Last week, the game’s worst kept secret was made official with the appointment of Ange Postecoglou as head coach of Melbourne Victory.
Postecoglou, who won four titles as player and manager at South Melbourne, returns to his home town having won back-to-back grand finals with Brisbane Roar and will carry the weight of huge expectation on his shoulders – so how do we expect him to fare?’
Victory chairman Anthony di Pietro clearly believes that Ange is the man to regenerate the playing list into something worthy of the best supported club in the league. He chased Postecoglou last season only to be turned away by the FFA, who owned Roar at the time, but this time with the FFA out of the way he’s not given up until he’s got his man. The condition of the playing list, aging and lacking balance, shouldn’t be an issue as Ange has previous proved more than able to trim the fat and recruit wisely.
Roar fans are split. Whilst most of them are thanking Ange for what he did for their club, quite a few are questioning his character, claiming that a man who addressed fans with “let’s make it three in a row” during the victory parade in Brisbane earlier this week, and quit the next day, isn’t practising great ethics.
There’s also been a move in Queensland to revise history, taking credit from Postecoglou and passing it to ‘the true architect’ Rado Vidosic who has been promoted in Ange’s wake. The reality is that Postecoglou is the best manager in the country. Winning back-to-back titles with South Melbourne demonstrated his ability, repeating it with Roar confirmed it. All four titles were won with an attacking flair and style that can only do the game good. Victory fans will be waiting with baited breath to see what changes Ange makes and what kind of club he can build during the term of his newly signed three year contract. However, Victory should be aware that the length of the deal provides far greater protection for Ange than it does for them. Let’s not forget that the big man agreed a three year deal with Roar around a year ago.
Postecoglou clearly has bigger and better things on his mind for the future, for the sake of Australian football, one hopes that the only bigger job he’s interested in is with the Socceroos.
