Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has revealed he has monthly chats with Aussie coaches to gauge new ideas.
Although Postecoglou has also managed in Japan, he still used his connections in Australia to develop his management skills.
He believes it is important to engage and take ideas from other sports and see whether they can be developed in football which is a big part of his success at Celtic.
As football isn’t the number one sport in Australia, there can be lessons learned from the likes of rugby and cricket. People do enjoy the A-League which is still continuing to grow.
One significant figure who he speaks to often is Australian rugby boss Eddie Jones who he speaks to one a month. They both share their frustrations and look for ideas as how to fix them. Although rugby and football are completely different both can learn something from each other when it comes to building atmosphere within squads.
“Growing up in Australia, the disadvantage of loving football is that it isn’t the No 1 sport. But the advantage of loving sport is that you are surrounded by it,” said Postecoglou as quoted by [Football Scotland].
“Growing up I was lucky enough to be exposed to multitudes of team and individual sports on my doorstep.
“I’ve kind of used those networks throughout my career, whether that was as a player or now that I’m coaching. I’ve always had networks of people and Eddie is one of them. Along with three or four other Australian coaches from different codes, we catch up once a month on Zoom.
“It’s more cathartic than anything else. We just complain for half an hour about our sort of burden, unburden ourselves and move on.
“But you always get stuff, because even though it is different sports, we are all dealing with similar things, particularly in the team dynamics and dealing with young men and young athletes.
“Particularly as you get older, you want to make sure you are constantly understanding the way they communicate so your message gets across.
“So I’ve always tapped in and I’ve had quite a few other coaches come through Celtic just to spend the week with us.
“They get a bit out of it, I get a bit out of it and the staff get a bit out of it because we pick each other’s brains.
“Even if the sports are different and there isn’t a tactical exchange of ideas, there certainly is in terms of methodology and how you convey your ideas to players, whether that’s technology or other sources.
“There’s always stuff you can pick up. How to handle the media’s a good one!”
Once again, this is another great insight into the workings of Postecoglou who is always looking to advance and evolve whenever he can.
It might not be something that other coaches think of but it certainly appears to be working.
A lot was made when the former Yokohama’s boss came to Glasgow without any coaches but he is still able to retain some sort of connection back to his homeland by doing this.
