Ange Postecoglou is probably Australia's greatest football export.

His latest success may have happened at Celtic – best resourced club in Scotland – but to dismiss the achievement would be to ignore the magnitude of the task he took on when the Hoops were at their lowest ebb for a decade. They were a dysfunctional team with a disillusioned fanbase and a corporate leadership only (apparently) interested in fans to the extent they could be exploited.

They were also struggling to appoint a manager, just like Spurs are today.

Ange’s appointment at Celtic drove a massive wedge among the fanbase with many devastated that their beloved club had signed a no-mark, yes man from the backwaters of Japan and (gasp) Australia. He would absolutely be sacked by Xmas.

It’s now ancient history how Ange rebuilt Celtic from the ground up and quickly turned them into an unrelenting, hard-press team who never give the opposition a moment’s peace. They play fast, front-foot, highly disciplined football and score a lot of goals.

Even more importantly, the fans love him because he is not from the standard mould. He has a strong understanding of the club and its traditions and truly gets the fan condition. Everything he does, it seems, is for the fans. He reflects their passions and opinions – he is their spokesman on matters even beyond football.

He is all but a Celtic legend after only two seasons.

Given his success, it is obvious that other clubs will take notice. He has been linked with every club in the EPL as the manager merry-go-round hurtles off its base. Not once, however, has there been any fire to go with the smoke, but the smoke is thick indeed coming out of Tottenham.

The noise from both sets of fans is frenetic but the silence from Ange himself is deafening. He has had any number of chances to deny the rumours but has remained either ambiguous or circumspect, which only makes the rumours even louder.

Predictably, the Celtic fans (who doubted him back in the day) are horrified at the prospect of losing him, while the Tottenham fans (a goodly percentage of them) are making all the same comments the Celtic fans made two years ago. Except that this time it’s not Japan and Australia which are the crap leagues… it’s Scotland. Some have even started up a twitter campaign to prevent his appointment!!! (They might be Celtic fans in disguise.)

If (and that is still a longshot)… if Ange takes on the Spurs job, he is very likely to be a success. He has the skills, the method, the networks, the presence, the passion and the personality to do for Spurs what he did for every other club.

The only queries in my mind are these:

  • How will he cope with the antics of prima donna players and the shenanigans of their ratbag agents?
  • How will he get on with (Executive Chairman) Daniel Levy who is a serial coach sacker and notoriously refuses to support his managers with the funds they need to improve?

The answers to these questions are linked. If Ange is offered the job, I believe he will only accept if offered complete control of the football department and an appropriate transfer budget.

Some might think this unlikely, given the fact that control was denied to much higher profile managers, such as Conte and Pochettino, but just maybe Levy is now desperate. The new head of operations (Scott Munn) is a CFG alumnus who knows Ange and his methods very well. He might be able to convince Levy to keep his hands off the levers and let Ange get on with it. (Arsenal fans will not be happy if this happens due to Levy's habit of sacking managers the moment they look like being successful.)

If he is allowed to get on with it then the usual process will apply. He will transform the entire club culture and playing systems by removing anyone unable or unwilling to share his vision. That starts with players but also means coaching staff and others. He will talk to all of them to see who is capable of going on the journey.

He will not care a jot for player egos or reputations. All will be offered the door if unwilling to commit and a raft of hungry new signings – from all over the world – will be brought in to learn the Angeball system and start dragging Spurs back up the ladder.

This is clearly a gargantuan task and will take a bit of time. If fan favourites, such as Harry Kane, are allowed to leave and the team is seen to struggle in the early days of the process, the pressure will ratchet up both on Ange and the powers that be.

So that will be Ange’s other huge condition for taking the job: he must be given time. And that means a contract which would ensure a massive payout if he is sacked early.

Time, however, is a rare and expensive commodity in the EPL, and the antics of player cabals and their agents can swiftly turn any EPL dressing room toxic – especially where a manager’s system requires higher than usual fitness and some tactical agility. Ange detests comfort zones and anyone playing for him better get used to that quickly.

Of course, all of this is speculation. It’s only smoke after all, not fire.

I personally believe that Ange’s mission at Celtic is far from complete, but if he is offered the chance to manage one of the world’s elite clubs and paid accordingly, it will be very hard to turn down.

He will turn it down though if he is not given the control and the time he requires. His reputation is only increasing and there will be other offers.

Ange can afford to wait, so over to you Mr Levy.

 

Adrian's books can be purchased at any good bookstore or through ebook alchemy. His first sci-fi novel (Asparagus Grass) will be published by Hague Publishing in July 2023.