Both Tottenham and Manchester United are embroiled in their own internal culture wars.
Ange Postecoglou and Ruben Amorim haven’t been shy about shaking up their respective clubs which makes Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final between them significant.
At United, the culture has gone bad. Once the blueprint for English football, the club has to reverse the degradation of its value and achievements.
Tottenham’s weakness and fragility is more intrinsic, going back decades. They are seen as lacking fibre and happy to be close to success, but without the inherent determination that needs to manifest itself to change the narrative of one trophy this century.
Their chairman Daniel Levy is criticised as being only about the money, but he will tell you the purpose of profit is to invest in the squad in order to redevelop the football club.
I pointedly asked him for a television documentary that will soon be released: Would you rather have a small profit and win the Premier League or a big profit and finish fourth?
At Manchester United Ruben Amorim has arrived at a club where the culture has gone bad
Neither Ange Postecoglou nor Amorim has been shy about shaking up their respective clubs
The two Premier League rivals meet in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Thursday evening
He said he’d take the prize and less money – he knows he has to win something.
For Amorim at Old Trafford, the Carabao Cup is also his first and possibly best chance of silverware in his debut season.
Dropping Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho for the Manchester derby at the weekend was similar to how Erik ten Hag initially dealt with Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho, but Amorim is the beneficiary of two things: charisma and timing.
Whereas Ten Hag looked uncomfortable in the spotlight, Amorim thrives, so people applaud his robustness.
Some managers are able to explain big decisions in a certain way. Amorim didn’t chuck Rashford under the bus, just pushed him around the side. The England star is therefore given fair warning but also left with the choice to either get on board or not.
His most recent comments suggest not – although goodness knows how his ‘new challenge’ is going to work. Who is going to pick up the remaining three years of his contract on £315,000 a week and pay a transfer fee?
Amorim knows that tolerance with United’s under-performing players is over. Fans, pundits and even Sir Jim Ratcliffe are willing to make salty comments about them so Amorim has taken advantage to show his authority.
There wouldn’t have been an obligation for him to tell the hierarchy about his team selection, but I imagine there were conversations before his appointment in which Amorim made clear players would have to either fight for their place or take flight.
Chairman Daniel Levy knows that he must win something and end Tottenham’s trophy drought
Dropping Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho was similar to Erik ten Hag’s treatment of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho
I assume in making the appointment, Sir Jim is happy to allow the manager that latitude to fix the problems.
United have reached a point where Amorim can swing for the bleachers, but he’s been shrewd.
There must be a purpose in telling someone off. If you’re only doing it to get something off your chest rather than make something better, what is the point?
I intensely disliked managers back-channelling me through the media when they didn’t get something they wanted, rather than saying it to me direct.
At the same time, what feels like welcome refreshing honesty from the manager is judged that way because it happens infrequently.
Amorim can’t trot out his message of shape up or ship out repeatedly. People will either get the memo or they won’t.
At Spurs, Ange Postecoglou didn’t even bother with Amorim’s niceties when he called Timo Werner’s performance ‘unacceptable’ at Glasgow Rangers. He also put Cristian Romero in his lane when the defender questioned a lack of transfer spending.
We know Spurs supporters crave a trophy. They aren’t more challenging than any other set of fans but their club is in a unique position: huge following, great financial strength, world-class stadium, yet still an empty trophy cabinet.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe appears to be happy to allow his head coach the latitude to fix problems
The former Sporting boss is blessed with the charisma and charm that Ten Hag lacked
Postecoglou didn’t bother with Amorim’s niceties when he called Timo Werner ‘unacceptable’
Postecoglou is trying to implement change his way, which includes firing broadsides. He wants to win a war, not the battle.
Remember his anger when some supporters wanted their own team to lose to Manchester City, so Arsenal didn’t win the league?
Tottenham have been that modern tale of Premier League participation with reasonable spend, decent achievements and lots of headlines – but no big wins.
Ange isn’t looking for cover. By declaring he always wins trophies in his second season, he’s showing ambition which he knows could be used against him. I admire his position. Whether it’s foolhardy or not, we will find out.
If they end the trophy drought in the Carabao Cup, Spurs will then need to kick on. It hasn’t helped them that the Spursy moniker was effectively encouraged by comments from their own managers, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte.
What Amorim and Ange share is the understanding that entertainment is an important part of the modern game. They are eminently watchable in interviews and while the ultimate equation is to win, there is an element of forbearance if you entertain people along the way – smoke and mirrors.
Playing attractively buys you time – which Postecoglou has been given – until the point where it has to be translated into something more tangible.
That’s why I asked Levy that key question, would he trade less profit for more glory.
If they do go on to end the trophy drought in the Carabao Cup Spurs will then need to kick on
The Carabao Cup is realistically United’s best chance at a piece of silverware this campaign
He has made Tottenham more than sustainable and not dependent on the individual whims of a benefactor. It’s not easy when other clubs have relied on nation states and oligarchs.
Levy’s answer made it clear that he wants to win trophies as much as any Spurs fan. At United, the same will go for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team’s supporters.
It’s why there is more at stake on Thursday night than a place in the League Cup semi-final. It’s about the soul of Tottenham and Manchester United extending beyond money.
Football is judged on winning, not just profit and loss columns. It is about passion, pride and achievement. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what big-time sport should be all about.
Mudryk can learn from Pogba’s example
As Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk waits to see the outcome of his failed drugs test, Paul Pogba is a cautionary tale of where it can lead.
The former Manchester United midfielder has served an 18-month ban for a doping offence, been released by Juventus and though he’s now available to resume his career, I wouldn’t touch him with a bargepole.
Clearly a good player at one point, and a World Cup winner, he has brought himself into disrepute and his private life is in chaos. I think as a serious football proposition, Pogba is done.
I’ve seen him linked with Manchester City but I’d be gobsmacked if Pep Guardiola thinks he’s the answer to the current malaise.
Mykhailo Mudryk is understood to have been suspended from football after being notified of a positive drugs test
The 23-year-old has featured heavily in Chelsea’s Europa Conference League campaign
Ex-Man United midfielder Paul Pogba is a cautionary tale of where failed drug tests can lead
Mudryk protests his innocence and we’ll have to see how his case ends up. He won’t want a career deterioration on the Pogba scale but it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where he doesn’t receive a ban.
Can Fury overcome his greatest boxing challenge?
This week marks the first time Tyson Fury steps into a ring having lost his previous fight, making Saturday night’s rematch against Oleksandr Usyk the acid test of his career.
Fury has dug himself out of many holes in and out of the ring, from being considered a joke before he fought Wladimir Klitschko to the demons that led to drug abuse and lack of conditioning.
This is his greatest boxing challenge but he’s the kind of man you’d back to overcome adversity.
If Fury is an irresistible force, Usyk is an immovable object. A win would be Tyson’s greatest achievement. I wouldn’t bet against him.
