Family the force behind Postecoglou’s rise
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Staff on 31/05/2014 14:00:00
The Socceroos have had their first training session after landing in Brazil.
Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou credits his father’s love of football for
driving him to the World Cup. Source: AP
ANGE Ange Postecoglou concedes he would not be leading the Socceroos to Brazil
if not for his father steering him towards the round ball. The white one anyway.
And for a man who’s developed a thick skin after a series of setbacks, his dad
is one of the few who can still get underneath it.
Just like a fortnight ago when the Postecoglous gathered for a final family
lunch at the Mornington Peninsula home of his parents before he departed for
World Cup duty.
Dad Jim Postecoglou offered his son some 11th-hour selection advice.
Ange Postecoglou’s parents, Jim and Voula Postecoglou. Source: News Corp
Australia
“Ange gets upset that despite everything he’s done, and he’s done quite a
lot, he still cops criticism from dad,” explained sister Liz.
“They’ll have a bit of a chuckle, but he’s still the one person that gets
under his skin. Funny that.
“I guess dad always feels as though in many ways Ange is a young boy that
still needs guidance and he also feels he’s involved in his son’s life.”
Richard Bayliss and Andy Harper bring us the latest news from the Socceroos'
camp in Vitoria, with the team brushing off injury concerns and comfortable with
Adidas' Brazuca.
Nor has his love for the game diminished, especially those involving Ange’s
teams.
“He will sit and watch the same game over at least 10 to 15 times. He records
it on Fox and watches and analyses over and over,” mum Voula said
LANGERAK AIMING FOR KEEPER ROLE
Picture that, but back in the 1970s, Jim was saddled on the couch in their
Prahran home alongside his young son — a mad Liverpool fan and South Melbourne
junior.
“Football’s just been the one constant and that goes back to my dad passing
that love of the game on to me, which wasn’t easy,” Ange Postecoglou said.
A slightly hairy and more wirey Ange Postecoglou. Source: News Corp Australia
“I supported Carlton and I wanted to play footy at school, and I remember I
came home with a most-improved trophy and showed my dad really proudly. He just
gave me this look of disgust and grabbed a (soccer) ball and said: ‘Let’s go
to the park’.”
But there was a fleeting moment with another round ball — an orange one.
BRESCIANO A CONCERN FOR SOCCEROOS
ROGIC SHUTS OUT MESSIAH TALK
One day the Postecoglous received a visit from Australian basketball royalty in
Lindsay Gaze, suggesting their son had talent. Sometimes sharing a car with
Australian basketball great Andrew Gaze, Ange was among the dozens of local kids
shuttled to games by Lindsay.
“The soccer players used to be quite talented at basketball,” Lindsay
recalls.
But Jim had other ideas.
In good news for the Socceroos, centre back Matthew Spiranovic has made his
return to the training pitch.
“I was not too keen,” he says. “Between playing football at school and
basketball, I thought he was not going in the direction I hoped, then I started
taking him to South Melbourne (FC) games at Park.”
Postecoglou had his first kick for South as a junior in 1974 and left in 2000
having played 193 senior games and won two titles as coach.
MCKAY: SOCCEROOS NO LOST CAUSE
“He took me down to South Melbourne when I was eight or nine and I didn’t
leave until I was 35,” explained Ange, who recalls watching Rale Rasic’s
Socceroos at the 1974 World Cup with his dad.
“It was the social glue between me and my father.
A bearded Ange messes around with his father Jim. Source: News Corp Australia
“He used to work hours and hours so I never saw him that much, he would leave
before I woke up and be back sometimes when I was in bed.
“I waited for those moments when he would wake me up in the middle of the
night to watch a game of football and it was just us two watching on a black and
white screen.”
Maybe that explains why Ange became fascinated with coaching “right from the
start’’, before a senior career began that saw him play for South and win
four Socceroos caps.
Postecoglou with Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers, the club the Socceroos coach
supported as a boy. Source: News Limited
“I supported Liverpool in the ’70s as much about Bill Shankly as Kevin
Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and the players,” Ange, 48, said.
“Then I got fascinated by the Boot Room and started reading about Shankly and
other coaches. I was interested as much in them as the players.
SOCCEROOS READY FOR WORLD CUP SHOPFRONT
“My playing career was pretty much a foundation for me to become coach.
As much as I enjoyed playing, I knew I wouldn’t reach any great heights, but
at all times I knew I was going to coach.
A lot of coaches say nothing replaces playing but I’ve enjoyed coaching more
than I did playing.”
Ange Postecoglou (far right) as assistant coach to Frank Arok at South Melbourne
Source: News Corp Australia
As he rolled into his adolescent years, his parents sensed a determination and a
tireless work ethic that’s his success.
“His teenage years were training, training, training, never drinking or going
out,” father Jim said.
Liz added: “It wasn’t an easy journey, it wasn’t a normal life at all. He
sacrificed a lot to get to where he is.”
It begs the question: would he have been successful in what he set out to do? Be
it basketball or Aussie Rules.
Ange Postecoglou winning the NSL Championship as a coach with Paul Trimboli.
Source: News Corp Australia
“Yes, it would have been the same outcome, because whatever he does, he
dedicates 100 per cent,” said Voula.
The difference, says Ange, “is our game has given me extraordinary experiences
that no other sport could.
“Doesn’t matter how high you get in the AFL, I wouldn’t have got to
experience the Maracana or coach against Kaka, Adriano or to have seen Lionel
Messi when he was 15.
The Bank of Chile have released a stirring commercial ahead of the World Cup,
with the 33 Chilean miners rescued in 2010 telling their team that nothing is
impossible.
“If you think of the ups and downs during my lifetime — for me to have done
nothing else but football in that time means I must have had something in me
that I wasn’t going to give up. Because there were plenty of opportunities for
me to give up and say ‘well there’s no career in football’.”
Postecoglou takes his first Socceroos training session in Brazil. Source: News
Corp Australia
That drive saw him miss Liz’s wedding (the same day as a South Melbourne
game), and it’s also meant less family contact time recently with the crazy
pre-World Cup workload. But contact won’t cease.
“I call him the day of every game and say ‘good luck and may the Virgin Mary
be with you’, and I will call him in Brazil,” his mum vowed.
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