# 277: Ange Postecoglou (Player Profile)

An episode of [The Howie Games](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1146329262), 26 Aug 2026, 12 min.

Audio: https://enrichment.soundstack.com/4vjqq8/episode.flightcast.com/jfchtl5v1yguum4v9i18toae.mp3

To celebrate a decade of The Howie Games, Howie launches the Millionaires Club, a special three-guest series featuring the podcast's most downloaded guests ever. First up: Ange Postecoglou - our first ever three time guest. And still the stories are flowing. From South Melbourne to Brisbane Roar, the Socceroos, Yokohama, Celtic and Tottenham, Ange has built one of the most remarkable coaching careers in Australian sporting history, winning the 2015 Asian Cup, a J.League title, multiple Scottish trophies and the 2025 Europa League. But this FRESH Player Profile goes beyond the trophies. Ange explains why the Ted Lasso comparisons annoyed him, remembers running into a skinny young Max Gawn running around Melbourne Victory hallways, and reveals his Carlton football heroes in a brilliant quickfire. Funny, passionate, self-deprecating and unapologetically Ange. 1,354 pieces of content. 126+ million downloads. 10 years of The Howie Games. Welcome to the Millionaires Club. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] A listener production.
[0:04] Okay, are you recording?
[0:07] Oh, kicking off the Howie Games Millionaires Club.
[0:10] Welcome.
[0:11] More details on that next week.
[0:12] We've got Ange Postacoglu returning to the show for the third time.
[0:16] You've asked.
[0:16] We have delivered the first Australian to ever manage a club in the Premier League.
[0:20] A lot has happened since we caught up with Big Ange a few years back.
[0:23] So that's next week.
[0:24] Today, though, here is Ange's player profile with brand new questions.
[0:28] If you want to check out Ange's original player profile, head back to episode 165.
[0:32] His answer about pineapple and pizza...
[0:36] less said about that, the better.
[0:40] People aside, Ange, how are you going to play a profile questions?
[0:45] What do you miss most about Melbourne?
[0:47] People aside, I guess coffee.
[0:53] What is your coffee order?
[0:54] When you're there in Portugal, what do you order?
[0:58] Mate, I've now just gone straight with espresso.
[1:01] I kind of almost eliminated the whole...
[1:04] The cappuccinos they make over this whole world are just ridiculously...
[1:08] made terrible so it's very hard to find so mate they either come in a soup bowl or there's just too much milk or it's just drives me nuts so i kind of so i've learned the art of the espresso so um that's kind of my go-to these days
[1:24] I've just been lucky enough to be with my family in North America, America and Canada, and my wife said, we can't.
[1:31] She loves her coffee, as does my daughter.
[1:32] She said, I can't drink six litres of milk with my coffee, which is I think what you're saying.
[1:37] Exactly.
[1:38] On your time off, what was the last TV show you binged, just watched it through and loved it?
[1:45] Mate, I've been pretty good at binging shows.
[1:49] Probably the last one I watched,
[1:52] it's going back a bit and people have to look it up, but The Wire.
[1:55] I watched The Wire from start to finish.
[1:57] Brilliant show, yeah.
[1:58] Yeah, loved it.
[1:59] So I'm kind of going back a little bit and watching stuff that I've maybe missed along the way.
[2:04] So, yeah, The Wire was the last one I watched.
[2:07] I noticed the new series of Ted Lasso is out soon.
[2:10] Did you watch Ted Lasso?
[2:11] I see a fair bit of you in Ted Lasso.
[2:13] Yeah, no, but that kind of annoys me and because it annoys me, I didn't watch it.
[2:19] I'll tell you why because when I first sort of got to, it might have been the EPL, they kind of said, you know, oh, yeah, there's a bit of Ted Lasso.
[2:25] Did they?
[2:26] That guy.
[2:28] He came from a different code.
[2:30] I've come from the same code.
[2:31] Do you understand?
[2:33] I know I've come from a different country in a different part of the world, but football was my game.
[2:37] I haven't come from cricket into football.
[2:39] So it kind of annoyed me at the start and I kind of said, no, I'm not going to watch it.
[2:43] But I know a lot of people around me, especially I think my brother-in-law loves the show.
[2:48] So, yeah, I'll get around to it at some point.
[2:50] The believe component of what he says is, to me, is what you instil, is believe.
[2:57] Yeah, I get that.
[2:58] If I'm going to Greece and I want a nice little hidden holiday destination, where should I go?
[3:05] Plenty of beautiful islands.
[3:07] Our latest go-to is Barros, which is almost like...
[3:14] Mykonos used to be before I went nuts.
[3:17] There's some beaches that are unbelievable, some quiet little places.
[3:21] But, mate, you can't go wrong.
[3:23] If you find a little Greek island that no one's ever heard of and you go there, I trust you, you will love it, mate.
[3:30] We've just built a place in Greece now and in Athens down by the beach, but I love going there now.
[3:37] It's my favourite part of living this side of the world and it's,
[3:40] It amaze me to say it's such a long way to go back home to Melbourne that whatever break we get, we just head there, mate.
[3:46] I love it.
[3:47] That's Greece.
[3:48] What would be, from your experience, your favourite food you sampled in Scotland?
[3:53] Because they have some weird stuff in Scotland.
[3:56] Yeah.
[3:57] Weird stuff, mate.
[3:58] Fried Mars bars.
[3:59] That was what I was pointing at.
[4:01] Oh, my God.
[4:03] Haggis.
[4:05] Oh, my God.
[4:06] No, I kind of stayed pretty safe in Scotland.
[4:11] To be fair, Glasgow, we found some really nice eateries, but, mate, I steered away from all the local stuff.
[4:17] I couldn't handle it.
[4:19] It's funny because we spent four years in Japan.
[4:21] So for my kids, it's our go-to now.
[4:24] Japanese is our go-to kind of meal.
[4:26] Restaurants, it's got to be good because we obviously, being in Japan, there's a level of quality that my kids need in their sushi and sashimi, but Japanese is our go-to.
[4:39] When I was in Scotland for the Commonwealth Games, the last time I was in Scotland, I could not get my head around the fried Mars bar.
[4:45] You're going to have to – I want answers on these ones.
[4:48] Pick one player.
[4:49] Pick one player in the AFL you can draft to Carton.
[4:53] Just get them there tomorrow.
[4:55] Who is it?
[4:58] You know what?
[4:59] And I'll tell you why.
[5:00] Maxie Gorn.
[5:01] Maxie Gorn.
[5:02] It's a good answer.
[5:03] I'll tell you why.
[5:04] Because when I was a victory, right,
[5:06] We shared training facilities with Melbourne, right, footy club.
[5:10] And Neil Craig got to know Neil pretty well at the time as well.
[5:14] Also with Storm and Craig Bellamy and Frank Bonizzi, great guys.
[5:17] It was such a great environment.
[5:19] You'd walk around the halls and you'd see all these other coaches and you'd have great discussions.
[5:22] But I always remember this skinny, tall...
[5:26] kid running around from Melbourne Footy Club.
[5:29] I'm going, what the hell are they doing with this guy, right?
[5:31] He hardly played, right, for a couple of years.
[5:34] He doesn't even look like a sportsman, right?
[5:36] I'm going, what the?
[5:37] And I remember having discussions with people going, you know, I don't understand the AFL.
[5:41] This guy's on these lists and they never play.
[5:43] And I go, he's never going to play, right?
[5:46] And Maxie Gordon doesn't even know me.
[5:47] Like, I've never even met the guy.
[5:49] But I...
[5:49] I've watched his career and I've gone, wow, man, that's just brilliant.
[5:54] That a young guy who obviously, you know, had to do some growing in terms of his body in such a tough environment, the AFL and especially for big guys, you know, they mature a bit later.
[6:07] And to see now he's become a leader of a football club and, and,
[6:12] I reckon that kind of experience is just gold if you can sprinkle into any dressing room, you know, if you want to turn a team into a team of winners.
[6:19] And so, yeah, I'll go Maxie Gorn.
[6:21] Three quick cart ones.
[6:23] The Dominator, Wayne Johnson or Paddy Cripps.
[6:28] Pick one.
[6:30] Oh, mate.
[6:31] Look, I love Paddy, but, mate, my childhood was the Mosquito Fleet, mate, and the Dominator, he was the man, mate.
[6:39] So that left foot, I love that time of being a Carlton supporter.
[6:44] Stephen Kernaghan or Brendan Favola?
[6:50] Oh, mate.
[6:53] Feb's a gun, but again, Sticks, we won things, mate.
[6:55] You know, you can't always go with the guys.
[6:58] You win things.
[6:58] And I met Stephen a couple of times and, yeah, what a man, mate.
[7:05] Yeah, no, go for Sticks.
[7:07] Harry Dean or Peter Dean?
[7:09] Ooh.
[7:10] You wouldn't have seen much of Harry, but he's your 250-game defender.
[7:14] No, no, no, he looks a player.
[7:16] But no, I've got to go with the old man, mate.
[7:19] He's got the runs on the board.
[7:19] Let the young guy hurt him, mate.
[7:21] I think there's a way to go.
[7:23] What is the most used emoji on your phone, Ange?
[7:27] Thumbs up or the fist butt, mate.
[7:30] I kind of keep things to the minimum, but that's it.
[7:34] Window or aisle in the plane because you would spend a lot of time on aeroplanes?
[7:38] Me, definitely window, mate.
[7:42] I tend to try and switch off and window seats for me.
[7:49] I've been doing a series with Jason Dunster where we list our Big Five various things.
[7:55] So the last episode we- He visited me in Scotland, Big Jase.
[7:59] He came and I had dinner with him.
[8:00] Yeah, yeah, he did.
[8:01] Yeah, yeah.
[8:01] He's a star, mate.
[8:03] He's a star.
[8:03] Yeah, he's a good man.
[8:04] Yeah.
[8:05] So we've done a couple of different- we've done six episodes of what we call the Big Five.
[8:09] One of them was Big Five-
[8:12] best Australian sporting moments.
[8:15] So I'll throw you a few in there, only a couple because I want people to listen to it.
[8:18] So one of us had Adam Scott in the Big Five, one of us had the America's Cup in the Big Five.
[8:24] For you as a big sports fan, what's a big Australian sporting moment that stands out in your mind?
[8:31] Well, again, you know, you kind of when you go through these things, you're reflecting your childhood.
[8:37] I knew nothing about sailing, but America's Cup, I remember that day like vividly of just bizarrely how, again, a nation like Australia could knock off the Yanks and the whole Winkiel and John Bertrand and, you know, just what a story, you know.
[8:57] So, yeah.
[8:58] It's one that I always reference when I talk about Australia, even to players about what you can achieve against all odds.
[9:12] Things that always got me up in the morning are the sports, apart from football, my own.
[9:15] Obviously, Australian Cup.
[9:18] Greg Norman always got me up.
[9:19] I don't care what tournament he was playing.
[9:21] Mate, I was up watching.
[9:25] The Asher series in England always got me up, no matter, you know, who we were playing against, I mean, who was playing at the time.
[9:32] And they're the kind of moments, you know, and I think Pat Cash at Willowden was always something to succeed as well.
[9:40] Yeah, yeah.
[9:42] 9.87.
[9:42] Climbing up into the stand afterwards.
[9:44] Yeah.
[9:45] Yeah.
[9:46] Yeah, they're the, you know, and there's probably more, but they're the kind of things that I always think about the stuff that as a young kid you just couldn't wait to get up for, you know.
[9:54] You knew it was the middle of the night, but who cares, mate?
[9:56] I'm up.
[9:57] Last couple.
[9:58] We also did big five favourite bakery items.
[10:01] So when Ange walks into a bakery anywhere in the world, sweet or savoury, doesn't matter what it's going to do to your waistline or the calorie or effect it's having on your life, what is the one thing you're buying?
[10:11] Yeah.
[10:15] There's a lot of Homer Simpson in me, so donuts are hard to walk past.
[10:21] They're often in my thoughts, same as Homer.
[10:24] You know, people will be asking me questions and I'm thinking, hmm, donuts.
[10:29] So, yeah, they're there.
[10:33] I don't mind a good chocolate eclair.
[10:37] That goes down pretty well, mainly the sweet side for me.
[10:43] So stuff I've got to look more closely at.
[10:46] What is the most used app on your phone, Ange?
[10:51] Most use app.
[10:52] I try and not sort of – probably Spotify.
[10:57] I listen to music.
[10:58] What?
[10:58] Spotify.
[10:58] Right, Spotify.
[11:00] I listen to music.
[11:01] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[11:01] I listen to music or podcasts.
[11:05] So that's probably, you know, when I'm on a bus or when I'm sort of driving or getting driven somewhere, I listen to music.
[11:13] So, yeah.
[11:14] What podcast are you listening to at the moment?
[11:16] I kind of sort of go through phases of just not sticking with one and just picking out if they're talking to somebody interesting, um...
[11:26] Louis Theroux at the moment has some interesting guests on, and so I don't mind listening to his couple of interesting guests.
[11:36] So, yeah, more than sort of just obviously apart from yourself, mate, but it's one of those where you kind of pick and choose.
[11:43] If I see somebody interesting getting interviewed, then I'll jump on there.
[11:47] Ange Postacoglu, backed by very popular demand, kicks off the first of our three Millionaires Club episodes next week.
[11:54] All the details there.
[11:55] Do not be missing.

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