Ange Postecoglou said it himself last week: ‘Everyone thinks where they are is the centre of the universe.’
A more understandable phenomenon in days of old, perhaps, when world football wasn’t so interconnected by TV and social media, but things as they are now proves information does not always mean education. Instead, we live in an age where top-flight European divisions are routinely dismissed as the equivalent of 22 men who came spilling out the pub in the early hours of Sunday morning reconvening for a hungover kickabout.
As monotonous as that narrative may be, there is little point wasting energy getting seriously wound up about the silliness bandied around ‘football Twitter. But the strong reaction to Celtic’s manager being placed under consideration to succeed Antonio Conte at Tottenham is a telling example of how, from fans to pundits and everyone in between, we can all be guilty of failing to scratch beneath the surface.
Don’t get me wrong, I can completely understand Spurs fans’ frustration with how their pursuit of a new manager is transpiring. Failure to convince either Mauricio Pochettino or Julian Nagelsmann to take the job was a bitter pill for supporters to swallow, a rejection symptomatic of where the club currently finds itself, with ambitions of being among the very best yet consistently falling short of getting there.
Landing on Postecoglou is then perceived as a downgrade. It is not wholly dissimilar to what the Greek-Australian coach encountered when he arrived in Glasgow from Yokohama F. Marinos in June 2021.
Until then, Celtic’s recruitment process had centred on Eddie Howe, a pursuit that ultimately faltered in very public fashion. Although most Celtic fans were prepared to give the club’s plan B their full backing, some – plus certain pundits – were a tad too hasty in decrying Postecoglou’s credentials.
The level of opposition currently emanating from Spurs fans feels much more significant, albeit even that is hard to judge given social media’s unreliability in truly measuring the weight of public opinion. But the premise is largely the same – club turns to relatively lower profile alternative after big-name primary candidate proves unattainable.
And yet there is plenty of evidence Postecoglou would be a very shrewd Tottenham appointment.
Celtic fans likely will not thank me for going down this path but, contrary to one reasonably popular theory, there is not a widespread clamour within the Scottish press for the departure of an engaging, charismatic individual whose coaching and recruitment have been the catalyst for some of the finest football witnessed on these shores for quite some time. Postecoglou would be a serious loss to the SPFL, in more ways than one.
But that opinion is not mutually exclusive to the belief that, should Spurs hold their nerve and move to hire him, they would be making a good decision. Anyway, there is no cast-iron guarantee that Postecoglou would immediately say yes. His desire for another crack at the Champions League with Celtic is strong, as is his belief they can make strides at the top end of European football.
This is a manager who, for his entire career, has moved to the beat of his own drum, defying doubters along the way. And that’s why it would be difficult to be surprised either way if he decided Celtic remains the best place for him, or headed for London and did a very good job.
Tottenham fans’ issue with Postecoglou appears to be one of prestige, or lack thereof. There’s a thoroughly tiresome narrative that if you haven’t proven you can ‘do it’ in the Premier League, everything else on your CV is of little value. Even Lionel Messi had that one levelled at him from time to time.
But a closer look at what Postecoglou has achieved in the game, and how, tells you an awful lot more about him than the fact he has never taken a team to Turf Moor on a Tuesday night in November.
First off, he is a unifier. It did not take him long to re-energise a Celtic support whose prevailing emotion was anger in the months preceding his arrival. His effect on a largely new group of players was similarly galvanising, and within mere weeks he had them running themselves into the ground to such an extent that hamstrings were popping all over the place.
Tottenham are in dire need of such a figure. They are a fractured club, one which has been run highly efficiently off the pitch yet continues to underwhelm on it. Their much-maligned players looked utterly defeated in conceding five first-half goals to Newcastle United just over a month ago. Their desperation for a leader could not be more evident, and it feels a safe bet that any doubts players may or may not hold over Postecoglou’s credentials would dissipate once he’s in the building.
A common criticism is that apparently anyone can win the league with Celtic, but even if that were true, a pair of Premiership trophies are not the extent of Postecoglou’s achievements. In leading Yokohama F. Marinos to the J-League title, he ended a drought lasting 15 years. His success there, and with Brisbane Roar, and with the Australian national team, were not a result of having swathes more money than the opposition, but textbook examples of innovative coaching and smart recruitment producing stellar results.
In a league where the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp – genuine superstar names – have reigned supreme, the clamour for a high-profile appointment among Spurs fans is understandable, to an extent. And yet the fact that last season’s Premier League set a new record for the number of managers to lose their jobs suggests that current recruitment trends are perhaps worth revisiting.
There’s also the consideration that Jose Mourinho and Conte are among the biggest names around, but both thoroughly ill-fitted to a club which has traditionally demanded attacking football, something Postecoglou knows a thing or two about.
His suitably is becoming increasingly favoured among Tottenham’s hierarchy, if not their fanbase. It is now expected that a formal approach could follow this Sunday’s Scottish Cup final, with chairman Daniel Levy reportedly keen to have his new man in place within a fortnight.
If they are to make Postecoglou that man, he will require time and backing. The 57-year-old has proven that rebuilds are his specialist subject, but this is one area where Celtic and the Premier League are not quite comparable.
Even in a 2020/21 season regarded as disastrous, Celtic remained the second-best team in Scotland by some distance. Down south, the competition at the top of the table is increasingly fierce, and expensive. Tottenham have been among the Premier League’s traditional ‘big six’, a party that has now been gate-crashed by Newcastle, with Roberto de Zerbi’s Brighton looking to follow suit in the near future.
Make no mistake, Postecoglou leaving would be a bad thing for Scottish football. And while it very much remains to be seen as to whether he stays or goes, if Tottenham fans are willing to get behind him, he could just become the centre of their universe.
