MATT BARLOW: Ange Postecoglou has been given a crash course in the perils of managing Tottenham… Joe Lewis being indicted for ‘brazen’ insider trading is another cloud of uncertainty drifting across the Australian’s horizon

Day 50 in the job and Ange Postecoglou woke in Singapore to find, on the other side of the world, the billionaire responsible for bankrolling the modern Tottenham now stood accused of insider trading.

Joe Lewis built the empire containing Spurs and the fact that he had the foresight to remove his name from over the door before this fraud investigation reached this critical stage will do little to ease any misgivings.

Lewis remains the moneyman at the top of the club. Earlier this week, sources revealed the 86-year-old had personally intervened to tell chairman Daniel Levy to sell Harry Kane if he is unwilling to sign a new contract this summer.

So here was one more cloud of uncertainty drifting across Postecoglou’s horizon since his arrival. One he had no right to have expected. One more lesson in what has become a crash course in the perils of managing Tottenham. Things rarely go smoothly.

First, the transfer market. Despite the desperate need for defensive reinforcements, they have only goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, creative midfielder James Maddison and promising winger Manor Solomon.

Joe Lewis (left) was accused of orchestrating a ‘brazen’ insider trading scheme by the US attorney

It is yet another cloud of uncertainty drifting upon Ange Postecoglou’s (pictured) horizon since he was appointed as manager and one that the Australian would not have expected

There is already uncertainty over Harry Kane’s (pictured) future at the club after Lewis told Daniel Levy to sell the striker if he is unwilling to sign a new contract extension this summer

Deals he hoped were close, such as Micky van de Ven from Wolfsburg and Ashley Phillips from Blackburn, remain incomplete, although still alive, and players they were hoping to move on are still there.

Davinson Sanchez is not overly enamoured with the prospect of a move to Russia, despite Spurs accepting a bid from Spartak Moscow. So with the new Premier League season set to start a week tomorrow(FRI) with the defensive unit very much as it was.

Then, of course, there is Bayern Munich’s public pursuit of hero Kane. On Saturday, in Bangkok, Postecoglou found himself ambushed by a reporter from the German newspaper Bild waving about a Bayern shirt with Kane 9 printed on the back.

The Spurs boss fired some furious glances across the room and grumbled darkly about a club needing ‘fake jumpers’ to make its presence.

The following day, Tottenham’s friendly against Leicester was washed-out and cancelled when the heavens opened before kick-off and unleashed four inches of rain in 40 minutes.

It is monsoon season in this part of the world and a tropical downpour is always a threat but this took one game out of the tour when Postecoglou was desperate for game time to cast his eyes over the overloaded squad of 31 players he brought to Australia and South-East Asia.

The first game ended in defeat, 3-2 against West Ham in Perth, and the third, in Singapore on Wednesday, was supposed to be against Roma but the Italians pulled out leaving Spurs to face local team Lion City Sailors.

When they went behind in the 14th minute and struggled to get back on level terms until Kane scored a penalty with the last kick of the first half it seemed they might be exploring new lows. But they ran away with it as the Sailors faded in the second half, with three goals for Richarlison and one for Giovani Lo Celso

Tottenham won 5-1 and lifted the Tiger Cup, a trophy at last but Postecoglou did not pretend this had been anything other than a testing couple of weeks for everybody.

Postecoglou did not pretend this has not been a challenging few weeks for the club

The Australian has a big task at hand to lift them up from last season’s finish of 8th in the table

‘My philosophy is you’ve just got to deal with it,’ said the Spurs boss. ‘A lot of it was taken out of our hands. You plan these things with the best will in the world. There’s no point complaining.

‘We’re not going to get this time back. We’ve got to use it the best we can and I think we have. The beauty of it for me is that the players have stayed focused on listening to us and working through that without letting it affect their attitude or morale around the place.

‘That’s been important. That sort of stuff gets tested when things aren’t running smoothly so it’s good to see that reaction because things aren’t going to run smoothly through the year either, there’s going to be some challenges for us. Seeing the whole group, players and staff just get on with it is pleasing for me. But, yeah, it hasn’t been ideal.’

On top of everything else, there were injury setbacks for Tanguy Ndombele, who has not played on tour, and Alfie Whiteman, a back-up ‘keeper carried out of training on Tuesday with an ankle injury.

Yves Bissouma limped off yesterday but Postecoglou thought he was just exhausted after a tough schedule.

As for the Lewis charges and the focus that trains on the club’s future and financial well-being, he would not roam far from a club statement claiming it was a legal matter, unconnected with Tottenham.

Postecoglou bristled when asked if his plans remained unchanged. ‘Why wouldn’t they be?’ replied the no-nonsense Aussie. ‘The club’s already said it’s not a club matter. We’re not putting out a statement that’s not true so if it’s not a club matter it doesn’t affect me in terms of what I’m trying to do so no-one’s said anything like that to me.

‘If you think that’s what I’m involved in you don’t know what my role is here.’