# 277: Ange Postecoglou - The Millionaires Club (Part A)

An episode of [The Howie Games](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1146329262), 1 Sep 2026, 48 min.

Audio: https://enrichment.soundstack.com/4vjqq8/episode.flightcast.com/r2tknlk56s4j3f8zgjjo5h1p.mp3

As part of The Howie Games Millionaires Club, celebrating 10 years of the podcast and more than 126 million downloads, Ange takes us inside the biggest highs and hardest moments of his extraordinary coaching journey in the EPL. He opens up about helping deliver Tottenham Hotspur their first trophy in 17 years, overcoming the relentless “Spursy” tag, carrying the weight of a club and its supporters, and winning under pressure. Then comes the brutal other side of football: being sacked by Nottingham Forest after just 39 days. Ange takes Howie inside it all. Ange reveals the attraction of a potential opportunity to coach Cristiano Ronaldo, and why becoming even a small part of the story of sporting giants is something that still drives him. Ange Postecoglou, for the third time, and the stories just keep getting bigger, and he reckons the next 10 years could be his best yet. The Howie Games Millionaires Club. 10 years of The Howie Games. *** Follow the Howie Games on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehowiegamespod/ Follow the Howie Games on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thehowiegames See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] A listener production.
[0:04] Okay, are you recording?
[0:10] Hey team, welcome along to episode 277 of the Howie Games Part A featuring... Actually, stand by for a moment on who we're featuring.
[0:18] I need to take you back because on the 25th of August 2016, we launched our first ever episode of the Howie Games.
[0:28] Welcome to the Howie Games.
[0:29] I'm Howie, which makes sense, I guess.
[0:30] Firstly, thanks for tuning in.
[0:32] I love you.
[0:33] Seriously, I do.
[0:34] I love you for tuning in and having a listen.
[0:37] So the Howie Games revolves around sport.
[0:40] A little bit different, I guess, to modern radio or telly where five minutes is typically all you get with a guest before a song and an ad.
[0:45] Here on the Howie Games, we can just keep banging on and on and on, which is a beautiful thing.
[0:51] So we have been banging on pretty much every Thursday and plenty of other days for the last 10 years since that first episode with Gilly.
[0:58] Here he is, a man that had no peer on the field and still doesn't in the bar, Gilly.
[1:04] I proposed to my wife just over there where that geezer's taken that photo.
[1:08] We're recording now.
[1:09] Welcome to the Howie Games.
[1:11] Hello, mate.
[1:12] Welcome to the Howie Games.
[1:13] Thanks for telling me it was switched on.
[1:15] In that 10 years, I counted back last week, we have released 1,354 pieces of content.
[1:21] I had no idea it was that many until I checked.
[1:24] That is a lot of content.
[1:25] Now, the measuring approaches have changed numerous times over the years, but you have all downloaded the Howie games over 126 million times.
[1:37] So this would be the point where I say thank you.
[1:40] Thank you a lot.
[1:41] You are so good looking.
[1:42] Thank you.
[1:44] So to celebrate you all sticking with the show and spreading the word for 10 years...
[1:50] I want to be formal, but I'm here to party too.
[1:53] Our party is going to celebrate your three most popular guests in the history of the show because we need to thank you.
[1:59] So the three guests whose episodes have been downloaded over one million times each.
[2:05] That's a lot of love you have given these three guests.
[2:08] So we are calling this the Millionaires Club.
[2:18] And today, we welcome back to the show our first three-time guest, our first member of the Millionaires Club, a man that has lived an incredible life in football, Ange Postacoglu.
[2:31] And I'll tell you something, I'll leave you with this.
[2:35] All the best television series, season three is better than season two.
[2:47] So not too much more formality today, except to thank Ange right off the top, because he typically doesn't do much of this type of thing, so to come on once was brilliant, twice was amazing.
[2:56] Three times, extraordinary.
[2:58] From Scotland and Celtic, to England with Spurs and Forest, and now Saudi Arabia and Al Nasser, enjoy the latest from our first Millionaires Club member, Ange Postacoglu.
[3:10] Never beaten, never bowed.
[3:14] So when you search and then you find And know just where to go And thoughts that once used to cloud your mind You see clearly and now you know Mystery, what is to be revealed In King Selassie Come on children, trod with me We want to reach Mount Zionist
[3:37] Well, this is brilliant because this is the first time in the history of the show we've had a guest on three times.
[3:43] So we owe him a great debt.
[3:45] We'll get to when he was last on.
[3:46] But Ange Postacoglu, I believe you're somewhere in Portugal for the third time.
[3:50] I'm indebted to you.
[3:51] Welcome back to the Howie Games.
[3:54] Yeah, good to be with you.
[3:56] We're like the Olympic Games, mate.
[3:57] Every four years we kind of check in.
[4:00] And yeah, I'm in Lisbon at the moment, sort of pre-season camp.
[4:03] And yeah, getting stuck into another adventure.
[4:06] So yeah, looking good, feeling good.
[4:09] It's been a big four years since the last Olympic Games, which we're going to get to.
[4:13] But I sent you an email and I gave you some rough details.
[4:16] So you first appeared on this show, episode 12 of the podcast, on the 11th of November 2016, which, Ange, was 3,547 days ago.
[4:25] It was, mate.
[4:26] It was.
[4:26] It was.
[4:31] You were coaching the Socceroos and then episode 165, the 19th of October 2022, which is 1,379 days ago, you'd had one year in Scotland.
[4:46] Fair to say there's a fair bit happened since that year in Scotland, which we're going to address.
[4:50] But what I sent you in the email, mate, we're celebrating 10 years of the show and we have had three guests –
[4:57] that have blown my mind really.
[5:00] So it is welcome to you to what we are calling the Millionaire's Club, Ange Postacogli, because episode 12, mate.
[5:08] That's not the fee, is it, mate?
[5:09] No.
[5:10] So there's a disclaimer that there's no cash as a result of this, unfortunately.
[5:17] Fair enough.
[5:18] Fair enough.
[5:19] So that episode 12, which blows my mind,
[5:23] has been listened to 1,164,297 times and your episode on the 19th of October has been listened to 1,158,272 times.
[5:27] So there's only three people that have been downloaded more than a million times and you have done it twice.
[5:31] So I salute you, Ange.
[5:32] The people love listening to you.
[5:34] Thank you, mate.
[5:34] Appreciate it.
[5:49] It blows me away because I was actually talking to Gilly about this the other day.
[5:55] When we put the first episode out, so he was episode one, you're episode 12, MJ, our producer who's still with the show, I reckon we got to 400 downloads and I reckon we had six beers each and we thought we had conquered the world.
[6:06] Yeah.
[6:07] No, it's brilliant, mate.
[6:08] And congrats to you as well, mate.
[6:09] I mean I do remember the sort of first sit down and –
[6:14] Yeah, fair to say you were kind of all in on this whole adventure and it was before sort of podcast became the norm.
[6:21] And I guess it's great to have an idea, but you've obviously worked your backside off it, mate, and you got the rewards.
[6:28] So great to see you still going 10 years on, mate.
[6:31] It's brilliant.
[6:32] I appreciate that.
[6:33] So since the 19th of October 2022, which is, as you said, nearly four years ago, we'll get into the details and there's some stuff I want to play you because...
[6:43] It struck me how much joy since you have last been on this show that you have brought to so many people on a global scale.
[6:50] And we'll get into the details, but you're to be congratulated for that.
[6:54] But for you, since you're on on the 19th of October, by gee, there's just been some adventures, Ang.
[7:00] Yeah, there has.
[7:01] And it kind of, you know, you get to a certain age and I'm at that certain age where you kind of think, okay, well, you know, what's left, how much you got to go?
[7:09] And you go, oh, yeah, maybe there's another 10 years of doing this.
[7:12] And you go, oh, geez, it doesn't sound like a lot.
[7:15] But then if I reflect back on the last 10 years and think about what's happened, it's amazing how much can happen in that span time, you know.
[7:23] And I've been really fortunate that...
[7:26] It's not just that obviously I've had some success along the way, which is great, but the experiences I've had in different countries, different clubs with different people, I just get so excited about thinking sort of the next stage of my career that if it gets anywhere near and it wasn't just sort of the last 10 years, it was the 10 years preceding that and I've been obviously doing this for a long while and,
[7:51] You know, you don't get a lot of time to kind of reflect on these things because you're always, well, you know, what's next?
[7:56] And obviously I'm in that mode now.
[7:57] I've got another club and another season ahead, looking forward to that.
[8:00] But, you know, every now and then I'll kind of just sit back and think about all these things or I talk about them, you know, such as we're going to do here and you go, it is amazing how many things can happen in a span of time without any design behind it, you know, or any predetermined goals.
[8:19] It's just kind of, it just happens.
[8:21] Yeah.
[8:23] Well, do it as a timeline then because, yeah, I want to follow exactly what you're talking about.
[8:28] I want to sidetrack you a little bit to discuss with you what is your day-to-day job.
[8:33] So you came on between your first and second years in Scotland and in that second year, 2022-23, you won the Scottish Treble
[8:47] You won the League Cup against Rangers 2-1.
[8:50] And then your last ever game in charge, you won the Scottish Cup.
[8:54] That's it.
[8:54] It's all over.
[8:58] Scottish football history rewritten.
[9:01] A maximum high for Postacoglu Celtic.
[9:05] A blistering eighth treble is Celtics.
[9:09] A fifth clean sweep in seven seasons is Celtics.
[9:14] The Postacoglu chapter, which began with scepticism, has produced some of the finest moments in the annals of Celtic football club history.
[9:23] I want to play this to you first before you get your reflection.
[9:25] So this is low tech as I've got.
[9:27] So I'm in my spare bedroom at home, Ang.
[9:30] We haven't come far in 10 years.
[9:31] I'm going to play you something off an iPad.
[9:33] You're not in there permanently.
[9:34] You're not in there permanently, are you, mate?
[9:36] No, it's all right.
[9:36] You're okay.
[9:37] This is where I was stuck in COVID, to be fair.
[9:40] So this is after your last game.
[9:43] I just want to play you a bit of this because this is when it started to hit me, the emotion of what you've done to people.
[9:48] So this is after you've won the Scottish Cup 3-1 versus Inverness at Hampton Park.
[9:53] I just want you to have a look a bit of this and reflect on it with me.
[10:04] Yeah.
[10:05] Mate, it's almost surreal.
[10:08] Like you kind of go, is that me in that sort of image?
[10:13] Because, you know, I grew up watching those images.
[10:15] You know, that's my childhood of me watching...
[10:19] you know, a manager walking around the ground with a trophy and, you know, with thousands of supporters there.
[10:26] And, you know, and now you're that person.
[10:29] And it is surreal.
[10:31] And, look, Celtic was such a...
[10:34] You know, everyone's got sort of bucket lists.
[10:36] If you're a golfer, you want to play certain courses.
[10:38] If you're a tennis player, you want to play certain tennis times.
[10:42] I think if you're a manager, Celtic is one of those clubs that would be on your bucket list because it's just a special football club.
[10:48] The support, the history of the football club...
[10:52] the city itself, Glasgow, and sort of how all-encompassing it is with everything, you know, every sort of waking moment.
[10:59] I literally could not open the door without it being in your face because, you know, my wife's the world's greatest shopper and I knew from the Amazon delivery whether it was a Ranger supporter or a Celtic supporter, by the way, the parcel was delivered to me, you know.
[11:12] So it was such a magical time for me and like I said, I...
[11:18] I really believe, you know, we had obviously won the double the first year.
[11:22] We won the treble.
[11:22] We were in the Champions League.
[11:24] We played against Real Madrid and we had some unbelievable nights.
[11:28] But I really think I got more out of it than the club itself because the club's had a lot of success.
[11:35] But it was such a sort of enriching experience for me to...
[11:40] to be part of something that, like I said, it just took me all the way back to my childhood of getting up in the middle of the night, watching FA Cup games, watching games, you know, from over in Europe and seeing that image but with other managers and with other players and, you know, as a kid you just sort of try and transport yourself there but the fact that I actually got to do that was, yeah, it is very, very special.
[12:08] So that video is you walking around, farewelling them after delivering them five titles, three in that second year, to you never walk alone.
[12:18] And the commentary of that last game, Ange, I'm going to read it back to you.
[12:22] The final...
[12:23] sign off in the commentary after you've won.
[12:25] The Postacoglu chapter, which began with scepticism, has produced some of the finest moments in the annals of Celtic football club history.
[12:34] Now, when you first came on this show, you talked about your dad and his influence on you and his love of football.
[12:42] If your father was hearing that, Ange, you're hearing that, that's extraordinary for a bloke from Melbourne.
[12:50] It is and, you know, unfortunately, you know, that's how life kind of goes.
[12:55] He missed that bit of my career and, you know, he kind of passed away when I was in Japan and he missed the kind of European, you know, the European adventure as it's been so far and I would have loved for him to just live that moment himself.
[13:11] But, you know, he's still inside me, mate.
[13:13] I just know that he's still part of me and...
[13:18] Yeah, it's, as I said, I kind of, I don't sit down and think about it too much, but when I do reflect, it's, and I guess that's probably, you know, you mentioned sort of people, I think that's why people are fascinated by my story, because it's not conventional in kind of,
[13:37] in any sort of walk of sport in terms of a coaching journey like mine because, you know, there's obviously unbelievable managers in my game, football, but, you know, they've either had an unbelievable playing career or have started on this side of the world or, you know, have some sort of pedigree behind them or I guess even in other codes, you know, where...
[13:58] You know, it would be the equivalent of a, I don't know, a sort of Argentinian manager taking over the Blues and winning the flag, you know, and people going, how the hell does this happen, you know?
[14:07] Might help.
[14:09] Well, I'm not saying anything, mate.
[14:11] I'm staying out of it.
[14:12] Don't kick us when we're down, mate, please.
[14:14] Although Josh is doing a good job.
[14:16] He is.
[14:17] We're coming.
[14:18] We're coming.
[14:20] And I guess that's the fascination is how does a boy from Melbourne end up, you know, we've seen it with players and, you know, our football players were unbelievable trailblazers, you know.
[14:32] Yeah, Kules, Vadukas, Timmy Cale, Swartes, all these guys who, you know, had not an easy time, would just leave as teenagers sometimes and away from home and forge themselves a career.
[14:45] But there's almost – you could see a path there that if they did well, you know, whether it was national team, they'd get scouted or whatever.
[14:52] But for a coach –
[14:54] there's no real roadmap for it.
[14:56] So I think that's the fascination.
[14:58] And I sometimes don't understand it, that there's been forks in the road where I just think, God, it could have ended up so much, you know, so differently.
[15:06] And yet, you know, here I am.
[15:08] And I think I remember, I think it was on our first podcast where you just said, you know, what's next?
[15:14] And you go, could we see you at Liverpool?
[15:16] Yeah, it was.
[15:17] At one stage.
[15:17] Because obviously I was a massive Liverpool supporter.
[15:20] I remember your question and I think both of us had a chuckle.
[15:23] But...
[15:24] there was an uncomfortable chuckle because he knows, you know, and I never said, you know, I never sort of put it out there as an ambition but that was kind of in my head about that's where I wanted to end up, you know, somewhere in that sort of environment.
[15:40] But, you know, I think the fascination is that it's actually happened, you know, has it happened, why has it happened and some of those questions I still don't really understand.
[15:50] Just as we leave Scotland go, you said you'd get the courier and there'd be Celtic or Rangers and you'd answer it at the door.
[15:57] What would the Celtic courier say to you?
[15:59] Mate, they wanted to come in for a cup of coffee, give me a hug.
[16:02] They didn't forget to leave the parcel sometimes.
[16:04] I love being in Glasgow.
[16:07] The Scottish people are unbelievable, mate.
[16:09] So friendly and, yeah, it's not just, you know, wherever you go, obviously, especially now, I sort of get recognised a fair bit and,
[16:17] But in Scotland, they don't even want a selfie.
[16:19] They want to invite you home for dinner and meet the family.
[16:22] And I said, look, you know, I've got my own family, so I've got to get home for my own dinner.
[16:29] Yeah, they were brilliant.
[16:29] And even, you know, I never had any sort of antagonism or any sort of feeling of unease at the time.
[16:36] Everyone was just, you know, if they were Ranger supporters or they were from other clubs, they were still very respectful.
[16:42] They'd give it to you, which is fair enough.
[16:44] It's part of the banter, so you'd know.
[16:46] And they'd declare it straight up, you know, before they even said, you know, hello.
[16:50] They'd say, look, I'm a Ranger supporter.
[16:51] And you'd go, okay, here it comes.
[16:53] Or, you know, I'm a Celtic supporter.
[16:54] So, yeah, but it was brilliant, you know.
[16:58] It's what I craved.
[17:00] You know, look, I loved growing up in Melbourne.
[17:03] I think I've said before, I had the best childhood of just being outside, playing obviously soccer, playing footy, playing cricket.
[17:11] But I really craved being in a place where they loved football as much as I did, you know, that were just as passionate and Glasgow certainly was that.
[17:23] As we follow through the timeline, so you mentioned Josh Fraser.
[17:27] I think I have a good understanding and most people listening would have an understanding about how football clubs go about selecting their AFL or their rugby league coaches and then what the coach's job is.
[17:39] But I have no concept.
[17:41] Here's a couple of things I want to ask you about.
[17:44] So you're in Scotland, you do well, you end up at Tottenham.
[17:49] How does it work?
[17:51] getting a job at an EPL club?
[17:53] Like do you have an agent that sifts through offers because, you know, you are hot, you had a hot hand, and then do you sit through and look at like squads and lists and then meet clubs?
[18:04] How does the process work, Ang?
[18:07] Yeah, pretty much like that, mate.
[18:08] I mean, I do, again, I think actually probably the time we did the first podcast, Vinnie Grella, who's a brilliant ex-socceroo and a great bloke, he introduced me to Frank Trimbley, who's an Aussie guy from Perth, but he'd established an agency over in London, one of the biggest agencies, CAA, who are base.
[18:31] And yeah.
[18:33] Vinny pretty much just told him, look, you've got to meet this guy.
[18:36] I was coaching Socceroos at the time and...
[18:39] We had a lunch together with Frank and look, I mean, he's dealing at the top end, mate.
[18:42] He does, you know, he's doing Premier League deals.
[18:44] I'm going, Frank, what are you going to do with me, mate?
[18:46] I'm an Aussie coach.
[18:47] You're not going to make a hell of a lot of money.
[18:49] Although with Saudi Arabia, that's changed a little bit now.
[18:53] And I said, you know, and I never saw a path for myself.
[18:56] He said, look, just leave that to me.
[18:58] And so over the last sort of, I think I met him just after the Asian Cups, I've been about 2016, so it's been about 10 years.
[19:05] He's kind of looked after me and it is...
[19:08] You know, at the start, he was literally like the agent in Hollywood, mate.
[19:12] He was just banging doors down and trying to get me auditions, and I was getting rejected left, right, and centre.
[19:17] And like I said, the sort of things changed, and then obviously had some success at Celtic.
[19:22] And it was a case of him sort of knocking on doors and people come approaching him.
[19:29] You know, they all do it differently.
[19:31] With Tottenham, there was a process.
[19:32] You know, I met with some board members.
[19:37] I met with their footy director, Scott Munn, another Aussie, had just taken over there as well in football ops and met with him.
[19:45] Sorry to interrupt you.
[19:46] Just on that, so you go.
[19:47] Again, we're in the AFL world at the moment.
[19:49] Ken Hinckley's just won the Tasmania job as we're recording this.
[19:52] He goes and does a presentation.
[19:54] Do you present?
[19:55] Like, is there a PowerPoint?
[19:56] Do you describe where you see the club going?
[19:58] What plays are you going to get?
[19:59] Like, how's it work?
[20:01] Again, it just varies.
[20:02] With that one I did, I kind of put a little bit of a presentation of what I thought, you know, about the playing squad and what I thought I could deliver to it.
[20:12] But at other times you just – there's not even an interview process.
[20:16] They just, you know, I mean –
[20:18] I guarantee you the next job that Pep Guardiola gets is not going to be presenting to them on a PowerPoint, you know.
[20:24] They're just going to be, you know.
[20:26] So it kind of depends.
[20:27] It changes.
[20:29] And the honest truth is, mate, you know, I've been doing this for so long that...
[20:33] There's no process that will guarantee you anything, you know.
[20:36] Ultimately what I figured out is it just comes down to people and dynamics, you know, can you get along with the people?
[20:41] And wherever I've had success, I've had a real good connection with the key decision makers and you've felt that through the sort of interview process or if you've had meetings with whether that's the chairman or the sporting director.
[20:52] And whenever there's that connection, you feel like, okay, this has got a good chance of working and it's not so much because there's a lot of stuff happening.
[21:00] particularly with myself now, but anyone working at sort of this level that's known, you kind of know how the teams play, that you coach.
[21:07] You know, you've done enough sort of media that they know what kind of person you tend to be in the public eye and all these kind of things.
[21:13] So a lot of it is already known and it's more, like I said, it's trying to get that connection.
[21:19] And like I said, I've had interview processes, particularly at Tottenham and other jobs, it's just been a discussion with people
[21:25] with a person without any presentation and you get the role that way.
[21:28] I mean Celtic, I literally had a, I think I said it last time, a video call with the owner and there was a connection there.
[21:37] We both felt it was going to be a good move for me and for the club.
[21:42] So it just varies.
[21:45] Back to Ange in a tick.
[21:46] Now, as you heard near the start, Ange has featured on the show twice before.
[21:51] Go back and have a listen if you missed those episodes.
[21:53] Episode 12, when he was coaching the Socceroos, and we first heard about Ange's obsession for the game.
[22:00] You know, when I went to Paran High School and really we were an afterthought, the soccer team, and then the music teacher was assigned our coach.
[22:05] And I remember the first training session, we started playing and then the teacher sat down under the trees and started marking the homework for tomorrow.
[22:13] I go, this is the coach?
[22:14] Yeah, yeah, it was a supposed coach.
[22:16] I go, no, that's not going to do us.
[22:17] I'll take charge here.
[22:18] And as a 12-year-old, I literally became the coach of the team.
[22:22] I set up training.
[22:23] I set up the team and how we were going to play and...
[22:27] I guess part of me goes, what was in me at that time, to feel that I felt comfortable in the space.
[22:34] But even more bizarre for me is that my mates, who are still, some of them are still mates today, actually listened to me.
[22:41] That is Ange on episode 12.
[22:43] Then there is episode 165, when Ange was in Scotland in charge of Celtic.
[22:49] The club was originally born...
[22:51] To feed the poor immigrants, the Irish in Glasgow.
[22:55] That was the reason the football club was formed, right?
[22:59] It was established as an institution that, yes, they're going to play football, but it was really then to make money to feed the poor.
[23:07] It was for charitable purposes.
[23:08] I didn't know that.
[23:09] My football club, South Melbourne, Alice, is exactly the same reason it existed.
[23:16] It existed to help Greek migrants adjust to life in this new country where it was really tough.
[23:23] And that was the essence of Celtic.
[23:24] Yeah.
[23:25] The people who follow Celtic are not supporters.
[23:28] This is generational stories passed down almost like a family heirloom that this is your football club and nothing changes it and nothing is more important apart from your family than your football club.
[23:45] So that's Ange on episode 165 of the show as well as episode 12.
[23:50] Go back, check them out.
[23:55] Alrighty, let's get back to Ange.
[23:58] Tottenham.
[24:00] 2023, sign at Tottenham, the first Australian to coach in the Premier League.
[24:06] The way it started, manager of the month, first two months, unbeaten, Ang.
[24:11] First three, actually, mate.
[24:12] I've got three.
[24:13] I've got to get to that because at that point you had the record most points earned by an EPL manager in their first nine games, 23, seven out of nine.
[24:21] Then you won it the third month in a row.
[24:23] Posker Kogler has settled in at Tottenham and is beginning to dictate how things are going to develop from here.
[24:30] That's a fame for his set-piece delivery and firing it in.
[24:32] Oh, he's bringing it back.
[24:34] He's the way to start the season.
[24:36] It's back from Sorn.
[24:37] And this is Kulisinski.
[24:41] Tottenham double their lead.
[24:44] The Tottenham fans, by the way, are singing, we've got our Tottenham back.
[24:49] Back-to-back victory, something to build on.
[24:52] You're sitting top spot in October.
[24:55] Yeah.
[24:57] It was, I said to you last time, all of a sudden I found myself following a football team in Japan and then I found myself following a football team in Scotland and then all of a sudden I wake up on a Monday and I'm looking at how Tottenham's gone.
[25:12] What were those first few months like?
[25:15] I want to ask you about what the day-to-day is, but what are those first three months like when you and your football team were unstoppable?
[25:23] Yeah, no, we got off to a fly.
[25:25] It wasn't an easy sort of pre-season because I did come in at a period where the club wasn't in a great space.
[25:34] It had a disappointing year the last year.
[25:37] Pretty much the day I got there, I realised that Harry Kane was leaving their greatest ever player, which is fantastic.
[25:41] Good on you, mate.
[25:43] That's a tough first day.
[25:44] Yeah, yeah.
[25:45] That's like Steve Silvani.
[25:47] You signed up.
[25:47] He said, sorry, sorry, Ange, I'm out.
[25:50] Yeah, exactly right.
[25:51] So, you know, you kind of go, okay, this is going to be some heavy lifting.
[25:56] And, you know, in the Premier League there's so much sort of scrutiny and, you know, every decision you make is kind of, you know,
[26:06] torn apart and you go, geez, if I get this wrong, this might end very, very quickly.
[26:10] So, you know, we worked hard through pre-season to sort of – and I felt we made some really good signings and we had to get them right and for the most part we did.
[26:22] But I felt that the players were kind of ready for something different.
[26:25] I was obviously –
[26:27] you know, taken over some brilliant managers, some of the best in the world, you know, Antonio Conte was there before me, Jose Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino and, you know, I was very different to them and, you know, it seemed like the players kind of got that energy and maybe because, you know, I kind of, I've never really worried about
[26:44] sort of negative outcomes have always gone in sort of bullish about wherever I go and what we can do.
[26:51] And I think the players fed off that and we got off to a really good, like I said, a really good start.
[26:56] We just kind of built momentum.
[26:58] I think no one really expected us to do well that year.
[27:01] And like I said, we lost Harry literally.
[27:02] I think I did the – we were playing Brentford in our first league game on the Saturday, on Friday, I think the press conference and Harry –
[27:11] literally was leaving at that time.
[27:12] So, but it just kind of, we sparked a little bit of a flame and, you know, it wasn't, I knew it wasn't going to be sustainable because obviously then we got some injuries and things, we weren't ready for it.
[27:24] But I think it helped in terms of me really connecting with the playing group.
[27:29] You know, they kind of really embraced everything that kind of I was about and what we were trying to do.
[27:37] Even though by the end of it, it was a kind of real difficult couple of years of managing a whole lot of things.
[27:45] Winning something at the end of it was the consequence of the players having vying for the players right from the very start.
[27:53] So let's go to day-to-day a bit again.
[27:55] I asked you how you get the job.
[27:57] So when you're at Tottenham...
[28:01] an EPL club, roughly how many people are under your control as well as players?
[28:07] Like what's the size of the staff?
[28:09] Yeah, I mean, we'd probably get between 50 and 60 staff on a daily basis, mate.
[28:14] So, you know, you're talking...
[28:16] I had a coaching staff of about...
[28:19] I think I had four assistant coaches, goalkeeping coach.
[28:24] Then you've got about half a dozen analysts who do opposition analysis, hour analysis, individual analysis.
[28:32] Then you've got a massive medical department.
[28:34] Then you've got a scouting department.
[28:35] Then you've got a media department.
[28:39] You know, they're not all kind of direct report to me.
[28:43] They all still want to feel a part of it.
[28:48] So you have an obligation.
[28:49] I always feel you have an obligation as kind of the manager and the leader to have connections with all of them at some point.
[28:56] And, you know, on a daily basis, it's impossible.
[28:58] There's just, you know, because then you've got the playing group.
[29:01] There's another, you know, 25 to 30 players you're dealing with on a daily basis.
[29:05] Yeah.
[29:06] you need to stay connected with as many people as you can.
[29:09] And, you know, I kind of always had this policy if the doors opened in my office, just walk by and say hello.
[29:14] And, you know, if I got around the building, I just, you know, because then you've got the catering staff, you know, you've got the security people, you've got, you know, there is...
[29:23] The groundsmen, you know, they're all important, you know, and they all want to feel a part of it.
[29:28] And if you just sort of walk past them with your head down because, you know, you lost the game on the weekend, then you're not going to be able to achieve what you want to.
[29:36] So it can be...
[29:39] you know, it can be sort of not taxing, but it can sort of overwhelm you because you've only got a limited amount of time in the day and your focus is always, well, you know, preparing the team.
[29:50] But all these people are key to that.
[29:52] And I think I've always had good staff around me too in terms of coaches who are pretty good gatekeepers.
[29:57] I had a PA who was a pretty good gatekeeper and, you know, understood times where...
[30:04] I needed to be sort of left to concentrate on things that I needed to.
[30:09] But the reality of it is it's all encompassing.
[30:13] I know you've probably had coaches from all cases come along and say, look, it's a 24-7 existence.
[30:20] And it is.
[30:21] I've always said coaching is not an occupation.
[30:24] It's a lifestyle choice.
[30:26] You go into it and you've got to be all in on it.
[30:29] Short, sharp answers.
[30:30] So we can, like, these could be long discussions, but short, sharp answers.
[30:35] Do you have a game plan and then tweak it for every single game you're playing and have to run that through your football team?
[30:44] Or do you have your game plan and that's the way you roll it out pretty much all the time in a short answer way?
[30:51] Yeah, no, I mean, there's foundational stuff there that we don't change, but you have to address opposition strengths and weaknesses on a weekly basis, particularly, you know, the Premier League, Champions League, at the highest level, you do have to adjust.
[31:08] transfers, do you put your hand up?
[31:11] We'll get to how many injuries you had with your centre-backs, but is that you saying, right, we need a centre-back, and then some other bloke goes and suggests to you, right, these are the six centre-backs on the marker.
[31:21] How does that work?
[31:21] Yeah, pretty much.
[31:23] And, again, different models at Celtic.
[31:24] It was different.
[31:25] Tottenham, you know,
[31:28] It's pretty much, as you said, you know, we need a centre-back.
[31:30] Okay, well, there's a whole scouting department headed by a sporting director who kind of run that process.
[31:36] And then you've got the final decision-maker is obviously the chairman because it comes down to financials.
[31:40] Now, yeah.
[31:41] The reality is in the Tottenham model, you have very little say in terms of the outcome because I could say, well, I want this one.
[31:48] But if he's out of our sort of financial bracket, then you go down to the next one and then you go down to the next one.
[31:53] Sometimes even they don't work out.
[31:55] So you're kind of left to kind of...
[32:01] take control of something that you haven't had total sort of responsibility for.
[32:08] But different models.
[32:09] But at Tottenham, yeah, pretty much like you said, you know, need a centre-back here in the five that we think are possibles and you kind of go, okay, we'll go this way.
[32:17] And then of your players, like you obviously had Son from Korea.
[32:20] He's got it!
[32:22] He's got it!
[32:23] Son had just scored from the corner!
[32:26] He scored some standards in his time but none like that!
[32:31] I had some amazing players.
[32:32] Just to give people an idea that don't really follow football, your top players, what are they getting paid?
[32:39] Yeah, look, hard to say, but, I mean, Premier League now, you know, for all the top teams, you look at north of, you know, sort of 200 grand pounds a week as kind of a base now.
[32:52] And that's the bottom end, mate.
[32:54] And that's increasing all the time, you know.
[32:56] So obviously the Premier League's a little bit unique because the TV money and the revenue is just Premier League money and the Champions League money if you get in the Champions League is just ridiculous.
[33:05] So...
[33:06] Yeah, players get very well paid, but that's the going rate.
[33:11] Pre-game, is it calm?
[33:14] Is it tactics?
[33:15] Or is there still, well, in English football, is there a genuine pre-game rev up?
[33:21] How do you approach that?
[33:22] Yeah, it depends.
[33:23] I mean, that depends on the sort of personality.
[33:25] I'm not...
[33:27] sort of massive all the time on that.
[33:30] We usually, so we'll always be inside either a hotel before the game or we'll, even if we're at home, we tend to get there a bit earlier because, you know, we'd have a meal either at the club or in a hotel.
[33:42] And that's when I usually do my main sort of...
[33:46] talk to the players.
[33:49] Sort of if it's a 30-minute talk, sort of 20 minutes is tactical, you know, about the opposition, about the game today.
[33:55] Then you get some time with set pieces as well to go through that.
[33:59] And then it's sort of a final message.
[34:01] And literally in the rooms, I've kind of always left the players to go.
[34:05] I usually say something to them probably just before they run out.
[34:07] And it's pretty short and sharp in terms of what's needed on that date.
[34:16] has got a story.
[34:19] Every little stitch in that shirt has got a story to tell and success written into it.
[34:25] You've got a chance today for us to provide our own little bit in it.
[34:29] Yeah, you've got to remember, my second year at Tottenham, we had 60 games, mate.
[34:33] You run out of Churchillian speeches if you're trying to do 60 of them.
[34:38] So you kind of save them for special moments.
[34:41] And training on the park.
[34:44] Like you're playing a lot of football, so I don't know how much time there is, but are you on the park?
[34:49] Are you instructing your players on the park in training?
[34:53] A bit of both.
[34:54] Like you said, people will be surprised.
[34:57] They don't get a lot of training time.
[35:00] If you're sort of at a top European club and you've got European football, you're playing Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday or Sunday, Thursday, Sunday and you literally sometimes you're playing away from home in Europe and you don't get back till the following day.
[35:16] So you might have one session in between.
[35:18] That's pretty much a recovery session.
[35:20] You don't get a lot of time.
[35:22] I've kind of always mixed that up.
[35:23] I always give a lot of responsibility as sort of my assistants to run a lot of the training drills because, again, I think the biggest sort of role I can play is one that's observational because when you sit to the side, you kind of can see a lot more things, not just about the players, about the staff, about the general mood.
[35:44] But.
[35:45] Usually as we get close to match day, the session the day before, I usually take control of it because I think it's important the players hear my voice as well.
[35:53] But again, I don't think they need to hear my voice every day because, again, it can become a little bit of sort of background noise if I'm in there all the time.
[36:02] Due to those performances, especially at the first start of that season, so as a result, you finish in a position where you get into the Europa League.
[36:11] Now, for people that don't understand, Tottenham,
[36:14] hadn't won any silverware for eight years.
[36:16] I don't think they'd won in Europe.
[36:17] Was it 46 years, I think, Ian?
[36:21] So they hadn't won a European trophy for 40 and they hadn't won any trophy for 17 years, yeah.
[36:27] And it's a massive club.
[36:28] I mean, if you kind of...
[36:31] try and picture it, it's one of the big five.
[36:34] And in that sort of, say, 17 years, they'd seen every other club win something.
[36:40] So for the supporters, it was something that was a real millstone around the neck.
[36:47] You could feel the weight of it, of this football club.
[36:50] And to be honest, it's what attracted me at the start.
[36:52] When I had the discussions, it was...
[36:54] Yes, it was the EPL, which obviously, but I'd had, you know, there were other clubs in the EPL who were interested at the time and I thought, you know what, if I keep going like this, I'll get a crack at it at some point.
[37:04] But the real enticement for me, and it's always kind of the way I've taken my career, was...
[37:09] I'm taking over a big club that hasn't won anything for 17 years, you know.
[37:12] That's if I can do that, if I can, because to me that's where the magic lies, you know, that if you can do things that kind of make a real impact well beyond the time you're at the club.
[37:25] And that was it.
[37:27] That was it.
[37:27] I saw that there was, and to be honest, the discussions I've had with the chairman, everyone, they said, look, this club needs a trophy.
[37:33] Their supporters need a trophy.
[37:34] And it was kind of the Holy Grail for us.
[37:39] My favourite sporting quote of the year.
[37:42] I don't know how it came about.
[37:43] I know you said it and then you were asked about it again and you reiterated that in your second year, you win trophies.
[37:50] I know you reiterated at the weekend that the second year is a year where you win a trophy.
[37:54] It's amazing, isn't it?
[37:55] Like, I just stated a fact and it seems like, am I supposed to just lie or just say it never happened?
[38:02] But no, it's confusing to me that people are making a big deal out of something.
[38:06] I'm not sure how I'm supposed to answer something that is true.
[38:10] Like, if I don't win it in the second year this year and I'll come out next year and say, well, I always win it.
[38:13] Well, no, actually, it's not true.
[38:15] But I've just said something that's true and it seems like it's upset a lot of people for some reason.
[38:20] I think it's because it's unusual that we see a manager who...
[38:23] Saying something true.
[38:24] No, no.
[38:26] Not saying, well.
[38:27] You can say that.
[38:28] Somebody say, yeah, yeah.
[38:30] You can say that.
[38:30] I couldn't possibly comment.
[38:31] But it's quite...
[38:33] bashful about their team's prospect.
[38:36] But it's... Do you really think I'm...
[38:39] It's me sort of being boasting?
[38:43] Like, how am I supposed to answer something that's true?
[38:46] Is it to say, well, actually, no, it wasn't that important.
[38:50] There were easy competitions and they don't mean anything.
[38:52] And, I mean, if you've achieved something, aren't you supposed to say, yes, I have, and that's what I hope to do again?
[38:59] I'm not really sure...
[39:02] like why people misconstrue it as me trying to boast about something.
[39:08] I've answered a question, which I think somebody else brought up here anyway, which before that, which is true.
[39:14] And that's always happened.
[39:15] And my plan is for it to happen again this year.
[39:18] And if it doesn't happen, then I can't answer that question the same way next year.
[39:21] I can say mostly, not always.
[39:24] Now, I love that.
[39:26] And it was proven when they make the movie, and I don't know if it's Brad Pitt playing you, mate, I don't know if it's Matt Damon.
[39:33] I don't know who's playing the role, Ang.
[39:35] You're too kind, mate.
[39:37] But that will be the clip.
[39:41] Was that something that popped out, mate, or was that something because it could have been the world's greatest millstone around your neck.
[39:49] Like, it was a very gutsy thing to say.
[39:52] Yeah, it was, but it was sort of predetermined.
[39:55] You know, there'd been some discussion along the way before that, and I think it was after we'd lost Arsenal.
[40:00] Yep.
[40:01] I remember going into that sort of interview knowing, okay, they're going to come at me again because there'd been a bit of talk about that leading up to it and, you know, from their perspective, okay, if we can get this bloke to say it again now after a loss, then we've really got him, you know, like you said.
[40:18] But...
[40:20] Mate, I was that sort of clear that I really believe we were going to win it and I felt that the club needed somebody to say it because part of the whole Tottenham thing and, you know, they used to say, you know, something Spurs-y means that you're kind of, you get close to success and you're kind of, I'd be like the Collingwobbles, you know.
[40:40] Collingwobbles is what I was going to say.
[40:42] Yeah, yeah.
[40:43] Yeah, it's very similar.
[40:45] And when you're in that space, and I could understand other people in the club not saying that because they'd been close a couple of times, they'd finished runners-up, they'd lost in the Champions League final, they'd lost in the League Cup final.
[40:57] So there wasn't anyone in the club who'd been there for any year who could say that.
[41:01] I mean, you wouldn't expect the players, but...
[41:05] A, I was stating a fact that, you know, whenever I've... And it's not like I've won things in my first year as well, but in my second year, wherever I've been, in any club I've been, even with the Socceroos, my second year won the Asian Cup, I've won things.
[41:16] You said at the start of the season, the first campaign really about setting principles, getting your message across.
[41:21] The second campaign, you normally win.
[41:23] Are you seeing enough in this side that this season you do think that there will be a side that can win?
[41:31] I'm talking silverware.
[41:33] Yeah, absolutely.
[41:33] Competing right at the top.
[41:34] Am I going to answer the question or are you going to keep asking?
[41:37] No, absolutely.
[41:37] And I think I'll correct my set.
[41:39] I don't usually win things.
[41:40] I always win things in my second year.
[41:43] And you're confident you can do that with this side?
[41:45] You're seeing enough?
[41:46] Well, I just sort of said it now, so I don't say things unless I believe them.
[41:49] You know, that's what I've done and that's what I plan to do and I was ready to double down on it.
[41:54] And like you said, it could have ended up, you know, where people kind of turn it into a bit of a meme and, you know, ridicule or whatever, but I've never worried about that stuff and I had real conviction, mate, that we were going to do it and more importantly, the only people I was speaking to were the players.
[42:11] You know, when I said that, that's the only people I was speaking to.
[42:15] I didn't care about anyone else.
[42:16] So I wanted the players to hear it, that, you know, we just lost to Arsenal, our biggest rival, North London Derby.
[42:23] Things weren't going great.
[42:24] We had injuries.
[42:25] We were struggling.
[42:27] But I wanted to stare down the barrel and just tell them we're going to win something and we're going to, you know, shut everyone up.
[42:33] It'll be massively motivating for the players.
[42:36] So I looked at the Europa League and, again, I'll just roll through this quickly quickly.
[42:41] so people understand what's involved.
[42:44] So you're playing in the English Premier League, so you're playing there.
[42:49] Obviously, you're playing in the cups they have in the UK.
[42:52] And then, so 26th of September, you knock off the Azerbaijani, 3-0 at home.
[42:58] Zalanki wins it back.
[43:00] Still going here.
[43:01] And Johnson.
[43:02] Oh, he's on a hot streak now.
[43:05] 31st of October, you go to Hungary, 2-1 in Budapest.
[43:09] Johnson.
[43:11] Johnson still!
[43:13] Yes!
[43:14] There's her second goal!
[43:16] 24th of October, you beat the Dutch 1-0 at home.
[43:19] The returning Richarlison!
[43:22] Clips it down the middle.
[43:25] 7th of November, you go down to Turkey in Galatasaray.
[43:28] Great running in behind here from Pedro Poro.
[43:30] They're stretched Galatasaray.
[43:32] And it's turning by Solanke.
[43:34] And the 10 men have given themselves hope.
[43:37] 29th of November, 2-0 versus Roma.
[43:39] Massive club at home.
[43:41] Roma's trying to keep pace and cannot.
[43:43] What a ball, what a goal.
[43:44] And Brennan Johnson once again finishing like a two-goal scorer.
[43:52] 19th of December, you're in Glasgow, 1-0.
[43:54] And Solanke's in, Madison lets it go.
[43:58] Kuliszewski!
[44:00] Spurs have equalised.
[44:02] And Dejan Kuliszewski off the bench.
[44:05] 23rd of January, 3-0 against the Swedes at home.
[44:07] That just gets you to the round of 16.
[44:09] Let's see what he can do.
[44:11] Mikey Moore, driving, driving.
[44:15] That is special!
[44:16] Yeah!
[44:17] Round of 16, you go down 1-0 to the Dutchies, but then get the job done over them in the reverse tie.
[44:25] Oh, turns into Son.
[44:27] Dominic Solanke.
[44:28] Oh, to Baird!
[44:31] Frankfurt, one all in London.
[44:33] Then you beat them, the Germans, 1-0 there.
[44:35] Dominic Solanke's first-ever penalty as a Tottenham-Oxburgh player is converted with ease.
[44:44] Spurs lead the quarterfinal for the first time.
[44:47] And it's Dominic Solanke with one of his biggest moments yet, beating Carlos Santos.
[44:57] Then you get to the semi.
[44:59] Now, I need to ask you about this.
[45:01] You beat, how's it pronounced?
[45:03] Is it Bodo?
[45:04] Bodo Glimp.
[45:05] So you knock off the Norwegians 3-1.
[45:07] Then I looked up at Bodo to see what goes on there when you went and beat them 2-0.
[45:11] Like, this is the other end of the earth you're playing at at this stage.
[45:15] Oh, mate, 100%.
[45:16] It was surreal.
[45:17] Like, the whole trip was, you're going pretty much in the arty.
[45:22] In by Tell.
[45:24] Romero round the back and in.
[45:27] Jabbed home from close range by the returning Dominic Zalanki.
[45:33] And we went in a decent time of the year where it wasn't freezing because I'd been there a couple of years before with Celtic when it was really cold.
[45:40] And it's a kind of club, really small kind of fishing village.
[45:45] They get like 6,000 or 7,000 people to their games.
[45:49] But last year in the Champions League, they got to knock our stages again and knocked off some big guns.
[45:54] They did.
[45:55] Luckily for me, because I'd played there with Celtic and they beat us when I was Celtic,
[46:00] I'd had that experience and I prepared the players really well for that.
[46:03] I said, don't know the rest of the night, this lot.
[46:05] Because you get there and they just go, oh, we're just a little village and, you know, we're just a small club.
[46:10] And they suck you in where they're really friendly.
[46:12] And then all of a sudden you get beaten and you go, what the hell just happened?
[46:15] So I prepared the guys really well for that.
[46:17] And like you said, mate, it was a massive process.
[46:20] There was a lot of games.
[46:21] We reached the semi-final of the League Cup as well that year.
[46:23] So we ended up playing 60 games.
[46:26] Yeah.
[46:27] by the time we got to the Europa Cup, the Europa final, it was, you know, you felt like, yeah, it's been a hell of a long season and we need to win this just for the journey we've been on.
[46:42] From Burdut to Bilbao.
[46:45] Tana Motspur have reached the UEFA Europa League final.
[46:49] The job done in northern Norway in the most professional manner.
[46:54] Pedro Porro and Dominic Zalanki scoring in the second half to put the result beyond all reasonable doubt.
[47:03] In front of 400 travelling fans for the first time since 1984, Spurs are in this competition showpiece.
[47:11] What you've gone through this year, let me tell you, I've been in this game a long time, I'm very experienced, I've experienced it all, but I'm so proud of how all of you have just stuck together.
[47:20] Not one time have I felt like people are not believing or have lost...
[47:25] what we have in here, and it's just outstanding.
[47:28] People will never realise what it's taken for you guys to be in this position, and you deserve all the credit for that.
[47:34] It's unbelievable what you've done.
[47:36] That is the end of Ange Postacoglu, part A.
[47:39] In part B, what on earth happened in eight matches and just 39 days at Nottingham Forest, and one of the deciding factors that is taking Ange to Saudi Arabia.

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