Ange Postecoglou has promised Tottenham will give Tamworth the utmost respect and insisted the non-league club’s artificial pitch is an improvement on the toad-infested surface he once encountered in Fiji. Spurs will aim to navigate a huge banana skin on Sunday when they face National League opposition Tamworth in the FA Cup with 96 places between the clubs ahead of the plum third-round tie at The Lambs Ground.
When quizzed on Tamworth’s artificial surface, Postecoglou recounted a tale from his time as South Melbourne boss when they won 5-1 against Nadi in the final of the 1999 OFC Club Championship, which sent them through to FIFA’s Club World Championship where they faced Manchester United.
“The toads? I was in South Melbourne back in 1999 and it was the first qualifying for the first-ever World Club Championship in Brazil, which famously Man United pulled out of the FA Cup for. “A fair bit of prize money at stake I remember for a club like ours and in the final of that we had to play in Fiji, because we were an Oceania team.
“Warming up there were toads we had to remove, which kept jumping on the pitch. “At the time, you’re kind of going ‘really?’, but when you realise what was at stake, a fair bit of money and the opportunity to play at the Maracana against some of the best teams in the world, we ended up playing Man United, Vasco de Gama and Necaxa of Mexico, it was quite extraordinary.
