As the first Australian to coach a Premier League club, Ange Postecoglou has surely silenced the critics – but the Tottenham boss remains perplexed why he isn’t a revered figure on home soil.
Postecoglou, 58, boasts a managerial CV many can only dream about – not to mention the silverware he won in Australia, Japan and Scotland.
Born in Greece, ‘Big Ange’ relocated with his family to Melbourne as a youngster in 1970.
He went onto represent South Melbourne in the defunct National Soccer League (NSL) before turning his attention to coaching aged 27 due to knee injury that saw him retire from playing.
Two titles quickly followed, and come 1999, Postecoglou was on his way – or so he thought.
A now infamous interview with Craig Foster on SBS’ The World Game following Australia’s failure to qualify for the Under-20 World Cup in 2007 made Postecoglou a football leper in his eyes.
He resorted to coaching in the Greek third division and Melbourne state league outfit Whittlesea Zebras before A-League club Brisbane Roar eventually came calling in 2009.
Two and a half years later Postecoglou left the Roar, during which he led the club to back-to-back A-League championships, a premiership, an impressive 36-game unbeaten run and consecutive qualification for the Asian Champions League.
As the first Australian to coach a Premier League club, Ange Postecoglou has surely silenced the critics – but the Tottenham boss remains perplexed why he isn’t a revered figure on home soil
Ange Postecoglou also coached Australia at the 2014 World Cup and ensured the Socceroos qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia (pictured, with Tim Cahill)
Next was a move to Melbourne Victory before taking over as the Socceroos boss ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Postecoglou then won the Asian Cup in 2015 – and he hoped the code would take greater strides locally than it ultimately did.
So, after qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, Postecoglou quit and began to focus on management at club level.
His reasoning had nothing to do with ego – Postecoglou genuinely felt he was wasting his time.
‘I wasn’t respected within my own country for what I was trying to do…I just felt like I’d made zero impact, I had failed,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald when quizzed on why he walked away before the World Cup in Russia.
It followed constant criticism of Postecoglou’s attack-minded football, which ironically has made him a global star in recent years as he refuses to alter his coaching philosophies.
Days out from Christmas in 2017, Postecoglou took over at Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan.
Some Aussie football fans felt Postecoglou would fade into obscurity, but two years later he won the J-League title, securing an eventual move to Scottish giants Celtic in June of 2021.
Again the detractors lined up, but they were left eating their words when Postecoglou won the Scottish League Cup and league title in his first season at the helm.
When he moved onto Spurs in June of 2023, again Postecoglou was mocked.
He was tipped to struggle after losing gun striker Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, but finished fifth, much to the delight of long suffering Tottenham supporters.
Given he inked a four-year contact, Postecoglou has no plans to leave London early, and after strengthening his squad in the off-season he is confident of a top four finish come May which would see automatic qualification for the UEFA Champions League.
It is also safe to assume Postecoglou won’t return to the A-League anytime soon and why would he given the competition is in dire straits.
‘I’ve had a weird relationship with Australia in terms of football because in many respects, I resented what it made me at the end, wanting to leave,’ he said.
‘But at the same time, I wouldn’t have gotten where I am today without it.
‘If people are watching Tottenham games because of me that’s great….I love that aspect of it. ‘But part of me just says, when I was there, I didn’t feel appreciated.’
