Ange Postecoglou has only been going from strength to strength these past few years.
From guiding the Yokohama F. Marinos to their first J1 League title in 15 years to consecutive seasons of national title glory for Scotlandโs Celtics, it was never a question of if the Melbourne native would be called to the Premier League. Only when.
As the head coach of Tottenham Hotspur FC, heโs proven to be so much more than a novelty (i.e., the first-ever Australian in his position).
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Against all odds, and with the surgical execution of โAnge Ball,โ the previously out-of-sorts football club finds itself at the top of the table after eight matches. Arch rivals Arsenal, reigning champions Manchester City, Liverpool, and Aston Villa currently trail behind the mighty Spurs.
But despite all the hard-earned success heโs experienced thus far โ and the fact heโs been steadily proving himself to be the greatest Aussie coach of all time โ Ange Postecoglou believes heโll never coach the Socceroos ever again.
โNo. I gave up that fight,โ he said when prompted about a future appointment with the national team (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
โItโs a much easier space for me to live in because I was so frustrated for so long. It was my biggest frustration.โ
โOne of my major drivers for doing what I did was to change football in Australia. And thatโs the reason I left. I felt I hadnโt made an impact at all.โ
Postecoglou also lamented a lack of national backing as the reason why football would never โtake offโ in Australia: โOne of them is obviously the sporting landscape, where thereโs some pretty strong codes there that have generationally dominated the landscape.โ
โThereโs Aussie Rules, thatโs the indigenous sport of Australia, itโs kind of unique to them, and they take great pride in protecting that as their code. The rugby codes, obviously, dominate. Itโs very hard for football to make an impact in that space.โ
โAnd the flipside of that is just how global the sport of football is. If you want to make inroads when youโre battling those kind of odds, it becomes almost insurmountable. You canโt make the necessary steps.โ
He continued: โIf I can compare that to a country like Japan, who also have the tyranny of distance, baseballโs pretty strong โ but theyโve ploughed a lot of resources into football and you can see that thatโs making an impact. I donโt see Australia going down that road.โ
โWhen you look at what the Matildas did at the World Cupโฆ unbelievable. But you still wonโt see an influx of resources to the game. You wonโt. I guarantee it. Theyโll build stadiums and other codes will use them.โ
โI just donโt think the nation as a whole has that inside them to understand that you can make an impact on the world of football, but it requires a kind of nationalistic approach that I just donโt think Australians at their core are really interested in.โ
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If Ange Postecoglou were to ever change his mind about coaching the Socceroosโฆ what a sight that would be to behold.
The Socceroos are scheduled to face England this coming Saturday at Wembley Stadium. Postecoglouโs Tottenham Hotspurs, on the other hand, are currently preparing to face Marco Silvaโs Fulham on October 24th, 2023.
Weโll (understandably) be cheering on the local representatives on both occasions.
