Ange Postecoglou may have only spent two years at Celtic, but his impact is still being felt.
Darren O’Dea was one of many Celtic coaches to be taken under the Aussie’s wing during his time in Glasgow.
What Postecoglou lacked in European experience, he made up for in charisma. His distinctive ‘Angeball’ style of football was thrilling to watch.
More crucially, it was successful, delivering five of the six available domestic trophies during his tenure.
But his focus was on more than just first-team matters, as O’Dea has now revealed.
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Darren O’Dea on Ange Postecoglou at Celtic
O’Dea was the manager of Celtic’s B team during Postecoglou’s tenure, retaining the role under Brendan Rodgers before moving into the position of Player Pathways Manager.
As well as the Lowland League, O’Dea also gained experience in the UEFA Youth League, competing against the best academies in Europe.
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Speaking on Open Goal, O’Dea reflected on Postecoglou’s furious reaction to one Youth League defeat.
Asked who the biggest influence was during his time at Parkhead, the Irishman said: “Ange.
“So, Ange’s first year, about six months in, he called me in and said he wanted to take over my development.
“Or take responsibility for my development, and mentor me. You know what he’s like, he didn’t speak or converse with many people.
“I was three times a week with him in the room, and he was outstanding. Gold dust.
“We went away to Madrid, Real Madrid in the Youth League, and obviously they’re playing in the Bernabeu later. [Ange] is watching our game, and he’s playing later.
“I’m obviously leading it. We go 2-0 down after about ten seconds, and I’m going, ‘oh my days’.
“Madrid all over us. So I just dropped someone back into midfield and just stopped the bleeding. To be fair, we got back into it. We end up losing about three or four-one.
“But at that time, ten seconds in, I was like, ‘this could be anything’. So I came in, I met him on this. I would always debrief the game when we came back…
“And he absolutely went through me. You know, it was brilliant for me. I idolised Ange. I think he’s absolutely sensational.
“But I knew at that stage: that’s for me. Just because he’s outstanding, I admired him, he made me understand.
“I said, ‘I can’t watch my team lose and not try to affect it. I can’t do it.’ But he said ‘No, that’s what we have to do, we have to be strong in those moments’.
“So I obviously did that, because that was my job, to align into his. But in my head, I knew that that’s not for me.”
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Celtic backroom staff under Ange Postecoglou
Postecoglou was happy to move along with the coaches he inherited at Celtic: namely John Kennedy, Gavin Strachan and Stephen McManus.
The Aussie raved about Kennedy’s influence at the time, saying that he took control over scheduling training and even the team’s pressing shape.
In his second summer, Postecoglou brought Harry Kewell to Glasgow to work with the Hoops’ wingers. He left 18 months later to become manager of Yokohama F Marinos.
When ‘Big Ange’ left Celtic to join Tottenham, he tried to take Kennedy with him, in an extremely telling move given his usual reluctance to keep the same backroom staff.
He also tried to take video analyst Greg Wallace, who remains on Celtic’s staff under Martin O’Neill.
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