Few would have predicted the man who guided Australia’s national football team to a fourth consecutive World Cup would come to play no part at the upcoming tournament in Russia. Yet when the first whistle goes in Kazan next weekend, it will be Bert van Marwijk, and not Ange Postecoglou, who will be impressing his brand of the beautiful game on the nation.
During his 11-and-half-year stint with Australian national teams, Postecoglou’s unwavering belief in his own football philosophy was not universally popular. Criticism came, left him frustrated and eventually led to a split with Football Federation Australia, just one week after the Socceroos finally secured their place in Russia. Speaking to Guardian Australia on the eve of the tournament, it is clear the source of that frustration still rankles.
“I did seven years as national youth coach and four-and-a-half years as national coach,” he says from his new home in Yokohama, having taken on a new challenge at J-League side Yokohama F Marinos. “I think if people weren’t clear on my thoughts by then, then they’re never going to be clear. It’s one of the reasons why I left the job when I did.
“I had different thoughts on how we wanted us to our play football and what road I wanted us to be on. In the end, I think people are just not interested in it and not interested in my thoughts.”
Postecoglou’s seven years as Socceroos youth coach saw him nurture the likes of Mile Jedinak, Matt McKay and Mark Milligan to name but a few of the success stories that progressed through the ranks to represent Australia at the 2014 World Cup. Indeed, there are few men who are better placed to comment on the future of Australian football – and when he does, he isn’t enthused.
“In terms of development I think we’re going backwards to be honest,” Postecoglou says. “Unfortunately, from my days as national coach we’re going backwards – in terms of we don’t see it as an investment, we see it as an expense. We just have too short-term thinking, there just aren’t enough people with a broader vision as to how we can actually we can make Australia a force in world football.
“At the moment, it’s still about this World Cup or the next tournament, and eventually that will catch up with us. I think we’re going to find it really hard to compete in Asia. We’re already finding it difficult at youth and under age levels. The challenge even in the future to qualify for senior World Cups will become more difficult because more and more Asian countries put money into their youth, and we don’t. If anything, we’re going the other way.
“I think that needs a major rethink and a major restructure. If you don’t invest in grassroots and if you don’t invest in youth football, then it’s inevitable that you’ll pay the price somewhere down the track.”
For now though, there is a World Cup to consider. Former Netherlands head coach Van Marwijk, who famously led his nation to the World Cup final in 2010, is in charge with Graham Arnold already lined up as the Dutchman’s successor after the tournament.
Disciples of the Postecoglou school of thinking were at odds with the perception that Van Marwijk championed a pragmatic style of play that is likely to emphasise results over substance. Whereas Postecoglou has prided himself throughout his career on ingraining a distinct style of football at each club he has managed, his replacement in the Socceroos dugout will have little time to stamp his mark on the team.
“If it’s just about results then I guess it’s fine,” Postecoglou says. “I want it to be something more than that. I want it to be something more meaningful than just results but in the end that’s all that most people care about – results, whether we qualify for a World Cup or not. How we did wasn’t that important. I guess that was important to me so because of that in the end I decided to move on.
“With the new coach coming in, he has his own style and thoughts. If they need to grind out a 1-0 then that’s what they’ll try and do. I guess that’s why he was appointed for such a short term, just for one tournament. To be fair that’s all he can really be concerned about, I don’t think he needs to be concerned about how we play or whether it fits into any philosophy. He’s there to get us our best performance at a World Cup and I guess he’ll try to do that any way he can.”
Yokohama F Marinos in the J-League, sister club of Melbourne City, has been Postecoglou’s project for six months now. For the 52-year-old, who since launching his football career with South Melbourne in 1978 has spent 38 of the following 39 years as either a player of a coach stationed in Australia, it is just the second time in his career he has worked overseas following a nine-month stint in the Greek third division with Panachaiki in 2008.
Postecoglou identifies the enjoyment he gets from working in club football and the day-to-day contact with players as another reason for quitting his post with the Socceroos. “It ticked all the boxes of what I wanted as a next project,” he says. “It’s a very competitive league, it’s well-run, it’s well-organised, the clubs are all well-resourced. So far, I’m enjoying it, I’m keen to have success again.”
Already his experience in Japan has given him an insight from afar into the problems facing Australian football, which run deeper than international level, extending to club football with the ongoing furore surrounding governance of the game and, among other issues, the potential expansion of the A-League.
Restructure is a buzz word that has provided much debate within the Australian football community in recent months, most notably for FFA, who earlier this year confirmed the additions of two new teams to the league from 2019-20 season that will see the division expand to 12 teams. Yet the former Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory coach believes more can be done.
“I’d probably be a bit more bullish than that and get more than two teams in there,” says Postecoglou, who remains the only coach to win back-to-back A-League titles. “I think Japan’s a decent model to follow. They’re 25 years into it now and they’ve got three divisions. They didn’t start off with three divisions, they started off with one division and a certain amount of teams but over the course of time, they picked the right moments to expand and encouraged others to invest in the game. Now the Japanese competition is becoming more mature and that promotion and relegation gives hope to the other teams. That didn’t happen overnight, they planned for it and the same thing needs to happen in Australia. Too often we’re just concerned with just putting out the current spot fire and they don’t normally have the vision to see where the next wave should come from.”
After listening to him talk extensively on the Socceroos and the direction the game is heading, one cannot help but think that Postecoglou and his knowledge of the domestic game would still be of value to FFA. Although the 2015 AFC coach of the year is unlikely to return to Australia on a permanent basis any time soon.
“I think I’ve done my bit. Certainly I’d like to stay here and bring success to Yokohama. That’s why I came. I’ve been able to do that in most of the jobs I’ve had before I move on. And then after that, who knows? I’m keen to keep coaching for a very long time. I’m not in old at 52 in coaching terms, I’ve still got quite a few years ahead of me and I’ll back myself in any league or in any position to have success.”
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