Bardi
Fan writer
There is something about Ange Postecoglou that is intoxicating.
He will talk to everyone, but it feels like he is talking just to you. His ability to capture the mood, feed off the energy in the room and read the situation will make you all fall in love. It will be an instant attraction, a holiday romance. He will say the right things, he will put you, attacking football and the love for the game first.
Players will feed into his ambition to play football the right way. They will feel released from the shackles of whatever tactical rigidity there was before and suddenly they' are kids again, free to cut inside, push high and "play, play, play."
At Spurs our honeymoon period was glorious. We sang his name, we called everyone "mate" and we enjoyed football being played the right way. But as with everything in life, you need to adjust to the holiday ending.
The weather turns and you find yourself freezing cold and wet - the beach is a distant memory. The ideas that swept you off your feet are gone. You are back in reality.
At Spurs, it was injuries and a lack of investment in key areas that brought about Ange's downfall. He went into every game with the ambition to win, but the team was not fit for purpose. He failed to adapt and roll with the blows, which to be fair to him were numerous.
Towards the end he did manage to recapture a semblance of that summer romance.
Spurs trundled their way to Bilbao and on the Iberian peninsula he delivered the greatest night we have had for a generation. We fell back in love with the man who puts family, football and expressing your love for the game first.
But then we got back home and reality came back and we deleted him from our contacts.
Ange is capable of delivering moments of sheer ecstasy and he can sweep you up in the way he talks, but unless he's learned how to adapt, change and work with what he has, the romance at Forest may be even shorter than our fling with the Aussie.
Find more from Bardi at The Extra Inch, external