With Ange Postecoglou leaving Melbourne Victory to take up the vacancy at the Socceroos, he leaves the club with a half finished project. But has he done enough to leave a lasting legacy?
Ideally, the national job would have come for Postecoglou following some success, completing the task of taking the biggest club in Australia to new heights. That’s the man he is, and he even said it when he took the Socceroos job, that he’s driven by challenges and his new role was too big a challenge to ignore.
Nevertheless, the club must and will move on. The first thing Postecoglou has left behind with him is a capable backroom, with plenty of staff to carry on his good work. Kevin Muscat looks to be the man to succeed him at the helm of Victory, and his credentials should and would have been improved after understudying with Postecoglou for 18 months.
Muscat has been through a lot in his entire time at the club. He has worked under the club’s most successful coach in Ernie Merrick, an experience that can’t be underestimated as it’s the only time that Victory have been challenging for honours. He’s experienced it and knows what it takes. Apart from that he’s been through the tumultuous period where Mehmet Durakovic and Jim Magilton spent their short stints at the club. The club sank to its lowest ebb and Muscat even had the reigns for a match against Newcastle Jets, which he managed to win. If anyone is fit for the job, Muscat is. He’s been through thick and thin as a player and as an assistant coach. His time with Postecoglou will have groomed him for the job and he now has his chance to carry on the Postecoglou project, and stamp his own mark on it in the process.
The other key figure in the backroom is youth team coach Darren Davies. There’s no coincidence that the youth team swept all before them to take out the National Youth League title last season. Davies has prepared several players for first team football with several of his squad making first team debuts. Those include Connor Pain, Christopher Cristaldo, Dylan Murnane, Andrew Nabbout and Nick Ansell. His eye for talent is impeccable, having spotted most of these players on various scouting missions around the Victorian Premier League. He also carries out Postecoglou’s first team instructions to a tee, moulding his talented young bunch into players to fit the system ready to be sent to the first team. Postecoglou recognised his ability as a coach and included him as part of the first team set up, making transitioning easier for the youth players.
One of Postecoglou’s biggest changes at the club was the focus on youth. Davies played his part in grooming the players but it was Postecoglou who had the belief that they could step up and play in the first team. Showing faith to youth is something that had not really been a tradition at Melbourne Victory before the ex-Brisbane coach turned up. Only a handful of youth players had come through under Merrick, Durakovic and Magilton, as they opted for the tried and tested options to get results. It is one thing to say that you want to implement a youth policy, and Postecoglou proved it by continually putting his faith in youth and rejuvenating the Melbourne Victory squad. He has done it throughout his time in charge, and Rashid Mahazi’s debut against Melbourne Heart in Round 1 was yet another example of this. He has left the club with a well balanced squad with a good mix of experience and youth, setting the tone of how this club should be now he’s left.
Postecoglou also made Melbourne Victory an attractive proposition for players who had their careers stalling overseas. The signings of Nathan Coe, Mark Milligan, James Troisi and Kosta Barbarouses are a sign of this. Each player spoke about how important it was that Postecoglou was in charge, and it’s all down to the atmosphere he set around the club. He was adamant the club should not be embarrassed about anything, and be proud of what they had and used that as a selling point to these players. The results speak for themselves when you look at Coe and Milligan, and should Postecoglou had stayed on, it’s fair to say the same would have happened to Troisi and Barbarouses as well. Of course, it’s not just internationally based players that saw Melbourne as an attractive club to join, with Mitch Nichols coming from Brisbane with the same reasoning. This is a legacy that has to be worked on, as continuing it has plenty of upside in the long run.
Then of course there’s the style of play. At Brisbane he had a possession based 4-3-3 structure, but at Melbourne he redefined attacking football with a 4-2-2-2 counter attacking and direct structure, based on speed from his wide forwards and nifty play with his attacking midfielders. The ball remains on the deck, but his style at Victory has been more cut throat giving them a different cutting edge to what he had in Brisbane. It was not about wearing down opposition teams but hitting them on the break and hurting them with their speed of play. It is now a style Postecoglou has stamped on Melbourne Victory, and if you are to watch the youth team play, that is exactly what you will see too. Future managers may come in and change things, but one thing they can rely on is a structure that has been set, where everyone understands their role, and a style of play that is attractive to the fans.
Finally, Postecoglou’s football has had a big impact in bringing fans back into the stands. Melbourne Victory’s average attendances were dropping to alarming levels just before to took charge, and he leaves the club having a membership total of over 21,000. His ultimate aim was to see the club hit 30,000 in five years of him taking the Melbourne Victory job. While he won’t be there to see it happen, should his successor whether it’d be Muscat or someone else carry on his legacy, then that is a figure that should be hit.
It is a shame that Postecoglou’s time in charge at Victory had to end so abruptly, but one thing he has left is a lasting legacy, even with the job unfinished. In a way that may be just the thing his successor needs, an unfinished job to complete. Everything at the club is in order, unlike what it was before he arrived, and while the future to many may seem uncertain, the seeds have been sown. All the new man in charge has to do is let it flourish.