Celtic coach Harry Kewell has been speaking about his experience of dealing with Ange Postecoglou as a footballer.
Kewell and Postecoglou are now allies at Celtic, but they have had more difficult issues to deal with in the past.
Back in early 2014, Postecoglou was tasked with regenerating the Australian national team ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
Kewell, playing in his homeland with Melbourne Heart, was still part of the Socceroos setup, but on the way out.
One day, the pair met up for a very honest chat. Postecoglou had made his mind up, and Kewell would be one of the older faces to make way for a new generation of talent.
While the news was a blow to Kewell, the meeting built a respect that is benefitting Celtic today.
“The one thing with the manager, he’ll tell you to your face,” said the former Liverpool man on The Big Interview with Graham Hunter.
“Whether you’re a player for him or a player not for him, it doesn’t matter. As long as the manager will tell you to your face, you’re happy.
“You won’t be happy with the outcome, but you think ‘fair enough’, at least he’s told me.
“We went for a coffee in Melbourne. And it was short and sharp because he really got to the point: ‘I’m not selecting you for the Australian team.’
“He gave his reasons. I was gutted. But I just thought: ‘Okay, fine.’ I didn’t really want to stay there much longer and neither did he so we kind of left it at that.
“I shook his hand and wished him good luck, and he did an exceptional job with the Australian team.”
The quotes are more evidence of Ange’s ruthless side. It doesn’t matter whether you’re arguably your country’s greatest ever talent, as Kewell is often viewed: Ange will still cast you aside if it’s what’s best for the team.
We’ve had hints of that recently with the likes of Josip Juranovic, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Moritz Jenz. Perhaps we’ll hear more in years to come.
It’s notable that Kewell would still choose to work with Ange eight or so years on from getting such gutting news.
That probably says as much about Ange as anyone. He’ll tell you straight to your face. You can be gutted with the decision, but not how he’s behaved.
The pair seem to be working well for Celtic right now.
In other news, Hampden will host five big matches next month, with Celtic’s semi-final against Rangers the last
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