Ange Postecoglou says he has only himself to blame for an extraordinarily brief reign as Nottingham Forest manager, while opening up on a range of topics, from his backstory, to his view on the vacant Manchester United position.
Postecoglou, 60, was appointed as Nuno Espirito Santo’s successor in September.
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But infamously impatient Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Postecoglou just 39 days later, after the experienced manager lost six of his eight games in charge.
The Australian accepted he made “a bad decision” in taking on the job with the English Premier League struggler.
His wide-ranging chat on The Overlap also included a touching story about the time he managed South Melbourne at the Maracana against a Roy Keane-led Manchester United. One detail from the story left Keane noticeably moved during the podcast.
Meanwhile, closing comments about Manchester United has caused a stir with a belief that Postecoglou has indirectly thrown his hat in the ring.
See the best bits from his interview on the Overlap podcast below!
THE FOREST REGRET
Postecoglou, reflecting on his time at Forest, said an over-eagerness to get back into management after his departure from Tottenham Hotspur three months earlier, had been the root cause of his troubles at the City Ground.
“There’s no point me blaming it on ‘I didn’t get time’ or anything,” Postecoglou said.
“I should never have gone in there. That was on me. That was a bad decision by me to go in there. I’ve got to take ownership of that.
“It was too soon after Tottenham. I was taking over at a time where they were kind of used to doing things a certain way and I’m obviously going to do things differently. I’ve got to cop that, that was my mistake. It’s no one else’s fault.”
ON MARINAKIS
“The owner, you can say what they want about him, but Forest wouldn’t be in the Premier League probably without him,” Postecoglou said.
“He wants them to win and he doesn’t care how they do it.”
ON HIS OLD JOB AT CELTIC
Postecoglou remains without a club but he ruled out returning to Celtic, where he enjoyed a successful two-year stint from 2021-23, with the 73-year-old Martin O’Neill currently in caretaker charge of the Scottish champion until the end of the season.
“I loved Celtic, it’s a wonderful football club,” said Postecoglou, who left the Glasgow giant to join Spurs.
“If I was younger, I probably would have stayed there longer. I probably would have stayed there three, four years.
“I think I could have made progress with them in Europe but at the time, it had taken me a long time to get to this sort of space, and the opportunity to join Tottenham was too good.
“In terms of going back, I don’t go back. I just don’t think that’s kind of been my career.
“Whatever the next step is, it’ll be something new, somewhere I can make an impact in, somewhere I can win things, but it doesn’t diminish the affection I have for Celtic.”
ON TAKING SOUTH MELBOURNE TO THE MARACANA
One of the interview’s best moments included Postecoglou paying tribute to United legend Keane.
In 2000, Postecoglou’s South Melbourne Hellas side played United at the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship.
“After the game, our guys were just desperate for shirts,” Postecoglou said.
“Our No.7 literally man-marked Becks (David Beckham) for the last 15 minutes, even though he was totally out of position, just to make sure he was there at fulltime.
“And then after the game, a couple of our guys, drug control got them, so they missed out.
“So, then, they’ve gone into the rooms after, and they’ve gone to the Man U room after and, they said to a couple of the guys, I won’t mention who, ‘Can we have your shirts?’ And they said, ‘No’.
“And Roy grabbed them and said, ‘No, give them your shirt, will you?’
“They couldn’t speak higher of Roy. Seriously. I’ll tell you, the impression that made on my players, right? They said, ‘You wouldn’t believe it, Roy Keane told them (to do it).”
ON MANCHESTER UNITED … AND THE REACTION
Perhaps the biggest moment of the interview came at the end, when host Gary Neville asked for Postecoglou’s thought on what kind of manager his former club, Manchester United, needs.
The answer has been viewed by some as a personal pitch.
“My view is that (Manchester United) is the hardest job in world football,” Postecoglou said. “The scrutiny that the club has, and the spotlight it’s constantly under, beholden to the history it has, it’s going to take a unique individual to be able to overcome.”
Listing the characteristics he believes a manager needs to be successful at Old Trafford, he continued: “A person who can handle over 100 press conferences every year.
“Handling winning 10 games and being torn apart for losing one.
“Winning and not winning in the right style.
“History being a constant companion to everything you do.
“So it’s going to have to be someone who’s prepared to accept all that and be strong enough as an individual to say, ‘I will do it, but I’ll do it my way’.”
Postecoglou added about his own outlook: “If a club starts talking to me, it’s not like I’m going to walk in and do things differently.
“Do they really want what I have to offer? I’m going to play this way, I’m going to train this way, and I want to win things. I’ve done that my whole career.”
The Athletic’s Elias Burke said Postecoglou’s response was him “indirectly throwing his hat in the ring”.
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