Postecoglou before the Socceroos: VPL relegation with the Zebras

by Damir Kulas 0

A managerial overview of the 2009 Victorian Premier League season sees many familiar faces. Some feature in unfamiliar colours to those they exhibit today, with the likes of John Anastasiadis entering his first season with the Oakleigh Cannons, Chris Taylor overseeing the men from Somers Street, and Goran Lozanovski taking charge of his first full season at Hume City.

Other usual suspects were in their usual surroundings, with George Katsakis managing Heidelberg United, while Vlado Tortevski was at Altona Magic, with both men finding themselves in the same situation today. However, one would be forgiven for thinking that a particular name seems more out of place than the rest.

Ange Postecoglou managing the relegated Moreland Zebras (then known as the Whittlesea Zebras)? Surely not.

The same Ange Postecoglou who went on a record 36-game undefeated streak with Brisbane Roar, winning two A-League Championships before returning back home to Melbourne to take over the reins at Victory in 2012?

The same guy who became Socceroos manager in October 2013, oversaw respectable performances at the World Cup in Brazil, before becoming a national hero after guiding the national team to victory on home soil in the 2015 Asian Cup?

Difficult to believe, but sometimes truth is stranger fiction.

The journey to Epping Stadium

The former South Melbourne Hellas defender and ex-Socceroo had won an NSL title under legendary Hungarian footballer-turned-manager Ferenc Puskas in 1991, before winning the same title twice as South coach in 1998 and 1999, which saw the four-time NSL Champions take on Manchester United at the Club World Cup in Brazil in 2000.

Shortly afterwards, his domestic achievements were recognised when he was appointed to succeed Les Scheinflug as manager of the Young Socceroos and Joeys. His time in charge of the youth national sides saw him achieve qualification for numerous World Cups, with many current and former Socceroos working under his tutelage.

However, failure to achieve qualification for either the U20 or U17 World Cups in 2007 saw Postecoglou axed months after his infamous live TV blow-up with former Socceroos and SBS pundit Craig Foster. Ironically, he himself then moved into punditry with Fox Sports, covering the 2007 Asian Cup and third season of the A-League, in addition to his work as an elite consultant with Football Federation Victoria. Then, in early 2008, he made the bold move overseas back to the motherland by taking charge of Greek third division side Panachaiki.

The Greek-born manager enjoyed seven months in charge of the Patras based outfit, where he helped unearth current Greece international and Benfica midfielder Andreas Samaris. Boardroom politics saw him axed despite Panachaiki sitting second on the competition ladder with promotion a realistic target. Postecoglou duly returned to Melbourne but found coaching opportunities in the A-League limited, with the domestic game in danger of losing the then 43-year-old, who had for some time been earmarked as one of the country’s brightest young coaching talents.

While he found temporary employment running coaching clinics for juniors across the city, he was given a foray to return to senior management by the Zebras, who had lost their opening six games of the 2009 season. They announced Postecoglou as their new head coach in April, tasked with the difficult objective of keeping the 2007 VPL grand finalists in the top tier.

Joe Sala is currently the president of the Moreland Zebras, but back in 2009 he was the club’s football operations manager. He explains the process behind the club landing Postecoglou at Epping Stadium, as well their fortunes and the climate of the day.

“We had done well to make the grand final in 2007 where we lost to Preston, but experienced two difficult years after that”, Sala says.

Veteran manager Peter Ollerton departed midway through the 2008 season. Former Melbourne City manager Ivan Jolic stepped in, with the Zebras struggling after collecting only 12 points from their opening 13 fixtures and teetering towards relegation.

The ex-Melbourne Knights defender oversaw just three defeats in 13, leading the Zebras to finish eight points above the drop. Despite an impressive pre-season, Jolic departed five rounds into 2009 after five straight defeats, with caretaker Glenn Clarke overseeing the Round 6 defeat to Heidelberg United.

“Ivan was a great communicator and felt after five rounds that he had run his course and needed to leave as he had done his best with the club, with most of his passion for the game lying with coaching juniors,” Sala says.

The task to replace Jolic fell to Sala and other club associates; respected businessman and long-time Zebras and football backer Joe Mirabella helped out with the process.

“He returned to the country in 2008 and those were the days when Melbourne Heart were in their early foundations. I believe he was shortlisted for a coaching role with them and was drifting back into football circles after leaving the Young Socceroos,” Sala says.

He came back and we had communications with him through Joe Mirabella and the Mirabella Group. After racking our brain as to who was available on such short notice, it quickly became a no-brainer to hire Ange, and he was very keen to get on board with us as well.”

However, as Sala explains, Postecoglou was entering an environment that had experienced significant turbulence in recent years – the odds were stacked against him to steer the young side away from relegation.

“We had a rough trot early on in 2009 and at the time had many young players on our books,” Sala says.

“We had underperformed since the 2007 grand final, and a lot of factors compounded player performance. He took over at a time that was maybe not as smooth as it could have been, and this took its toll on the results, as he began to restructure the football side of things and increased the professionalism around the place.

“There was a bit of turmoil off the pitch, and the players and their performances became an easy scapegoat. We were having issues regarding the facility and ground with Whittlesea City Council, and a combination of internal and external factors forced us to remain at bottom of ladder.”

On the field, Postecoglou immediately sought to improve the morale of the playing squad, while also keeping a keen eye on the talent at the club.

“He took it upon himself to do a lot of instructing and a lot of players benefitted from that,” Sala adds.

“Given that we lost two of our three best players, which included Greg Lombardo, he did well in blooding a lot of youngsters who ended up playing in the VPL and NPL with other teams, and were given their first opportunities at such a level under Postecoglou.

“An example of this was young Nick Symeoy, who is now at Avondale and who that year was in our reserves squad at the age of 14. Ange identified him as having some potential, and he went on to win the NPL Rising Star award, in addition to the Zebras Best and Fairest (Mirabella Award), as well as representing Melbourne City in the A-League. Ange added that professional touch around the place and each player benefitted from his training regime and methods.”

The Zebras, who are the successors of 1985 NSL Champions Brunswick Juventus, were Postecoglou’s stepping stone to bigger and better things, and Sala is not surprised to see how far the current Socceroos supremo has come in a little under seven years since his time at the club.

“It’s no surprise to me to see where he is now and what he has achieved in such a short period. He was always very respectful of the historical factors of our game and understood the legacy our club left on the football landscape,” he says.

“We had a lot of discussions together and in particular I remember him telling me that he had a lot of information that he was putting in place and just needed an environment to implement it. I had no hesitation that he was going to do it and he just needed a place where he could put his ideas into practice.”

The current Zebras president predicts Postecoglou to have even more success in the future, providing his own insight into the Postecoglou philosophy.

“He has a clear vision and knows what football is and the style he thinks is current, and isn’t afraid to mix it up depending on the opponent,” Sala says.

“You could see this at Brisbane, and I believe he is on the path to greater things and has still managed to leave a legacy around this club in his short time here. He has got good relations with the club to this day, and I wish him all the best with his best time yet to come and what we are seeing now is probably only the tip of the iceberg.”

Despite his best efforts, Whittlesea finished the season second bottom and were subsequently relegated from the top flight, making a return two years later as the rebranded Moreland Zebras.

His overall record at the club reads 16 games, two wins, four draws and 10 defeats, with the Zebras only finding the back of the net 15 times in 22 league games. Although, based upon their continued slide down the table, limited player personal and off the field issues, Postecoglou’s record should be viewed in this context.

Ange’s 16 games in charge of the Zebras revisited

Postecoglou’s first game in charge saw him thrown into the deep end as the Zebras travelled to undefeated league ladders Dandenong Thunder. The visitors took a shock lead via a Tex Apostolikas strike, only for Stuart Munro’s side to restore parity and take the lead in a first-half stoppage time before holding on for the three points.

Further promise was shown in his second game at the helm when Whittlesea took the lead away to the Melbourne Knights, only to be pegged back for a share of the spoils to earn their first point of the campaign eight rounds into the season.

Postecoglou’s first home game at Epping Stadium saw the Zebras suffer a narrow 1-0 loss to eventual Champions Altona Magic, followed by a respectable goalless draw away to Sunshine George Cross, rounding off a promising first month in the managerial hotseat.

His first win came in the next fixture as the Zebras defeated fellow strugglers Preston 2-1, before suffering four straight tight losses to Richmond, Green Gully, Hume and Oakleigh respectively.

His 10th game in charge of the struggling outfit saw Postecoglou return to Lakeside Stadium (then known as Bob Jane Stadium) as his beloved South Melbourne triumphed 4-0, before Heidelberg compounded further misery on the Zebras with a 3-1 home win.

A thrilling return fixture against the Thunder at Epping saw the Joey Di Iorio-inspired premiers triumph 3-2, with the seven-game losing streak snapped the following week after a 1-1 draw against Melbourne Knights in what was Chris Taylor’s last game in charge of the two-time NSL Champions.
Although by this stage, the Zebras relegation to the second tier was confirmed.

A 5-0 defeat to Altona Magic at Paisley Park followed in his worst result in charge of the club, while the inexperienced Zebras also squandered a 2-0 lead over Sunshine, as a late brace to current Bentleigh skipper Wayne Wallace saw the scores level at the end of the 90.

The final fixture of the campaign pitted Postecoglou’s side against Preston in a basement battle; the winner would avoid the dreaded wooden spoon. Both teams entered the contest with a mere seven points on the ladder. A 2-0 win ended his tenure at the club on a winning note in the last top flight fixture at the Lions’ home ground of BT Connor Reserve.

What happened next?

Throughout his spell at the Zebras, Postecoglou continued his media work with Fox Sports. It was in a lift at the Etihad Stadium car park following the end of a Melbourne Victory game when he bumped into A-League boss Archie Fraser.

The Scottish-born former St Kilda CEO and Postecoglou entered into a discussion, where the former Young Socceroos boss told Fraser of his burning desire to coach in the A-League. A few months later, Frank Farina was sacked as head coach of the FFA-owned Brisbane Roar, who put Postecoglou into the hotseat.

Despite initially struggling to attract results and falling out with several of the club’s senior players, including former Socceroos Craig Moore and Danny Tiatto, Postecoglou won the A-League Championship in his first full season in charge of the club, playing an entertaining, free-flowing style of football.

The Zebras finished a disappointing 9th in the 2010 State League One season, earning promotion back into the top flight under current Bulleen Lions boss Dominic Barba a year later. Barba was dismissed early next season and replaced by another returning Aussie manager with experience in Greece – Joe Palatsides.

However, despite having the likes of Carl Recchia, Daniel Vasilevski and Griffin McMaster on their books, the Zebras were unable to avoid relegation in a season where promising youngsters Nick Symeoy, Jordan Wilkes, Ersin Kaya, James Papadimitriou and Phil Petrovski all gained increasing playing time.

The club has remained in the second tier since then, managed by former player Danny Gnjidic, who almost achieved promotion last season and has the club in the hunt for another shot at promotion in 2016, seven years since the Zebras employed a certain Ange Postecoglou to oversee their relegation from the VPL.

His journey from prodigious – yet unwanted – young manager to a two-time A-League winning coach and national team manager highlights how much fortunes can change in a relatively short amount of time.

Image: Supplied