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Remember the five stages of grief? Some of us have gone through it all in the last week with Ange Postecoglou’s imminent departure from Celtic to Tottenham Hotspur.
From the moment, Arne Slot turned down the Spurs job to remain at Feyenoord, it kicked into gear.
The denial began: surely, Spurs will be too arrogant to pick a bloke out of the farmer’s league to the north, especially when Luis Enrique and Julian Nagelsmann were out there waiting to be made an offer.
The reality, of course, was that the mental hurdle of picking talent from outside the big five leagues had been breached already, by attempting the poach the manager of the Dutch champions. There was no stopping them now.
Then came the anger. Not at Ange, because only the most partisan of Celtic fans would begrudge the move, but at the legion of Spurs fans who gave it the collective “who?” on social media, as if the bulk of Hoops supporters had not done the same two years ago.
There was the bargaining, where our position in the Champions League was traded against Tottenham’s in the Premier League, a decision that never really held much water. Surely Ange would turn them down anyway and complete the project in Glasgow?
Well, no. Play well in the Premier League and you’ll get Europe’s top table, too, and probably not get horsed while you’re there.
The depression came soon after the Scottish Cup Final win on Saturday – Sunday morning, for those of us in Australia – where our achievement on the field was tempered by the knowledge that the football we had become accustomed to watching over the last two years had breathed its last.
Finally, with the announcement that Postecoglou is to move to London, the acceptance. It was good while it lasted.
Aussie fans will not have experienced this, because as a collective, the will has been for Ange to move onwards and upwards in the world.
This new gig, within the top six of the Premier League, is the high watermark for Australian football, and Postecoglou is undoubtedly the highest achiever the game here has ever produced.
There have been Socceroos in high places – Harry Kewell, who Ange might yet bring with him as part of his backroom staff, won a Champions League, for example – but none where they were the main draw card.
Celtic Manager Ange Postecoglou celebrates with the Premier Sports Cup Trophy.(Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
If he succeeds, Ange will be in the conversation for the greatest Australian coach in any sport – if he isn’t already – with the likes of Wayne Bennett, Bob Dwyer and Kevin Sheedy from the other football codes.
Celtic fans shouldn’t begrudge the move either. Ange leaves through the front door, with a treble in his back pocket and a regenerated club.
For those not versed in the recent history at Celtic Park: the previous manager, former club legend Neil Lennon, left in disgrace after running the club into the ground, and the guy before – Brendan Rodgers – walked out midseason with the title on the line, taking his entire backroom staff with him.
Lennon trashed a reputation built over decades as a player and manager, while Rodgers is widely referred to as ‘the rat’ for his actions. Ange, conversely, will be welcome back any time and seen as a huge success.
With a squad that just won a treble, guaranteed Champions League football and, perhaps more importantly, Champions League income, it should be possible to hire a new manager from a position of strength.
For Spurs, it is the ability to totally rebuild a club that has attracted them to Postecoglou in the first place. It has been quite comical for those who have followed Ange’s path to Scotland and now England to watch their discourse in the last week or so.
Ange, remember, was ridiculed by many pundits on arrival in Glasgow with the usual “who is he, what has he won and where” narrative, as if the game in Scotland was played on the moon, rather than the same field as everywhere else.
Now, that comes again, and with an extra level of English hubris, as if managing one of Glasgow’s big two was somehow less demanding than at Spurs. There are many ways in which Celtic and Rangers are inferior to the Premier League, but pressure is not one of them.
Heung-Min Son of Tottenham Hotspur looks dejected during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 leg two match between Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on March 8, 2023 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
The Tottenham response has been the grief cycle, too. The denial that they would deign themselves to talk to an Australian, bargaining that it was a ploy to force a decision elsewhere, the anger at their own board for considering the move, then the depression that it way happening regardless and finally, the acceptance that it might work after all.
At no point does there seem to have been any discussion of the actual nuts and bolts of Ange, his style and whether it might work for Tottenham.
Antonio Conte’s team were insistent on playing with wingbacks, were the only big six team to regularly use a mid-block with no high press and average the least possession of any ‘elite’ team.
One might also add that Scottish teams let Celtic have the ball, and when they were pressed themselves, or played a team with better press resistance, things went awry.
Champions League losses to Real Madrid and RB Leipzig with Celtic is not any disgrace, but failing to defeat Shakhtar Donetsk was less than brilliant and showed key issues with the tactical setup against better opponents.
Spurs also have a striker who, while one of the best in the world, hasn’t been asked to press in years and doesn’t hold the top of the field, the sine qua non of Angeball.
If there weren’t enough parallels to be drawn, even this is similar. When Postecoglou arrived in Glasgow, Odsonne Edouard, Celtic’s best striker, was in the process of running down his contract, just as Harry Kane is now.
If that is any guide, you can expect to see the England captain in a Manchester United shirt soon, because Ange gave a fluid, technical, non-pressing striker the flick and replaced him with someone who would embody his style from the front.
Harry Kane celebrates. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
As with everything at Spurs, these questions will be heightened given the profile of the Premier League.
Ange’s other key attribute, his handling of people and leadership abilities, have never been tested like this.
Though he was Socceroos boss, the sport itself is far from the centre of attention.
At Celtic, he was a huge fish in a small pond, albeit, if you excuse the metaphor, within the goldfish bowl of Glasgow.
At Spurs, he can pick between England’s best striker and Brazil’s starting number 9, before moving on to the rest of the dressing room egos. That remains the uncharted waters.
For Aussie fans, who can follow their guy to the highest of stages, this is a majorly exciting move. For Celtic, it is a sad moment, but one that deep down, everyone knew was coming.
For Spurs, the biggest part is yet to come. If they let him loose, and back him, it could be something beautiful, and quite unlikely anything they’ve seen before.
If there’s anyone who can break the ‘Lads, it’s Tottenham’ streak of mental fragility, it’s Ange. But just as easily, it could be another crash and burn from the club that does that more than anyone else.
It certainly won’t be boring.