PREMIER LEAGUE
Who is Ange Postecoglou? The newest candidate linked with the Chelsea manager job
The Australian-Greek coach has been linked with a move to The Blues after the options of Luis Enrique and Nagelsmann both went cold.
The universe spins due to forces that we cannot comprehend; many scientists point out that around 80% of matter is actually invisible, yet it has a huge effect on the fabric of reality, powering it into existence. This mysterious force, as well as being the key element to the universe’s limitless energy, must also power the Chelsea merry-go-round, as their constant managerial churn seems, much like the edge of the universe, to be infinite and exponentially expanding.
As one manager leaves, another enters and four more spin off on a collision course for the nearest moon, never to be mentioned again until their trajectory curves around and sees them zoom by us on planet Earth at near-lightspeed, forcing us to actually ask questions of what we just witnessed. Did Graham Potter actually manage Chelsea at all?
The latest name to be linked with a rocket-fuelled trip to Chelsea is Ange Postecoglou. The current Celtic boss has been there since 2021, when the Scottish side took a bet on him from Japanese club Yokohama F. Marinos. The coach has the resumé of a University gap-year student’s passport, having spent time in Australia, his native Greece and Japan, as well as Scotland. I’m sure Glasgow and Brisbane have a lot in common.
Postecoglou (57-years-old), moved from Greece to Australia at the age of five and grew up in Melbourne. As a player, he racked up almost 200 games as a defender for South Melbourne between 1984 and 1993, before becoming their manager in 1996.
He stayed there for four years, winning consecutive National Soccer League titles as well as the 1999 Oceania Club Championship, allowing the team to compete in the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship, the inaugural version of the tournament that would become the FIFA Club World Cup. In the tournament, he faced Vasco de Gama, Necaxa and Manchester United.
From there, he took on various roles in the youth categories of the Australian National team, before managing in Japan and then back again in Australia. His club work finally led him to the role as manager of the Australian National Team manager, a job he took on in 2013. He was in charge as Australia went out at the first round of the 2014 World Cup in a group that consisted of Spain, the Netherlands and Chile. However, his fluid, attacking style of play was lauded and the team progressed, making it all the way to the final of the AFC Asian Cup and beating South Korea on penalties in the final, giving Australia their first ever continental championship.
Despite the lack of European experience at the elite level - sorry, Scotland - Ange shone in all of his roles, playing a brand of attacking football that has previously caught the attention of the Premier League, with Leeds United reportedly being interested in the coach after sacking Jesse Marsch in February. However, before then, when he moved to Celtic in 2021, eyebrows were raised at the side who had lost their first league title in a decade to Rangers. Could he do it in Europe?
Yes. Postecoglou marvellously proved his doubters wrong, storming to the league title and bringing back success to Celtic Park. He also won the league cup that year, and beat Rangers in the final of the competition this season as well, with the quick-passing football becoming synonymous with his Celtic side.
Now, it is Chelsea’s turn (again) to pick up another less-well-known manager from a team in a different stratosphere to them, looking towards the stars and starting a new project on promises of hope and stability. Where is Graham Potter, by the way?
The pressure of winning at Celtic is not something that many people realise from outside the club - but it is huge. It is less like pressure and more like an implicit obligation to win. If Ange were to take the job at Chelsea, the stress to perform would be there as well. He has done so in all of his roles as head coach, in every previous job he has taken on. But remember, the spinning, twisting force that drives the Chelsea machine is like no other, and not in a positive sense.
Maybe when EFL boss Shaun Harvey said he wanted to do a League Cup draw from space, he was only being a disrupter, a person with one foot in the future while we all sit throwing rocks and chickens at each other, drawing with mud on cave walls. Someone might want to beef up security at SpaceX towers, in case James Corden and Todd Boehly sneak under the fence at Boca Chica, pop on a spacesuit and set themselves off in Starship, on a crash course for New Stamford Bridge, Mars. The question is, does Ange want the keys?
Premier League 2022/2023
| Classification | PTS | WM | TM | LM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10Brentford | 44 | 10 | 14 | 8 |
| 11Chelsea | 39 | 10 | 9 | 12 |
| 12Crystal Palace | 37 | 9 | 10 | 13 |
*Data updated to date Apr 24th, 2023