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert.

I know we've been linked to those Ange listed at various points, but, conveniently, he opted to choose those four, given that three of them are now recognised among the division's standout performers. Semenyo had scored just nine Premier League goals by the end of Ange's first season, so I'm not sure whether I believe Ange made a serious push for his signature during the window he's alluding to.

Nevertheless, there's obviously plenty of truth to what Ange has said, and we'll continue to realise that the issues at this football club transcend the man in the dugout. However, we can't be naive and believe the former manager isn't attempting to improve his own standing and reputation by tweaking a few things somewhat.

Those on the panel were all too keen to indulge Ange's slanderfest; recent events made that easy to do, but the Australian himself, while a fantastic leader who's had a remarkable career, boasts a methodology that comes with obvious drawbacks.

His stint at Nottingham Forest was miserable, and there's a reason why Europe's elite will steer well clear. We cannot deny that Ange Postecoglou was the culture shifter Tottenham sorely needed, but sustained success always seemed unlikely, given the all-or-nothing nature of his approach.