Premier League icon calls Celtic and Rangers 'enormous' as light shed on Tottenham boss Postecoglou's big decision
A former Premier League goalkeeper has revealed he spoke to the ex-Celtic manager about why he chose to move to Glasgow on his own
Ange Postecoglou finds himself in a difficult predicament as Tottenham Hotspur boss at present with the North London club already out of both domestic cup competitions as well as sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
Their current league position of 14th is a far cry from the success the Australian enjoyed during his two-year spell as Celtic manager, during which he lifted two Premiership titles, one Scottish Cup and two League Cups.
And fellow countryman Mark Schwarzer has now revealed the real season why Postecoglou chose to move to Glasgow’s east end from the J-League on his own after detailing their recent conversation.
Speaking on the Seaman Says podcast in association with Betway, Aussie legend Schwarzer said: “He went to Japan and did really well, and then the opportunity to go to Celtic. People say, “well, it's the Scottish Premiership” - it is (disrespectful). Celtic and Rangers are, as we all know, enormous.
“And the global appeal, the global position, the support that they have is incredible. They're anomalies in leagues that are not known for being that strong and that big. To see that how big they are around the world is just mind-blowing from a lesser league, so to speak.
“I think people forget how good a job he did at Celtic. He went there off the back of a 25-point deficit from the previous season. He went in there alone. He didn't take an assistant manager, he didn't take a staff. And this is what I really admire about him - he went there, his first massive opportunity to come into European football at a huge club, and he didn't take one single member of staff with him. He went there by himself.
“The fans, from my understanding, wanted the staff's blood as well. They wanted them all out. They wanted a massive clear out. They thought they were just bad news. He came in and gave everyone an opportunity. He said, ‘you know the club better than I do. you know the area, you know the fans, you know everything better than I do. But this is how I want to play, this is what I'm going to do, this is how I'm going to be’.
“I asked him the question why he went there with no one, He said, ‘for me personally, going into a club in that environment where you don't take your own people means that you can't come in on any given day and be relaxed. You can't come in and go, he's got my back’.
“So he knows that every day he walks in, he's got to be on his guard, he's got to make sure that he's doing the best he possibly can. And then he's demanding from his staff exactly the same. So to turn it all around and then go and win the league and win it as convincingly as they did was incredible.
“And then he brought in Harry Kewell as one of the coaches, but he never brought people in who he’d worked with all the time. He brought other people in. He says it openly himself now, ‘I'm an Australian, I'm in a privileged position.
“’I am going to give other Australians an opportunity’. So he got Mile Jedinak his first proper coaching job. He's at Tottenham. But these are no mugs, these are people who are good.”