Postecoglou reveals epic job exit to pursue coaching career

Josh Thomas

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Postecoglou reveals epic job exit to pursue coaching career image

Just over 25 years ago, Ange Postecoglou was working in a bank after his playing career was cut short when he got a call that changed his life. 

Already an assistant coach at South Melbourne, the Victorian club decided to give Postecoglou the top job on a short-term basis in 1996. 

Despite not being given any guarantees he'd have the role any longer than three games, Postecoglou took it as a sign to pursue his coaching ambitions full-time and boldly walked away from his other job. 

"I was working in a bank, working at NAB down in Clarendon Street, and they (South Melbourne) called me in the morning, they said, 'Look, you've got the job for the next three games just as a caretaker coach and then we'll make decision for next year'," Postecoglou said in a dafabet interview with Shane Warne. 

"As soon as I put the phone down I quit the bank. I walked out. There was a queue of people waiting to get their money out...

"I said, 'That's it, I'm just going to go for it.' It was only three games but I thought I'd have a crack at it and 25-26 years later I haven't had a real job so I'm doing alright." 


The Australian coach would go on to win four titles with South Melbourne before achieving success in the A-League Men and qualifying for the 2018 World Cup with the Socceroos. 

Fresh from recently winning his first title with Scottish giants Celtic, Postecoglou has clearly found his true calling as a coach - something he was drawn to even as a player. 

"I was alright as a player. I played for the Socceroos three or four times but I was a battler - hard at it as we say in Aussie terms," Postecoglou said. 

"I always had this thing in side of me that I just felt my calling or what I'd be good at was being a manager.

"Even when I was playing, I was captain of the club pretty young and then I made sure I was always talking to the coaches and talking to people about other aspects of the game, not just playing it.

"I was almost getting myself ready so when the injury happened, I sort of retired when I was 26 or 27, and it was like a nudge for me that this was what I was supposed to do and I threw myself into it." 

Postecoglou's Celtic travel to struggling St. Johnstone on Sunday in the Scottish Premiership and need a win to keep pace with league leaders Rangers, who are currently six points clear of the Hoops. 

Josh Thomas