CHRIS SUTTON: Tottenham fans will love big Ange and his style of play

CHRIS SUTTON: Spurs fans will LOVE watching their team play heavy metal football under Big Ange. They’ve had three back-foot managers in a row but fearless Postecoglou is as front-foot as they come

• Tottenham fans are unimpressed with expected new boss Ange Postecoglou
• The Australian, though, has a track record of turning teams into proven winners 
• He has a flawless record in the transfer market and has been loved at Celtic 

Nobody had heard of Arsene Wenger when he arrived at Arsenal from Japan and there were Celtic fans who were underwhelmed when Ange Postecoglou came from Yokohama in 2021.

Now some Tottenham fans are unimpressed with Postecoglou closing in on becoming their new boss. But I am surprised Postecoglou wasn’t higher up on Spurs’ list originally when they were being linked with Julian Nagelsmann, Arne Slot and Luis Enrique.

Scratch beneath the surface, look at his track record over 25 years, and this is a guy who turns clubs around, who turns teams in poor form into proven winners, who is familiar with the feeling of silverware. He is a first-class manager and I don’t know a single Celtic player who hasn’t enjoyed his heavy metal football.

Add that to his flawless record in the transfer market — albeit a different market to the one that England’s top clubs can compete in — and he seems a great fit for Tottenham.

One of the biggest surprises when he took over at Celtic was that he didn’t take any coaching staff with him. He’s self-sufficient. He does the work himself. In the early days the club uploaded a video of a session of his coaching because part of the fanbase were asking: ‘Who is this guy?’

Ange Postecoglou is closing in on the Tottenham vacancy despite concerns among supporters

Celtic fans were underwhelmed by his appointment but he enjoyed great success with the club

Daniel Levy is going after a manager who has a great record of turning around clubs that are in poor form and making them proven winners

Spurs fans should watch it. It gives you great insight into him. There’s this catchphrase at Celtic: ‘We never stop.’ He talks about being relentless, about pressing, about creating and scoring, about leaving everything out on the pitch until the very last whistle.

Postecoglou has an aura about him. He’s bullish. He’s strong. He has his specific way of playing and he sticks to it. That’s the biggest box he ticks: the brand of football. Tottenham have had three back-foot managers in a row — Nuno Espirito Santo, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte — but Postecoglou is as front-foot as they come.

He’s fearless, he believes in himself and he’s built a record to back it up. He won’t take a backwards step. He’ll take the game to anyone and everyone and is that not what Tottenham have been crying out for?

His style is similar to Manchester City’s. It includes inverted full backs and, if I was a Spurs fan, I’d be excited about that after the turgid mess I’ve been seeing.

Another characteristic is his ruthless nature. For example, at the turn of the year, two of Celtic’s most important players, Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis, had their heads turned. Both were excellent under Postecoglou but the bigger picture was more important and they were replaced well by Alistair Johnston and Oh Hyeon-gyu.

Postecoglou is all about hard work, intensity, bravery on the ball and trusting the process — his process.

We all know the arrogant view on Scottish football from down south but to manage one of the Glasgow giants you have to have a strong character and personality and skin as thick as a rhino. Postecoglou has all these traits in abundance.

The future of Harry Kane (right) is likely to be one of Postecoglou’s first big challenges

His style of play is similar to Manchester City as it includes inverted full backs

Tottenham fans will love the Australian (holding the Scottish Cup) and his heavy metal style

Not a single Celtic player didn’t enjoy Postecoglou’s style of play at the Scottish champions

He joined Celtic, a club in a bit of a pickle after Eddie Howe had kept them waiting for months, only to then turn down the job. Within a couple of months, after some shrewd recruitment and the players starting to understand what he wants, Celtic started to fly under Postecoglou. 

The belief he instilled in the team and brand of football was frightening and fearless. It was slick, sharp, blood and thunder football and that is what he can bring to Tottenham.

Winning trophies at Spurs has been a problem and it will be difficult with the strength of Premier League teams, but their supporters should strap themselves in for an enjoyable ride because they will love watching their team play an exhilarating brand of football under Big Ange. I’m absolutely certain of that.

Who is Ange Postecoglou?

Ange Postecoglou will become Tottenham’s new boss and the first Australian to manage in the Premier League. Here’s a look at his career so far…

• He was born in Athens and moved to Australia at the age of five, winning two titles as a defender at South Melbourne Hellas — a club formed by fellow Greek migrants. There, he worked under the legendary Ferenc Puskas, who was head coach.
• He won four Australia caps from 1985-88, before injury forced him to move into coaching.
• Postecoglou led South Melbourne to two titles as manager in his early 30s and then spent seven years coaching Australia’s youth teams before leading Brisbane Roar from finishing bottom of the A-League to consecutive Grand Final victories in 2011 and 2012, with a record 36-game unbeaten run.
• He took charge of Australia at the 2014 World Cup, won the Asian Cup in 2015 and won qualification to the 2018 World Cup with his country. But two weeks later he resigned and took charge of Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, guiding them to their first J-League title in 15 years in 2019.
• After joining Celtic in 2021, he won five out of six domestic trophies during his two years in charge, including a treble in his final campaign.

Can he end the drought? 

Tottenham last won a trophy in 2008, but Postecoglou is a proven winner.

5 – Postecoglou is one of only five Celtic managers, along with Jock Stein, Martin O’Neill, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon, to win a domestic Treble.

77 – He won 83 of his 113 games in charge at Celtic, finishing with a win rate of 77 per cent and 2.42 points per game.

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