Ange Postecoglou admits he knows his decision to go to Nottingham Forest was a mistake, a move that was too soon, conceding he jumped at the job offer because he was “lost” without work after his Tottenham sacking.
Speaking on The Overlap podcast in an episode dedicated to his career, Postecoglou addressed his 39-day tenure working for owner Evangelos Marinakis.
“The whole Forest situation was on me. It was, I think, a case of being careful what you wish for,” Postecoglou said.
“It was a bad decision by me to go in there, and I’ve got to take ownership of that. There’s no point blaming timing or circumstances — I should never have gone in. It was too soon after Tottenham.
“I went in at a time when they were used to doing things a certain way, and although I was always going to do things differently, I’ve got to cop that. It was my mistake. It’s no one else’s fault.
“It was the first time I hadn’t worked in 20-odd years, and I was lost. In the off-season, you’re normally busy — transfers, preseason, your mind is always ticking over. This time I wasn’t, and I felt lost.”
Postecoglou, who brings his own inimitable style, entered a club that had just enjoyed its own success under Nuno Espírito Santo – sacked more because of a clash of personality than results on the park.
“Usually when you go into a club, they want change. But the reality is, I don’t think they really wanted what I had to offer,” he said.
“I don’t even think they wanted to interview me. Something must have happened behind the scenes, because after the previous season, there was no way they would normally have come for me.
“So you’re not walking into a normal environment where everyone wants change. I saw a group of players and thought, I can turn this around quickly. But strategically, it was never really going to work.
“By the time we started playing competitive games, we never got traction. It’s no wonder the supporters never connected with me. Even the players were a bit distant.”
Postecoglou revealed that a number of his confidants told him not to take the job, but he thought there were a number of players he could work wonders with at Forest.
“In the end, I have to take ownership. I made a decision based on not working and seeing a group of players I thought I could improve. That blinded me to the reality — it was never going to work long-term,” Postecoglou said.
In a blunt confession, he added: “Looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking. I should’ve had more extensive discussions before taking the job. But I’ve always been the type to say: Get me in there and I’ll show you.”
This week’s episode was what he was initially slated for, before his impromptu, blockbuster appearance last week to discuss Tottenham’s axing of Thomas Frank.
In a career retrospective, he told stories Australians have heard before, like his time with Ferenc Puskas at South Melbourne, and the wonderful influence of his father on his love of football, while reflecting more deeply on his Spurs tenure.
The Australian held court alongside Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes regailing them with stories from throughout his career.
It was also interesting listening to him explain the quirks of Australian football to an international audience.
“It was the sport of the immigrant,” he explained.
“It was semi pro, the first code that went national – before Aussie Rules, before rugby, football went national but it was very much driven by the migrant communities. So called mainstream Australia didn’t accept football.
“If you were passionate about it like I was, you had to forage and try and find content from this side of the world to sustain us…
“It has always battled against the dominance of other sports.”
Neville asked ‘when did it change’ and Postecoglou’s answer hinted that, a lot of elements haven’t…
“It never made the advances, around Viduka, Timmy Cahill, Harry, those kind of guys were coming through.
“Australia’s always produced champion sportsman in every sport. They started a program in Canberra, Australian Institute of Sport…turned it into a full time program to develop footballers. Dukes came out of that, Brett Emerton…but the top tier of the sport, a lot of those guys never played in Australia, they left before…
“The top level’s never really changed, always been a third, fourth tier sport, even until today.”
Talking about the influence of migrant communities on Australian football, he added: “Dukes will tell you, it was the Croatian community in Melbourne that made him the player that he was.”
Postecoglou giggled when asked if he was liked by the media, as the discussion veered into perception of people from outside the establishment.
“The reality of it is, but apart from myself, Jesse Marsch, and Bob Bradley, I don’t think anyone else out of Europe or South America has coached in the English first division.
“Australia? I know about rugby, cricket, kangaroos.
“It is almost like they take it like and affront and insult that someone from Australia would coach in their league.”
On the media, he explained: “I think I divided opinion; with me, because I’ve had a unique path to here, taken me 20 years…
Ange Postecoglou on The Overlap.
“When you get to a certain age I can’t pretend to be anyone but who I am…I don’t feel a need to try to sell myself or portray something I’m not. That sometimes rubs people up the wrong way.
“My view was: whatever you think about where I come from, you can’t say I didn’t work bloody hard to get here. I didn’t get here because of my reputation…the only reason I got here was because of the work I had done.
“I take pride in that…I hadn’t had an easy ride, took me 27, 28 years to get here.
“But for some people, it was ‘you hadn’t earnt your stripes to take a job like Tottenham.’”
It wouldn’t have been a Postecoglou retrospective without a discussion about attacking football, as he reminisced on where his love of the game came from. And, in the middle of an emotional story, including how he ran into Dalglish, a hero he shared with his father, at Anfield before a Spurs game, he couldn’t help pause with a jab at Carragher who once quipped he was trying to emulate Pep Guardiola.
“There is no right or wrong way but I do love the joy of goals and attacking football,” he said.
“That’s my father’s influence.
“We’d get up and watch Liverpool, he loved Leeds…he loved Johan Cruyff, the 1974 World Cup is the first I remember. All those things had an influence on me.
“I was Liverpool mad, obsessed, but when Kenny (Dalglish) came in 1977, it went to another level for me.”
He continued: “That is always the foundation of why I do what I do. If people are questioning me about my football, I’m sorry you’re not going to change me, this is not something new.
“I know I’ve been copying Pep the last few years, but I’ve had this inside me since I was a kid- you’re not going to change me.”