Harry Kewell yesterday admitted that it takes something special to impress him yet in his first few months working on Ange Postecoglou’s coaching staff at Celtic, he has been blown away by the manner in which the Celtic manager goes about his job and the impact that he has on the players and on the support.
Kewell was speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age to promote the new FIFA 23 game, which he’s included in as an Ultimate Team “hero” as part of a collaboration with Marvel Comics.
“When people talk about he plays a beautiful way … I mean, you should see the training sessions,” Harry Kewell said. “He’s probably Australia’s greatest coach. And now, he’s starting to push up to be one of the greats of the European game.”
It’s been a real eye-opener for Kewell seeing the intensity at every single training session at Celtic and seeing how the players love every minute of working under Postecoglou, following his message to the letter. “These boys are put through it. He demands, every single day: ‘Get that ball, move that ball’. Intense? Wow. I feel like I’m intense. He just takes it to another level, but in a good way. I get to see it every day. I usually don’t get taken aback by certain movements in certain plays. But when I see certain things, I go, ‘Decent, they’re decent.’
“The one thing he does paint is the clearest pictures. You would have to be silly not to understand it, because he picks out everything and he will show you, and then you can’t argue with it, because it’s there: it’s in black and white, plus it’s in colour, plus it’s on video, plus it’s on the pitch. It is as clear as day when it comes to the messages. And I think that’s why the players love it.”
Kewell had mixed experiences in his own managing career in the lower leagues in England so the phone call he received from Ange, which came out of the blue, was most welcome indeed. And Kewell reckons his own record wasn’t too bad at the likes of Watford, Crawley Town, Notts County, Oldham Athletic and Barnet but what he’s learning working alongside Ange is clearly going to help him improve if and when he returns to the manager’s role further down the line.
“People turn around and go, ‘Yeah, you know what, Harry, your time as a manager, maybe, you know’ … I’m not going to lie, it hurts when people think that you’ve spent your time,” Kewell said. “But when you actually look back and you do your research, the clubs that actually worked for, I’ve done well for, and when I’d left, look what’s happened to them – which is a shame, because they’re great clubs.”
“It’s pretty good to sit back and watch and learn, from I have to say, a master,” Kewell admitted. “He’s probably Australia’s greatest coach. And now, he’s starting to push up to be one of the greats of the European game.
“You just pick his brains. It doesn’t matter, whatever it is, you can just ask him a simple question, and he’ll just give it to you straight. When I received the call from him, I was blown away – the way he has spoken, the way he had mentioned me to be a part of it. I was like, wow. It takes a lot for me to be impressed.
“What the manager came into last year, and what he’s created … I mean, you just walk around town and people love him. They love his aura, they love the way he’s a straight talker – he commands the room when he walks in there. But the important thing is he’s winning football matches, and [doing it]his way. That’s what’s Celtic have missed just recently is their identity. And now I think you can clearly say they’ve got an identity, and now they’re working on that identity to become even better.”
“But then again, if you train a certain way, and then you came up against a [bigger]team, and you completely changed your philosophy and ideas, it’s going to throw a lot of people off,” Kewell said. “You only live once, right? So, why not just play the way that you’re comfortable with, and go out there and see it?
“Is it going to be exciting? Oh yeah. It’s going to be interesting, it’s going to be exciting. I love that. And I think I would have loved that if I was playing.
“I would have been buzzing: ‘Just give me the ball, yeah, I’m ready.’ That’s what the players love. They will go out there with no fear. I would love to play the best teams because I think his style will be a challenging for anybody – especially at Parkhead.
“It’s a big year for Celtic because the expectations are huge. But he talks about, ‘Let’s just go out there and be the best we can be.’ That’s a great motto for the players to understand and work by.”
Harry Kewell believes Ange Postecoglou is well on his way to being recognised as one of European football’s top managers as he prepares for the UEFA Champions League | @VinceRugari https://t.co/RsNQ16OIwj
— SMH Sport (@SMHsport) August 17, 2022
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