Graeme Souness believes Ange Postecoglou will hold fire if Brighton offer him the chance to move to the English Premier League because the Aussie will believe bigger doors will open south of the border if he continues his success at Celtic.
The Aussie is among the favourites to succeed Graham Potter at the Seagulls but Rangers legend Souness, a big admirer of Postecoglou’s work at Parkhead, reckons the 57-year-old will be thinking beyond the south coast outfit. Souness told talkSPORT: “He’ll be looking at I this way ‘Things are going well at Celtic, I’ll get a better offer than Brighton down the line’. That’s the top and bottom of it for me. If Man United, Liverpool or one of the other big guys came calling I don't think there would be much loyalty.
“I don’t see this as loyalty - I see it as a straight choice between a truly good football club and managing a provincial team in the best league in the world. Ange has done a great job at Celtic. I met him briefly at an Italian restaurant in Glasgow one night.
“He’s a really nice guy and obviously knows his onions. He’s got Celtic playing a brand of football he’ll be happy with. It’s not easy managing Celtic or Rangers because you’re expected to win every single game you play so he has done a good job there.”
Fellow pundit Simon Jordan weighed into the debate which led to the pair discussing Steven Gerrard’s move to Aston Villa and comparing the two situations. Jordan said: “I don’t know if he’s as calculated as thinking ‘if I get a better offer further down the line’. He’s got a job at hand and Brighton doesn’t do enough at this moment in time to detract him from the job he’s got.
“It’s not about ambition - it’s about ceilings. There’s a realistic expectation for Brighton to be a successful team in the Premier League but success for Brighton is very different. It’s about staying in the Premier League and moving up through the gears and finishing top 10 like Crystal Palace did. There’s a ceiling unlike with Manchester United and Liverpool.
“Steven Gerrard is a different animal to Ange Postecoglou. And Rangers are a different club and Aston Villa is a different football club to Brighton in my view. Brighton have finished above Villa on a number of occasions in the last two or three years. That version of Villa - but the version of Villa that may be coming with this ownership model and size and scale of this football club, I suspect is different to Brighton.”
Souness, though, could understand Gerrard’s thinking. He said: “Rangers are obviously my team and can’t make the kind of investment in players that they have done. And he was going to a Villa, which if anyone walks through the doors you know you’re in a big football club and have very wealthy owners who were going to back him and have backed him so I get the reason why he left. But you can’t make Brighton a big football club.”
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