Although the meltdowns after a dismal Tottenham Hotspur loss to Brighton in the Premier League this weekend would seem to indicate otherwise, the widespread admiration from Spurs fans for Ange Postecoglou was palpable after the controversial and embroiled manager delivered the club's third ever Europa League triumph and their first title of any kind in nearly two decades.
Postecoglou's future with or without a Europa League title has always been murky, and there's a school of thought that says that Tottenham should make their decision based on the competition with a bigger sample size, especially a bigger sample size of facing high quality opposition. Manchester United, for example, rued their decision to keep Erik ten Hag based on winning the FA Cup.
But the Europa League title is a bigger deal than the FA Cup; the FA Cup is what leads to Europa League qualification, which is how Manchester United got to be the team that Tottenham beat in order to win the Europa League and Champions League.
Tottenham could lose a star player with Big Ange
More importantly, there are more reasons to keep Postecoglou than just philosophy or emotions. According to a report from the Evening Standard's Dan Kilpatrick, keeping Postecoglou possibly increases the chances of Tottenham keeping center back Cristian Romero, who has a close relationship with the coach. Romero's future and willingness to remain with the club could end up being tied with the future of Postecoglou.
At one point, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Romero would leave Tottenham. He was openly flirting with a transfer away from the club, and there was even one rumor stating that he had already agreed to terms with Atletico Madrid.
After his big-game performances in multiple knockout-swinging ties in the Europa League and his status as the competition's literal Player of the Season, there's been a bigger push from Spurs supporters to keep Romero in town, and if that's the case, then those same fans should then have more of an inkling towards keeping Postecoglou, too.
It's hard to be 100 percent Big Ange out, because even if the results in the Premier League have been alarmingly bad and he has serious tactical flaws, he still won the Europa League and has close ties with key players like Romero. Are there any coaches out there better enough than Postecoglou that it is worth losing Romero? Should Tottenham say "screw it" and replace both men? These are the questions Daniel Levy is going to have to answer in the coming days.