Ange Postecoglou has admitted for the first time that he was never going to be Celtic’s long-term saviour – but believes Brendan Rodgers might be.
The Aussie held his first media conference as Tottenham boss at the club’s training ground in Enfield on Monday, one month on from his shock decision to quit Scotland’s champions after lifting five trophies in two seasons. In a candid revelation, Postecoglou has conceded it was always his intention to move on while the going was still good in Glasgow’s east end, and before he was reputationally tarnished as damaged goods from Down Under.
He said: “Yes, absolutely it required soul searching to leave. My wife and my kids loved it up there and my whole family was really happy. I’ve got two young ones and they’ve lived abroad their whole life in four different countries. We made the decision as a family that wherever my profession took us, we’d go and we’d experience that.
My wife knows better than anyone, I can’t resist a challenge. That’s when I’m at my best and my history is I’ve never stayed too long at too many clubs.
“I’ve always left when clubs are successful. All I’ve tried to do whenever I’ve been, like most managers, is leave the club you’ve inherited in a better place than where you picked it up and hopefully make a positive impact.
“It was a tough decision, for sure. But it was also a tough decision to leave the Australian national team before a World Cup, it was tough to leave Yokohama after winning the championship there.
“You establish relationships with people and these are always tough decisions. For me, I’ve always gone with my gut on these things.
“I know when I’m at my best, and I’m at my best when the challenge is the biggest. I thought this was a challenge that would fit all the things I’m looking to achieve.
“For me to come from where I’ve come from and be sitting here today, I needed to have that instinct inside me to know when to move on because I have had to be faultless in my career to get to this point. That’s because no one’s going to rate an Australian manager, are they? So if I had any significant failures along the way, I was never going to get here.
“Part of that process is knowing that I need to keep moving to be at my best. The key factor was there was an opportunity here to again make an impact at a football club.”
But Postecoglou believes his replacement Rodgers is the ideal man for the job because of his managerial qualities as well as a genuine love of the club. He went on: “He’s absolutely the right man, mate. He’s a fantastic manager and he loves that football club.
“He was constantly messaging me while I was Celtic manager to make sure that I stayed on track and we had success. I’ve exchanged messages with him and he was very, very supportive when I got the (Celtic) role.
“Even when I got this role, he sent me a nice message and I reciprocated and stayed in contact with him and all the staff there. I’ve no doubt they’ll have great success.
“Hopefully, they can make an impact in the Champions League, I know that’s what his ambition is. That group of players and staff certainly have the capability to do that.”
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