City Football Group’s managing director of global football, Brian Marwood, speaks to KEEPUP’s Sacha Pisani about putting Ange Postecoglou forward for the Yokohama F.Marinos job and then endorsing him for the Celtic gig.
A year ago, Celtic plucked an Australian from Japan’s top flight to lead a much-needed overhaul of the Scottish giants.
But more importantly, Celtic wanted a man to help dethrone bitter rivals Rangers.
There was a mixed reaction to Ange Postecoglou’s appointment last June – his transformative football and title-winning work in Australia and Japan either unknown or dismissed by some.
Two A-League Men Championships with Brisbane Roar, an AFC Asian Cup with the Socceroos and a J1 League crown with Yokohama F.Marinos were just some of Postecoglou’s achievements.
However, 12 months on and the former Socceroos boss is the king of Glasgow, with the Scottish Premiership trophy back draped in Celtic colours and a League Cup in hand.
Celtic knew exactly what they were getting thanks to the City Football Group (CFG), through their 20% ownership in F.Marinos.
“We have a great relationship with Celtic. We were happy to endorse Ange when they spoke to us about potentially appointing him as head coach,” CFG’s managing director of global football Brian Marwood told KEEPUP.
“Again, you look at the work he has done there, after having a very difficult start. He went late in the summer, it was very difficult for him to bring players in and he was very resolute in terms of his thinking, what his objectives were and how he needed to create those and deliver them.
“You look at where the team got to at the end of the season, playing fantastic football and winning the title. In his first season he has walked with two trophies.
“I am immensely proud of what he has done there. I know his family have settled well, he has really enjoyed being in an institution that is Celtic Football Club and really up for the challenge of taking that club on a journey that everybody can be proud of.
“The success he has had there doesn’t surprise me, particularly after such a difficult start, but I think he will be working hard in the summer to make sure that they improve on what they have done this year.”
Marwood knows Postecoglou better than most, with their relationship dating back to the latter’s tenure as Australia manager between 2013 and 2017.
As Australia boss, Postecoglou delivered a first Asian Cup trophy to the nation – a monumental achievement on home soil in 2015.
Postecoglou also guided Australia to World Cup qualification in 2018, though he stepped down before the tournament in Russia four years ago.
The 56-year-old did oversee two impressive World Cup qualifying campaigns, which pitted the Socceroos against the likes of Spain, Netherlands, Chile, France, Denmark and Peru in 2014 and 2018.
Impressed by Postecoglou, Marwood and part-owners CFG were behind his F.Marinos appointment in 2018 after the exit of Frenchman and eventual Melbourne City boss Erick Mombaerts.
It was a masterstroke. Postecoglou ended F.Marinos’ 14-year J1 League title drought with an entertaining and high-octane brand of football in his second season.
He also earned praise from Pep Guardiola and Raheem Sterling after a friendly against CFG’s flagship club and Premier League giants Manchester City in 2019.
Postecoglou’s F.Marinos out-possessed Guardiola’s City in that pre-season match.
Celtic eventually came calling.
“The story of Ange, I first met him when he was Australian national team manager,” Marwood recalled.
“He came over to Europe to do a bit of a trip watching players and games. He got introduced to me when he came up to Manchester.
“He was somebody that straightaway we connected really well. Up to this day we are very, very good friends.
“At that time, he was somebody that you could sit and talk to and we just chatted football and we just connected really well.
“We stayed in contact and I was obviously following what he was doing with the Australian national team whose performances were very good and the way they were playing football was very good.
“We were looking for a coach at F.Marinos and he was somebody that we put forward to F.Marinos for what we believed would be the right choice in terms of the connection between what F.Marinos were trying to achieve and really what Ange was looking for in the next stage of his career.
“We introduced him to the people at F.Marinos, they really liked him, he was really keen to coach in the J-League and the rest is history.
“He went there, developed a wonderful style of play which got great plaudits and also won the title, which was their first title in many, many years.
“The way he is as a person, he won a lot of friends and admirers. It was great to see how that grew in terms of him as a person but also his Yokohama team, to the point where he got the opportunity to come to Europe.”
