Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has seen some old comments come back to haunt him following Monday’s defeat to Chelsea. The Australian hit out at officials while he was Celtic boss at the beginning of this year, leaving egg on his face.
Postecoglou has never hidden his dislike of VAR and that has continued in his short spell at Tottenham so far. On Monday, he criticised the length of time it takes for decisions to be made, which he feels stops the flow of the game.
Following Arsenal’s public criticism of officials at the weekend, Postecoglou claimed that fellow bosses should focus on managing their clubs and not on calling out referees. The 58-year-old oversaw a dramatic 4-1 defeat to Chelsea in a match that had everything.
He did not argue with any of the decisions made in north London, claiming in his press conference: “In my 26 years I was always prepared to accept the referee’s decisions, good, bad or otherwise, and I’ve had some shockers in my career let me tell you. I’ve had some go my way as well but I cop that because I just want the game to be played.”
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, Postecoglou again insisted he had no problem with the decisions and says he was “brought up” to accept what the officials give. He said: “I have already said that whatever decision they made is final.
“At some point, we have to accept the referee’s decision, that is how I was brought up. The constant question of referee’s authority, this is where the game is going to get – they are not going to have any authority. So, decisions are decisions, you either accept it or you don’t. I have always been in that camp.”
But supporters of rival clubs have dug up some old quotes from Postecoglou from earlier this year. A video of a Postecoglou press conference while he was Celtic boss in January has started to do the rounds on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The coach appears to contradict his view that managers should stay away from commenting on refereeing decisions. Celtic were denied a penalty in the Old Firm match against Rangers despite Connor Goldson appearing to block the ball with both arms in his 18-yard box.
Postecoglou said it was just one of three incidents that the officials had got wrong for his team in recent matches, insisting the mistakes wouldn’t even themselves out and that it was “remarkable” all three went against his team. Speaking in January, he said: “It’s a penalty. I’ve seen people doing all sorts of mental gymnastics trying to show why it’s not a penalty which probably suggests it is, so stop trying to find a reason it’s not.
“It’s just really confusing now for players in the box to know what they can or can’t do because there’s been zero consistency in the decisions being made. Over the course of a season, these things usually even themselves out.
“But when I look at the introduction of VAR and the decisions that have gone against us in particular, there’s zero chance that’s going to even out between now and the end of the year because it’s just remarkable that we’ve had at least three major decisions go against us. We can just say it comes down to interpretation but I guarantee you that if that game finished two-all and it was Rangers that were denied that decision the talk this week would be how that was a title-defining decision.
“The fact that it wasn’t because we still got a result, as we have in all the other games when decisions have gone against us, it doesn’t mean we should ignore it because that could be a team that gets relegated on a decision like that.”
Postecoglou has made it clear he would rather there not be VAR in football. But the comments from January suggest his public view on refereeing decisions isn’t as squeaky clean as he made out on Monday.