Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou happy to disappoint King Charles by relegating Burnley
Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou says he would be happy to disappoint Burnley fan King Charles III on Saturday after visiting Buckingham Palace this week.
Postecoglou was part of a group of Australians invited to the Palace for an event on Wednesday but revealed he did not have a chance to talk to the Monarch.
Spurs can relegate the Clarets back to the Championship with a win in north London this weekend, while boosting their slim hopes of a top-four finish.
Told the King is a Burnley supporter, Postecoglou said: "Probably why they kept him away from me! I would be happy to disappoint him on that front. No problem.
"I didn’t get within 10 feet of the King and if I had have got closer I probably would have asked him about the Parthenon Marbles and I would probably have got thrown out," added Postecoglou, who was born in Greece, the original home of the Marbles.
"It was nice for me and my wife. These are experiences you are just fortunate because of the position I hold, not necessarily who I am.
"What we try to do, my wife and I, is really immerse ourselves in it and just seeing the people in there and hearing their stories, the joy they have of being there, it’s significant for me and my wife seeing how significant it is for them.
"When you’re in that space it’s special. So yeah it was a good day.
"We got an invite from the Australian government. Me and the other Aussies in the group, Mile [Jedinak, first-team coach], Scott [Munn, chief football officer], Charlie Grant [a player] from the women’s team.
"It was nice, a different experience. Just really inspiring because the people we met there work for charities, great causes, military people, people who are real heroes for society.
"They know who I am and come up and say hello, but just asking them about who they are and their life, you see so many fantastic people who do so much in communities, often without a lot of heralding from the wider public acknowledgement.
"I could see how happy they were to be there because finally there was some acknowledgement for them. Bizarrely enough, the sun was shining in London so we had a really nice afternoon."
Spurs are looking to arrest a run of four straight defeats against Vincent Kompany side's, with Postecoglou facing no new injury problems but a host of selection decisions across his stuttering side.
He revealed Oliver Skipp, who played the final half-hour at left-back in the 4-2 defeat at Liverpool last time out, was a contender to start ahead of Emerson Royal this week, and said the English midfielder does have a future at the club.
"We have been working with Skippy the last few weeks," Postecoglou said. "When we lost Destiny and Ben, left with Emerson who is not really a left-back, we were looking around at options and in training we have been using him in that space. I thought he did well when he came on.
"The way we play with full-backs, certainly with some of the positioning, he wouldn’t be too unfamiliar with the positions he would need to take up.
"He is an option for us and I think we need another option because we have three games this week and we only have Emerson as a back-up full-back at the club.
"He probably feels like he could have played more this year. With the way the season has gone for us in terms of our games programme, he has probably been one of the ones who has suffered because we haven’t been able to get the gametime rotations we need through the year.
"But I see Skippy as part of our future."
Postecoglou was less fortright when asked if Richarlison was part of his plans going forward but said he was pleased with the Brazilian's impact this season.
"Richy has been really good for us this year," he said.
"You've got to remember when I took over he had scored one goal for the club and for all intents and purposes, the jury was pretty much out on him in terms of any contribution. He has got in the double figures this year I am pretty sure and he has missed a huge chunk of it, but every time he has played he has looked effective like he did against Liverpool.
"He scored a good goal, set up the second, been unlucky on a couple of other occasions – one Alisson save and one Joe [Gomez] cleared off the line.
"Like I said, he has been really effective for us and I think the way we play suits him to a great degree and that's why he has got the goals, but he's also worked hard himself. It's unfortunate he's had a season which is reflective of a lot of players where we have never had them for a huge chunk of time consistently."
