As Ange Postecoglou chews over what just happened, he might ultimately conclude his greatest misfortune at Tottenham was to work under the one man more stubbornly committed to his beliefs than he is.
Because we have seen Postecoglou bend. Not much, and not nearly soon enough, but he did change. Ever so slightly, Ange the evangelist deviated from his high lines and higher ideals.
But Daniel Levy? A different level of devotion, that guy. Fuzzy feelings never stood a chance when numbers stood on the other side of his dilemma.
And so it has ended, their separation formalised on the second anniversary of Postecoglou’s arrival by a statement on Friday evening that was suitably heartfelt and an iron fist to the crotch all the same: thanks for the silverware, please accept our eternal gratitude, but 17th place weighs more than liberation from a 17-year curse.