Newly-appointed Celtic first-team coach Harry Kewell outlines shared vision with Ange Postecoglou

New Celtic first-team coach Harry Kewell has revealed a phone call with Ange Postecoglou immediately sold him on a move to Glasgow to join his backroom staff.

The 43-year-old joined the Scottish champions last week as part of a coaching restructure, which saw Stephen McManus take up a permanent role with the Hoops B team.

Kewell, who amassed 58 caps for Australia, gained management experience in England but had been out of work since being sacked by Barnet last September.

The former Leeds and Galatasaray forward is relishing the chance to work under Postecoglou, insisting the decision was a “no-brainer” after a lengthy conversation with his fellow countryman.

He told Celtic TV: “I was actually going for another interview for another job, and I thought it went really well and I was looking forward to the call back.

“In between that time, I got a call from the manager, and the way he spoke to me about football, the way he presented the job, I said ‘Yes’ straightaway.

“I didn’t even worry about the next part because I felt the opportunity for me to learn from, not only an Australian manager, but a great manager that has been, and started to do his work, into Europe, and his ideas of what he wants to come across.

“He’s very forthright in what he wants out of his players, it’s similar to what I like. I said virtually there straightaway ‘Of course I’ll come.’

“Ange always likes to mix things up, he likes to bring in fresh ideas and I said when I spoke to him that I didn’t want to be just coming up here because of that Australian link.

“He spoke very positively about how he’s been monitoring me for a little while, which I never knew about, so when he did speak to me about what ideas I can bring to the team, it was a no-brainer.”

After spells coaching at Watford Under-23s, Crawley Town, Notts County and Oldham Athletic, Kewell admits he will take his time to assess the current first-team squad before implementing some of his ideas on the training pitch at Lennoxtown.

He stated: “I’m kind of blown away. I haven’t been at a huge club for a while now, so this is all kind of new to me. It’s nervous to come into such a huge club like this.

“The facilities and the training ground set-up is fantastic.

“I have strong ambitions, but I’m not going to lie, like I said, I’ve joined a huge football club. I’m going to sit and I’m going to learn, watch, study and see exactly what I can bring to the team.

“I’m not going to go straight in there and go this, this and this - that’s not me. I want to learn, because even just speaking there to John, he’s got so much experience. I’m going to be picking his brains left, right and centre.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting the players and getting to understand exactly their movement patterns.

“Just sitting with John there for the last hour or so talking about how they play is similar to my ideas. It’s going to be great working with the manager as well.”

Kewell - a Champions League winner with Liverpool during his playing career - believes Celtic can make a significant impact in Europe’s elite competition this season.

He admitted: “They’re special occasions I don’t think people can truly understand what it is like until you’ve experienced it. Once you have that initial taste you want more.

“You ‘re competing against the best teams in the world and it is a cup competition so you have to be at your very best to get far in the tournament and have an element of luck.

“It’s going to be tough this season but I think we’re going to be a handful.

“Ange is very meticulous in how he wants his team to play. You could see the team grow over the course of last season and they got stronger and stronger after a slow start.

“You’re always going to have that bad patch in a season but I think the manager gives his players a lot of confidence in the way that he plays that they go out on to the pitch and perform to the highest level.”