Ange’s Aussie rules: Forest to play without fear is the Postecoglou promise

Nottingham: Three months after he was brutally sacked despite delivering a rare trophy for his club, Ange Postecoglou sounds almost zen about the way his downfall in June has led to his rise in September.

The Australian soccer coach, fronting the media for the first time in his new job at Nottingham Forest, showed no sign of anger at his removal from Tottenham Hotspur.

Out on the streets of Nottingham, meanwhile, local supporters believe Forest is in good shape and on the rise – and they are curious about whether the new coach will bring some Australian energy to lift the club even higher.

At an event to welcome Postecoglou to his new club, journalists ask him several times whether he believes his sacking was unjust or unfair when he had delivered the Europa League trophy earlier this year, but he never takes the obvious invitation to get stuck into Spurs or its managers.

“I don’t think it’s about being treated unfairly,” he says. “It’s just that people make decisions, you’ve got to accept that decision, it’s out of my hands, whether I think it’s the right decision or not becomes irrelevant.

“But it was never going to, sort of, derail me and what I achieve in the game.”

He even suggests it might have happened for a reason.

“And the reason was that it landed me here. It gives me an opportunity to do something special at this football club.”

Will he bring anything uniquely Australian to the task? He believes it will be the Australian approach to taking on big and powerful rivals – just as Australia does in the Olympic Games.

Born in Greece in 1965, Postecoglou moved with his family to Melbourne in 1970 and was raised on football.

“I think we grow up with this real inherent instinct to take on anyone without any fear, and that’s replicated in the football I play,” he says.

“I don’t care if [someone] tells me you can’t do this in Premier League, and you can’t do this in Europe. Everywhere I’ve been, you can’t do it – but just show them that you can. And I think that comes from where I grew up.”

He is not exactly cheerful – that is not his style –but he jokes with the media during his press conference. When one British journalist asks him if he knew the storied history of Nottingham Forest in the 1970s, he replies: “Yes, Australia was a country that did have communication and electricity.” That draws a laugh.

A few minutes from the City Ground on the River Trent, meanwhile, the locals of Nottingham are intrigued at the arrival of a new coach.

“I think it’s going to really help,” says Jay, a student at a music college and an active supporter at Forest home games.

Thomas, 27, a schoolteacher, is worried about the removal of the old coach, Nuno Espirito Santo, who he rated highly.

“We had such a great season last year, it’s gonna be very hard to do it again, back to back.”

Sean, 73, a retiree, is unsentimental about the way coaches come and go, but he believes Forest is in a good position to move up with a new coach.

“They’re a good team, and the first thing you notice is the work rate, especially when they lose the ball, right? They move quickly to get it back,” he says.

“They’ve got players who look out for each other and read each other and anticipate the play, and that’s what good football is.”

He thinks Postecoglou can bring some Australian straight talk to the task.

Matt, 18, who is about to start university, believes Forest is on the rise but has played a different stye of football to the team’s Postecoglou has coached – defensive rather than attacking.

“I’m wary of his inability to adapt,” he says of the Australian coach. “He seemed to not want to adapt his style at Tottenham. And I think that might be something he needs to do.

“But I’m optimistic. I’m willing to see how we play against Arsenal this Saturday, and hear him out.”

Others do not really care what happens. Angela, who works in a care home, used to follow the football but no longer bothers.

“Too much money,” she says. “That’s what’s ruined it – the money. They used to play for the love of the game. Now it’s all about money and sponsorships.”

The owner of Nottingham Forest, shipping line owner Evangelos Marinakis, is estimated to have spent £400 million ($815 million) on 100 players over the past eight years – while recouping some of this in transfer deals, according to The New York Times.

Postecoglou, however, talks about the joy of the game. He insists it is not about the money. Instead, he says it is all about the excitement – and winning trophies.

“I just want to keep doing what I’m doing because it brings joy to people and allows me to live my dreams,” he says.

If he was down and out in June, he is showing no sign of bitterness now that he is on the rise again in September.

One of the big steps in his move to Nottingham Forest took place when he gathered with friends to celebrate his 60th birthday – and his wife and friends were asking what gift he wanted.

“Just a job,” he says he replied. “And somebody delivered, so that’s good.”

Stan Sport is the only place to watch Arsenal take on Ange Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest in a Premier League blockbuster with all the action streaming live and in 4K this Saturday 13 September from 9:00pm AEST.