There are few people more deserving of becoming Australia’s first Premier League manager than Ange Postecoglou.
The former Socceroos coach has put in the hard yards on his way to becoming Tottenham’s next manager.
Just 16 years ago, he described himself as ‘unemployable’ after poor results with Australia’s youth national teams. But he managed to pick himself back up, dust himself down and work his way up the ranks in inspirational fashion.
While he’ll once again arrive needing to convince a doubtful fan base, if you were to bet with the bet365 bonus, you’d be brave to bet against him not turning Spurs around.
He did it with Celtic in the span of less than six months, ultimately picking up five titles in the span of less than two years.
Postecoglou has in fact won pretty much everywhere he’s gone. From Brisbane Roar to Yokohama F.Marinos, this is a manager that knows how to breed success.
His secret? Well it’s got plenty to do with his simple love of football as current Socceroos coach Graham Arnold attested to on Tuesday.
“I worked as his assistant in 2002 I think it was at the Under-20 World Cup in Dubai, just from working with him there I could see the obsession. I think that’s the right word. Obsession of football; he is just totally obsessed with the game. It is his life,” Arnold said.
“It’s his obsession. He would sit and watch football all day, I’m not like that. I can’t watch it all day. He is obsessed with his career in a lot of ways, his family and his job.
“When I went to Celtic for the day or two, he was just full on all day.
“One of the specialities with Ange; a lot of managers are managers, they’re not coaches as well. That is what Ange has the dual role of, being a coach as well as a manager.
“On the tactical side of things he’s not relying on other people to tell him what to do because he’s got that nous. On the managerial side, he knows man management, he knows how to get the best out of people and motivate people.
“Sometimes, a lot of managers leave the coaching to someone else to do and they’re playing the way of that other coach. With Ange, it is his way. It is fantastic.”
Postecoglou will need to harness every inch of that obsession if he is to defy the doubters once again at Tottenham.
Spurs have churned through multiple managers in the space of a few years with not even serial winner Jose Mourinho able to deliver an elusive title during his stint.
But as most Australian football fans will know by now, Postecoglou is someone that finds a way when others see a dead-end. He’ll no doubt spend the next several weeks diving even deeper into that football obsession of his as he begins the process of trying to turn Tottenham around.
Feature image credit: Alen Delic
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