Gus Poyet has warned Ange Postecoglou his first year in the Premier League will not be easy.
The Australian recently took over the reins at Tottenham Hotspur after leaving Celtic.
Signing a four-year deal, the 57-year-old became the first Aussie to manage in England's top flight.
Spurs have endured a few difficult seasons. Last term, they finished outside of the European places and were ultimately not good enough in their search for consistency to fire them up the table under Antonio Conte.
And Poyet has told Postecoglou it's consistency that will be the key factor in determining how hard the next year is for him at Spurs gaffer.
“I think the next 12 months will be hard for Ange Postecoglou,” Poyet told 888sport. “It will be even harder if Harry Kane leaves. As a coach it’s hard when you get to the club and you have a lot of energy and then they tell you that Kane might leave and you think, ‘oh, thank you, but maybe you could have told me before I signed the contract!’.
“I don’t know how Postecoglou’s finished squad is going to look and how Spurs do next season will depend on the players that they keep and the players that they bring in. There have been so many transfer rumours recently and I’m sure that in the next few days, Postecoglou will have his say on those decisions.
“For example, we don’t know how long Rodrigo Bentancur is going to be out for and it’s things like that that can affect your season. Tottenham’s inconsistencies have been because of things like that.
"It wasn’t about the quality of their players, it was about the inconsistency – in one game everybody looked up for it and the next week it looked like a totally different group of players. For me, this season is about consistency.”
One huge positive for Postecoglou would be if Kane decides to stay in North London for the year ahead.
And Poyet, who made 98 appearances for the club between 2001 and 2004, believes that will turn out to be the case.
He added: “Based on previous experience, I would say Kane will still be at Tottenham next season. Two years ago I thought he was going to Manchester City. I was not even 99% sure, I was 100% sure, and then he stayed.
“If I was Kane I would stay in the Premier League rather than going to Bayern Munich. It will be a massive decision for Tottenham, for Harry, and for everyone involved, and of course, as the coach, Postecoglou would like him to stay.
"There have been so many rumours and so many things happening over the past two or three years so I can’t say for sure what is going to happen. I think the only person who really knows is Kane.”
