Ange Postecoglou: Spurs boss says management is ‘harder’ than being prime minister

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou says football management is the “hardest job in any walk of life” – including being prime minister.

Postecoglou, whose side ended a run of five games without a win in Sunday’s Premier League victory over bottom club Southampton, says he faces an election “every weekend”.

Victory at St Mary’s lifted Spurs to 10th in the table but cost Saints manager Russell Martin his job, just hours after fellow top-flight club Wolves parted company with boss Gary O’Neil.

“This job is the hardest job now in any walk of life. You can say politics, but this is harder than any job,” said Postecoglou on Wednesday.

“The tenure and longevity of this role now means that you go in to it and very few are going to come out of it without any scars.”

Postecoglou has faced criticism over his side’s inconsistency in recent weeks and chose to confront disgruntled supporters after the defeat by Bournemouth this month.

Asked whether management was harder than being prime minister, the 59-year-old Australian added: “Oh yeah, how many times does he have an election? I have one every weekend.

“We have an election every weekend and either get voted in or out.

“We have lost all sort of modes of respect in our society where guys are in jobs and they are putting up names of who is going to replace them while they are still working.

“As a society, we are so quick to just throw people in the trash and move on really quickly with no thought or any care around it. I don’t know if there is a good way or a best way of handling it.”

Spurs, who have not won a trophy since 2008, resume their Carabao Cup campaign with a last-eight tie against Manchester United at home on Thursday.

Postecoglou says ending the club’s trophy drought could help to change the mood among supporters.

“If I go on the general sentiment since I’ve been in this job, it feels like a trophy will just make this place transform into something, so let’s see,” he said.

“Me personally? Like I keep saying, I want more than that. I don’t think it’s just about getting a trophy.

“I think when you want to build a successful, sustainable club in terms of competing for trophies every year, it’s more than that, but it wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong about something while I’ve been in this job. Maybe a trophy is what it needs, I don’t know.”