South Melbourne stalwart David Clarkson still couldn’t quite believe his eyes as he watched his old coach Ange Postecoglou win the Europa League with Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday.
Clarkson played under Postecoglou at South Melbourne in the mid-1990s and is now general manager at the club. He said those at South were overwhelmingly proud to see one of their favourite sons make history as the first Australian and first Greek-born coach to win a major European title.
Tottenham’s head coach Ange Postecoglou applauds fans at the end of the Europa League final with his winner’s medal on.Credit: AP
“You can dream, but that’s a big dream,” Clarkson said on Thursday from the club’s Albert Park base.
“I don’t think [back then] even Ange would have thought he would get to this level but he always believed in himself.
“I’m still getting goosebumps now, when he lifted that trophy, that’s just a moment that will be etched in my memory and many other people’s memory for a long time because it hasn’t always been easy for him.
“For Ange, to win a European trophy as an Aussie coach – come on, that’s just crazy.”
Postecoglou has always celebrated his links to South Melbourne, having grown up watching the club with his dad and then captaining and coaching them to National Soccer League titles and an appearance in the World Club Cup in 2000.
He also met his wife Georgia when she worked at South Melbourne.
“The feeling I get from everyone here is we are genuinely so proud of him,” Clarkson said.
“People feel like we’ve been a part of his journey.”
Kimon Taliadoros played alongside Postecoglou at South Melbourne in the early 1990s and marvelled at how his former captain had withstood withering scrutiny this season as injuries and losses stacked up at Spurs.
Ange Postecoglou in his early days at South Melbourne.Credit: The Age
“The pressure and scrutiny he was under,” Taliadoros said.
“Not just within every match but between matches and training sessions. But I just keep coming back to his resilience. You look at how Spurs won, it wasn’t his plan A, attacking football, but it was the right approach for the moment and brought everything together – that mirrors his career.
“It just had it all today, it all came together on that big stage.”
Taliadoros said the way Postecoglou celebrated both his Australian upbringing and Greek heritage would make other Australians who come from migrant backgrounds take pride in their own stories.
Clarkson also reflected on Postecoglou’s struggles to find a coaching job after a mixed time coaching Australia’s junior sides before billionaire Frank Lowy took charge of Australian soccer.
“He was really struggling, he was working at Football Victoria and coaching Whittlesea Zebras [in the semi-professional Victorian Premier League],” Clarkson said.
“But when he got the Brisbane Roar coaching job [in 2009], that was the line in the sand. I remember it so well, he said to me that whatever happens from this moment, I’m doing things my way – he went to Brisbane, cleaned out their big players and look what happened from there – it’s just incredible what he has done.”
Postecoglou has also raised the bar for Australian coaches, bringing in multiple Australian coaches as assistants during his time in the J.League, Scottish Premier League and now with Spurs where former Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak and former Central Coast Mariners coach Nick Montgomery are on his staff.
“It’s given Australian coaches a pathway and you look at the doors he’s opened,” Clarkson said.
“All of a sudden people can see that Australian coaches can coach – the opportunities he has given people are incredible.”
Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah made a rare post from his official X account to congratulate Postecoglou.
“He did say he’d win in his second season. Congratulations,” Salah said.
Taliadoros took one thing from Postecoglou’s coaching – that he still has more things to achieve.
“People are saying ‘will he or won’t he be staying?’ I turn my mind to what’s next because he’s not finished. He’s on a mission and I wonder what he is thinking about as he continues to write history,” Taliadoros said.
‘Just magical’: Spurs fans celebrate in Melbourne
While Spurs fans in Bilbao were taking their seats, Australian fans were flocking to venues around the country.
OzSpurs president Sean Bielski estimated a few hundred of supporters packed the Imperial Hotel in the city for the 5am kickoff.
With an inflatable trophy in hand and his sons Luca and Yasha at his side, Bielski said it was an unforgettable moment when the final whistle ended a 17-year trophy drought.
Australia Spurs supporter group president Sean Bielski, middle, celebrates Tottenham’s Europa League title with his sons Luca and Yasha.
“I’ve never been in a place so loud,” Bielski said.
“There were grown men crying and you overlooked a room filled with loved ones sharing a moment with each other. It’s just magical, it really is.
“A lot of people never get that experience, so to be part of it with all those people was amazing.”
Bielski said he chose Spurs as his club as a boy when his London-raised grandfather encouraged him to pick an EPL team.
“He told me I couldn’t pick Fulham so we could have a bit of rivalry,” Bielski said.
“Tottenham happened to be playing at the time so that’s when the love affair started.
“I gave my boys the [playful] ultimatum of follow Spurs or move out but I think that following Spurs will make them better people because they will experience the highs and the lows – they got to enjoy a massive high today.“
Re-watch Tottenham v Man United in the UEFA Europa League Final with the full replay, mini match and highlights now streaming on demand on Stan Sport.
