Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has described the recent decision to sack former manager Ange Postecoglou as “emotionally difficult.”

The 59-year-old guided Spurs to their first trophy in 17 years, beating Manchester United in last month’s Europa League final. The result also secured Champions League qualification for next season but was not enough to save Postecoglou’s job.

“I’m very grateful to Ange,” Levy told the club’s in-house media channels. “I don’t regret appointing Ange. In his first season we finished fifth and in the second season we were over the moon to win a trophy but we need to compete in all competitions. We felt that we needed a change.

“I have got an excellent relationship with him and told him he will always be a part of our history. Himself and his family are always welcome back.

“It was a collective decision. It wasn’t my decision. We do everything together. Emotionally it was difficult but we believe we have made the right decision for the club.”

While he helped end the club’s trophy drought, Postecoglou also oversaw 22 league defeats — the worst Premier League record for a team to avoid relegation — as Tottenham finished a lowly 17th in the table.

Last week, Tottenham announced the appointment of former Brentford boss Thomas Frank as the club’s new manager.

“We ran a really, really thorough process — at speed,” Spurs’ new chief executive Vinai Venkatesham said while seated alongside Levy.

“We defined 10 characteristics that we think are important to be a successful manager at Tottenham Hotspur, we analysed in real detail, through our technical staff, more than 30 candidates.

“We had a lot of time with the shortlist and Thomas was absolutely the number one candidate. We could not be more excited to have him join the club.

“One of the things I’ve excited about is that he is an outstanding developer of young players so I really look forward to seeing what he can do with the squad we have here.”