Ange Postecoglou has played in the Champions League with League Two club Southend. In Football Manager, that is, where the manager of Tottenham Hotspur turns out to be a big fan.
Postecoglou is making significant strides as a manager after achieving impressive results with Celtic.
He is now making a name for himself in London as well. Postecoglou tells Goal that his love for management started with the popular game Football Manager.
"It's amazing what you can do in real life. Even more amazing is what you can do in Football Manager," said Postecoglou.
Postecoglou started as the coach of Australia and gradually worked his way up. "You have the freedom to do things that you can't do in real life. I loved taking a small club to the highest possible level. I brought Southend United to the Champions League, and my greatest moment was also my biggest heartbreak because they fired me six months later, when I was expecting a statue."
"I used experienced players and loanees to get out of the lower divisions, and bought young unknown players from Italy and South America. I didn't mess with tactics, I just wheeled and dealt. Harry Redknapp on steroids. It was all about finding the next star and I was pretty aggressive in terms of transfers. The game was a precursor to where transfers have eventually ended up. I had a database of players at the push of a button. And now it's more or less become real life."
