Ange Postecoglou has been officially confirmed as Tottenham Hotspur’s new manager, becoming the first Australian to land a head coaching job in the English Premier League.
And his first match in charge of the club will bring him back home to Australia, with Spurs to play a pre-season friendly against London rivals West Ham United at Perth’s Optus Stadium on July 18.
Ange Postecoglou celebrates Celtic’s Scottish Cup final win at the weekend.Credit: Getty
The club’s announcement on Tuesday evening (AEST) represents a landmark moment for Australian football and heralds by far the biggest challenge of the 57-year-old’s coaching career. But it is an opportunity he has richly earned, and one that he is ready for.
Postecoglou has won an array of trophies and accolades during his 26 years as a coach, including five of the six domestic competitions available to him in Scotland with Celtic, where he has coached for the last two seasons.
Prior to that, he made his name in Australia, winning the old National Soccer League with his boyhood club South Melbourne and the A-League twice with Brisbane Roar, where he set an Australian record with a stunning 36-match unbeaten streak.
He also took out the 2015 AFC Asian Cup with the Socceroos, secured the team’s qualification for the 2018 World Cup, and then returned to club football with Japanese club Yokohama F. Marinos, with whom he won the 2019 J.League title.
Pep Guardiola showered Ange Postecoglou in praise when Manchester City faced Yokohama F. Marinos in an off-season friendly in 2019. Now they’ll be rivals in the Premier League.Credit: Getty
He has compiled, arguably, the greatest CV of any coach in any sport ever seen in Australia and has, over time, become a figurehead for the game here, a mentor to aspiring coaches, and a strong believer in the ability for Aussies to compete on the global stage.
Now a new frontier beckons.
The Premier League has long been regarded as one of Europe’s top competitions but in recent years, as broadcast revenue has skyrocketed worldwide, it has led to an even greater concentration within it of the best players and coaches in the game.
Postecoglou has a massive task on his hands in not just testing his wits against the likes of Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Jürgen Klopp on a weekly basis, but by nursing a broken club in Tottenham Hotspur back to full health.
Regarded as one of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ clubs, Spurs have been on a downward spiral since losing the 2019 UEFA Champions League final, finishing eighth this season after the sacking of famed Italian manager Antonio Conte in March.
Chairman Daniel Levy, who is wildly unpopular with Tottenham fans, has appointed 11 different permanent managers during his time in charge of the club – including José Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino and Andre Villas-Boas – and has fired every single one of them.
The hope, at least from an Aussie perspective, is that Postecoglou will buck this tempestuous trend and bring stability back to north London – although like with most of his previous coaching gigs, there will be a difficult period of adjustment in the initial weeks or months as players come to terms with his demanding methods, which Spurs supporters and Levy alike will need to ride out.
Postecoglou will at least have a familiar face to lean on at the club, with Australian administrator Scott Munn, who previously held roles with the AFL, NRL and in the A-League with the City Football Group, set to begin work as Tottenham’s chief football officer on July 1. He is also reportedly interested in bringing one of his assistants from Celtic, John Kennedy, with him to London.
Postecoglou is likely to be the sole Australian representative in the Premier League next season, following the relegation of Socceroo Harry Souttar’s Leicester City, while young midfielder Alexander Robertson, who is on the books of Manchester City but is yet to make his senior debut, will probably seek a loan move for first-team experience.
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