Why Ange Postecoglou could be the perfect manager for Tottenham

Ange Postecoglou is the new Tottenham manager, replacing Antonio Conte to become the Lilywhites’ fifth permanent coach in as many years.

But this time, there are plenty of signs that chairman Daniel Levy may have made the right decision, with Postecoglou seeming like a great fit in so many ways. The Greek-born Australian has taken Scottish football by storm at Celtic and has been extremely popular for his style of play, his way with words and an attack-minded philosophy that has breathed new life into Celtic Park.

Now, he’s set to make the big step to the Premier League, after stints in the A-League, the J-League and even managing the Australian national side to a first-ever Asian Cup and qualification to the 2014 World Cup.

Tottenham may have found the perfect manager in Ange Postecoglou

As FFT’s Adam Clery explains in the video aboveAnge Postecoglou has had a fascinating journey to get to where he is now.

In 2000, he went to the FIFA Club World Championship to manage South Melbourne against Manchester United in Brazil – where the Red Devils infamously boycotted the FA Cup – while a few short years later, he was caught up in a televised debate as a youth coach in the Australian national setup where he argued the systemic flaws of Aussie football and became a popular cult figure for doing so.

Postecoglou’s popularity earned him punditry gigs before the Brisbane Roar job came up, before Melbourne Victory and Australia’s national team. As Adam points out though, the Australia job showed some of the hallmarks of what Celtic fans have seen in Europe this season and what Tottenham fans will hope for, too. Australia gave a good account of themselves at the 2014 World Cup, while Celtic didn’t win a Champions League game but posted eight shots on target in the Bernabeu – no one managed more this season.

Celtic likes to press extremely high with their full-backs inverted, their central midfielders supporting the striker and the defence pushed into the opposition half. But while Tottenham might not play with the same reckless abandon as some of Postecoglou’s former sides, there is reason to believe that he will bring the same level of aggressive, front-footed football to a side who have desperately lost their edge.

Adam published his first article for FourFourTwo in 2015, but didn’t publish his second until seven years later in 2022. A figure that would put him near the top end of any ranking for Longest Time Between Appearances For One Club. In the time between he plied his trade as both a writer and presenter on YouTube, earning the dubious distinction of being “The James Milner of WhatCulture”. Be that because he was capable of playing any role, or just because it felt like he’d been around forever, depends on who you ask. And yes, that is him from the Football Manager documentary and, no, he doesn’t want to talk about it.