Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou today opened up on the influence footballing icon Ferenc Puskas had on his own career.
Puskas, one of the greatest players in world footballing history, spent a short spell with South Melbourne between 1989 and 1992 during his managerial days. And who was one of his players at that time? None other than Ange.
The Real Madrid legend, who won the National Soccer League with Postecoglou, is still remembered and hailed to this day as one of the pioneers of football.
And as he opened up on his previous relationship with the great man for the first time, Postecoglou said the following via Celtic TV
“I was fortunate enough to spend a few years with the great Ferenc Puskas, an absolute gentleman, and someone who holds a very dear place in my heart. He looked after me for two or three years, we had a very close relationship. There have been varying influences in the way I look at football and the predominant one was my father but Ferenc was one of the most significant influences for sure.
“I was captain of South Melbourne and he was one of the biggest legends of the game. If you are talking about the greatest ever, he makes that list of players. He was just a gentleman. From the moment he wandered through he was just humble. We were constantly pestering him to tell us stories about Real Madrid, what he did at Hampden, what he did at Wembley.
“He was forever downplaying everything and it just showed you the greatness of the man was just his humility in dealing with people. I used to pick him up from his house and drive him to training in my crappy old car, which I was embarrassed about. We swapped many stories and his philosophy to football was basically just go out there and enjoy yourselves and score goals.
“We used to play with two wingers and he was forever telling our wingers never to come back and defend. I was a full-back so it used to infuriate me, but we won a championship with him and part of the reason we won was the atmosphere within the group, because nobody wanted to let him down, he was just a great man.”
Celtic boss openly reveals close connection with the late Ferenc Puskas
Whilst not many will have known about the fact Ange played under Puskas, even less will have known how close he grew to him.
Playing under a legend of the game will undoubtedly change you. At the very least in terms of how you think and see football. It’s bound to give you a new perspective. Something Postecoglou appears to have found working under him.
Puskas’ achievements in the game are too great to list. Both as a player and manager, he enjoyed a decorated career that’s still celebrated to this day.
You can see how much Postecoglou looked up to him before his passing in 2006. The Hoops boss went on to state how he didn’t manage to reconnect with him after he became a manager, and that’s something that clearly irks him.
But it shows heading into this game against Ferencvaros tomorrow night that the Celtic manager has a close connection with Hungarian football’s greatest ever figure.
Fingers crossed it’s Ange who comes out of tomorrow smiling against Hungarian opposition tomorrow.
In other news, Livi player Marvin Bartley launches robust defence of Celtic on BBC Sportsound
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