USspur
Well-Known Member
SC is a cesspool
SC is a cesspool
J.spurs
Well-Known Member
Founding Member
Good story about a new documentary being released about Ange's relationship with Puskas. Sadly looks like it will be difficult to see outside Australia:
Ange and the Boss: the Australian title and ties that bind Postecoglou and Puskás
Based on a blur of childhood memory that hardly equals sociology, Australia in the 1980s and 90s was a place obsessed with celebrity. A small population at the far end of the world, a gap unbridged by cheap flights and eternal internet: when famous people came to visit, it was a huge deal.
When Australians got involved in major events overseas, even bigger. There were years when Nicole Kidman just showing up at the Oscars felt like a national event. So it’s a hell of a story that one of the world’s greatest footballers coached a local soccer team in 1991, and hardly anybody noticed.
Most Australians still don’t have much more than passing football references to turn to. Didn’t Diego Maradona love getting on the gear? Why did Lionel Messi finish the World Cup dressed in a cloak? But those who know the game, know Ferenc Puskás.
Fifa’s goal of the year bears his name, fair for a guy who banged in almost as many of them as he played top-flight matches. He led the 1950s Hungarians whose only loss in seven years was an injury-hit World Cup final, saw his nation crushed by the Soviets, then spent his 30s collecting trophies for Real Madrid.
This is the same guy who in 1989 finds himself living in a weatherboard flat knocked together behind a garden supply store in Ashburton, riding shotgun down the newly-linked South Eastern Arterial towards Dandenong to run coaching clinics for kids in a paddock in Parkmore. It truly is superstar meets suburbia.
That’s the irresistible hook for Tony Wilson, Cameron Fink, and Rob Heath, leading to the limited release of a documentary 13 years in the making: Ange & The Boss. The boss is Puskás, drawn to Melbourne by its Hungarian community, then hired as coach by South Melbourne Hellas in the National Soccer League.
Ange Postecoglou in interview for the documentary film Ange & The Boss. Photograph: Sepia Tones Pty Ltd
Puskás has little English but does speak Greek, from his time coaching Panathinaikos to a European Cup final. Which brings Ange Postecoglou into the story: translator, chauffeur, minder, lanky defender, and club captain. Postecoglou has since gone on to become Australia’s most successful coaching export, presently managing Tottenham in England’s Premier League.
It’s a revelation for these young Hellas footballers to find themselves in the hands of a legend, and even more so to discover him preaching simple enjoyment. Heavily overweight, huge of appetite, averse to rain or too much training, Puskás brings confidence in calm, with the occasional tactical twinkle. Thanks to some remarkably unlikely archival finds, the film brings him to life with footage of the dimly lit Hungarian clubs and Greek restaurants of the day, or the suburban matches he kept agreeing to play in his 60s, age and physique barely hampering the deftness or power of that left foot.
So it’s a film about contrast: trips to work in an old Datsun, so beaten up that Ange and the Boss spend the hot months passing the one remaining window winder back and forth. But it’s also about Postecoglou, with the Puskás influence on his own coaching philosophy becoming more evident by the minute. And it’s a migrant story, about how dislocated post-war Europeans built community, how football clubs became a lifeline. Postecolgou frames it as two places of worship.
Ferenc Puskás watches over training at South Melbourne Hellas. Photograph: Imago Sportfotodienst/imago/Norbert Schmidt
“There was church in the morning, and a lot of the Greek community found their comfort there,” he says. “And there was Middle Park, South Melbourne Hellas, in the afternoon. Particularly my father, come Sunday afternoon, as soon as he walked through the gate, and the smell of the souvlaki, and the language, everyone’s speaking Greek – my dad just became a different man.”
So there is heft to this story, emotionally, culturally. There is sporting adrenaline, with a success-starved club slamming in goals on the charge towards a final, the NSL heaving even as Anglo Australia still looked at it with derision or suspicion. But overwhelmingly there is delight.
Hellas players can’t wait to share their Puskás stories; Paul Trimboli in particular spends the whole film beaming. Postecoglou’s hours of recording came two days after acrimoniously resigning as Australian national coach, but he insisted on keeping his appointment. Their love and respect for their manager is tangible.
Drawn by that energy, the filmmakers went ahead and started shooting interviews from the beginning, an eagerness that cost them in an environment where funding is available for proposals but not existing projects. The vast cost of licensing match footage then made it impossible to get Ange & The Boss a streaming partner or a full theatrical release. So it’s a minor triumph that after much effort will see a fortnight of screenings in eight cinemas across Melbourne during March, with accompanying showings in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth, Geelong, and Mildura.
It’s a tale of heart, built around a man who had plenty of the same.
Ange and the Boss: the Australian title and ties that bind Postecoglou and Puskás
Based on a blur of childhood memory that hardly equals sociology, Australia in the 1980s and 90s was a place obsessed with celebrity. A small population at the far end of the world, a gap unbridged by cheap flights and eternal internet: when famous people came to visit, it was a huge deal.
When Australians got involved in major events overseas, even bigger. There were years when Nicole Kidman just showing up at the Oscars felt like a national event. So it’s a hell of a story that one of the world’s greatest footballers coached a local soccer team in 1991, and hardly anybody noticed.
Most Australians still don’t have much more than passing football references to turn to. Didn’t Diego Maradona love getting on the gear? Why did Lionel Messi finish the World Cup dressed in a cloak? But those who know the game, know Ferenc Puskás.
Fifa’s goal of the year bears his name, fair for a guy who banged in almost as many of them as he played top-flight matches. He led the 1950s Hungarians whose only loss in seven years was an injury-hit World Cup final, saw his nation crushed by the Soviets, then spent his 30s collecting trophies for Real Madrid.
This is the same guy who in 1989 finds himself living in a weatherboard flat knocked together behind a garden supply store in Ashburton, riding shotgun down the newly-linked South Eastern Arterial towards Dandenong to run coaching clinics for kids in a paddock in Parkmore. It truly is superstar meets suburbia.
That’s the irresistible hook for Tony Wilson, Cameron Fink, and Rob Heath, leading to the limited release of a documentary 13 years in the making: Ange & The Boss. The boss is Puskás, drawn to Melbourne by its Hungarian community, then hired as coach by South Melbourne Hellas in the National Soccer League.
Ange Postecoglou in interview for the documentary film Ange & The Boss. Photograph: Sepia Tones Pty Ltd
Puskás has little English but does speak Greek, from his time coaching Panathinaikos to a European Cup final. Which brings Ange Postecoglou into the story: translator, chauffeur, minder, lanky defender, and club captain. Postecoglou has since gone on to become Australia’s most successful coaching export, presently managing Tottenham in England’s Premier League.
It’s a revelation for these young Hellas footballers to find themselves in the hands of a legend, and even more so to discover him preaching simple enjoyment. Heavily overweight, huge of appetite, averse to rain or too much training, Puskás brings confidence in calm, with the occasional tactical twinkle. Thanks to some remarkably unlikely archival finds, the film brings him to life with footage of the dimly lit Hungarian clubs and Greek restaurants of the day, or the suburban matches he kept agreeing to play in his 60s, age and physique barely hampering the deftness or power of that left foot.
So it’s a film about contrast: trips to work in an old Datsun, so beaten up that Ange and the Boss spend the hot months passing the one remaining window winder back and forth. But it’s also about Postecoglou, with the Puskás influence on his own coaching philosophy becoming more evident by the minute. And it’s a migrant story, about how dislocated post-war Europeans built community, how football clubs became a lifeline. Postecolgou frames it as two places of worship.
Ferenc Puskás watches over training at South Melbourne Hellas. Photograph: Imago Sportfotodienst/imago/Norbert Schmidt
“There was church in the morning, and a lot of the Greek community found their comfort there,” he says. “And there was Middle Park, South Melbourne Hellas, in the afternoon. Particularly my father, come Sunday afternoon, as soon as he walked through the gate, and the smell of the souvlaki, and the language, everyone’s speaking Greek – my dad just became a different man.”
So there is heft to this story, emotionally, culturally. There is sporting adrenaline, with a success-starved club slamming in goals on the charge towards a final, the NSL heaving even as Anglo Australia still looked at it with derision or suspicion. But overwhelmingly there is delight.
Hellas players can’t wait to share their Puskás stories; Paul Trimboli in particular spends the whole film beaming. Postecoglou’s hours of recording came two days after acrimoniously resigning as Australian national coach, but he insisted on keeping his appointment. Their love and respect for their manager is tangible.
Drawn by that energy, the filmmakers went ahead and started shooting interviews from the beginning, an eagerness that cost them in an environment where funding is available for proposals but not existing projects. The vast cost of licensing match footage then made it impossible to get Ange & The Boss a streaming partner or a full theatrical release. So it’s a minor triumph that after much effort will see a fortnight of screenings in eight cinemas across Melbourne during March, with accompanying showings in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth, Geelong, and Mildura.
It’s a tale of heart, built around a man who had plenty of the same.
- Ange & The Boss will be released in Melbourne on 13 March and screened in most Australian capital cities.
ClemFandango
Lord High Chief of the Privvy
Founding Member
Considering the source, I'd argue this probably has some credibility.
Yid
Moderator
Founding Member
What makes anyone think he'd want to come...?
ClemFandango
Lord High Chief of the Privvy
Founding Member
Depends on his principles I suppose. If the sack of cash is large enough he’ll probably give it a go.
Dave
Having the craic!
Founding Member
This is the part of the business I hate. Ange is still the manager of THFC. And yet credible reports come out about the club making someone else their "top target" .
Has Ange been told he's done at the end of the season, or is this just another example of the ruthlessness of management these days ?
Assuming the deal IS in motion, Iraola has proven himself to be a very good coach and his young players are all punching above their weight but I dont know whether the Levy factor will scare him off or not....but here's the thing...he's got very little to lose. A top 10 finish would signify progress, and throw in a good cup run and he'll justify his appointment to the dark lord.
Interesting times indeed...
Has Ange been told he's done at the end of the season, or is this just another example of the ruthlessness of management these days ?
Assuming the deal IS in motion, Iraola has proven himself to be a very good coach and his young players are all punching above their weight but I dont know whether the Levy factor will scare him off or not....but here's the thing...he's got very little to lose. A top 10 finish would signify progress, and throw in a good cup run and he'll justify his appointment to the dark lord.
Interesting times indeed...
J.spurs
Well-Known Member
Founding Member
Never stops with this club, does it?
Ange Postecoglou vows to identify and deal with mole at Tottenham
Ange Postecoglou has said there is a mole at Tottenham who is leaking sensitive team news and working against what he and the players are trying to achieve. The manager, who is preparing for Sunday’s Premier League game at Wolves, said he had a “fair idea” of the identity of the individual and was working to deal with the situation.
The subject came up as Postecoglou was questioned about Wilson Odobert’s fitness and at about the same time – on an unrelated topic – that Spurs announced the hire of the former Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham. He will join in the summer and take the same title that he held at Arsenal, which would appear to be bad news for Tottenham’s chief football officer, Scott Munn.
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...fa-over-deal-after-breach-of-squad-cost-rules
It was widely reported on Thursday that Odobert had hurt a hamstring and, that night, the winger was an unused substitute in the 1-1 home draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-final, first leg. Postecoglou said Odobert, who returned in mid-February from a near four-month lay-off after hamstring surgery, had trained on Friday and should be available for the Wolves game and that there was “certainly nothing wrong with him”.
Postecoglou then opened up about the mole. “There is no doubt we have got a leak inside the club – somebody who continues to leak information,” he said. “They have all year. I don’t know why. It doesn’t help us. It just makes our job more difficult. We try really hard to keep things in-house, like all clubs, because we don’t want opposition being aware of any sort of team selection. But we’ve got somebody within our camp who continually gives out information.
“We’ve narrowed it down. We’ve been looking at it for quite a while and we kind of have a fair idea of where it is coming from. We’ll deal with it but it’s not helpful for us.
“Half of it is misinformation, half of it is half of the information but irrespective, it certainly doesn’t help our cause because on game-day what you want to try to do is keep as much information in-house. We try really hard to find out information about the opposition but with us, someone has an open line to what we do. It’s disappointing because you’d like to think everyone who is in our camp is working with us, not against us.”
Ange Postecoglou vows to identify and deal with mole at Tottenham
Ange Postecoglou has said there is a mole at Tottenham who is leaking sensitive team news and working against what he and the players are trying to achieve. The manager, who is preparing for Sunday’s Premier League game at Wolves, said he had a “fair idea” of the identity of the individual and was working to deal with the situation.
The subject came up as Postecoglou was questioned about Wilson Odobert’s fitness and at about the same time – on an unrelated topic – that Spurs announced the hire of the former Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham. He will join in the summer and take the same title that he held at Arsenal, which would appear to be bad news for Tottenham’s chief football officer, Scott Munn.
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...fa-over-deal-after-breach-of-squad-cost-rules
It was widely reported on Thursday that Odobert had hurt a hamstring and, that night, the winger was an unused substitute in the 1-1 home draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-final, first leg. Postecoglou said Odobert, who returned in mid-February from a near four-month lay-off after hamstring surgery, had trained on Friday and should be available for the Wolves game and that there was “certainly nothing wrong with him”.
Postecoglou then opened up about the mole. “There is no doubt we have got a leak inside the club – somebody who continues to leak information,” he said. “They have all year. I don’t know why. It doesn’t help us. It just makes our job more difficult. We try really hard to keep things in-house, like all clubs, because we don’t want opposition being aware of any sort of team selection. But we’ve got somebody within our camp who continually gives out information.
“We’ve narrowed it down. We’ve been looking at it for quite a while and we kind of have a fair idea of where it is coming from. We’ll deal with it but it’s not helpful for us.
“Half of it is misinformation, half of it is half of the information but irrespective, it certainly doesn’t help our cause because on game-day what you want to try to do is keep as much information in-house. We try really hard to find out information about the opposition but with us, someone has an open line to what we do. It’s disappointing because you’d like to think everyone who is in our camp is working with us, not against us.”
ClemFandango
Lord High Chief of the Privvy
Founding Member
So the story about Odobert being injured was a fake leak to try and pinpoint the "mole" I suppose.
It's Wagatha Christie, the sequel.
It's Wagatha Christie, the sequel.
Yid
Moderator
Founding Member
Concentrate on the team not playing like fucking soastics...
Dave
Having the craic!
Founding Member
I'm pretty much done with Ange tbh. He's seems like a nice bloke and he gave us all a new lease of life when he arrived. But other than the first 10 games of last season along with very sporadic good performances, we've been very average....even with a fit side.
He's very nieve with the media and the fans. He's arrogant, but with no justification imo and his treatment of Gray and Spence has been very questionable and tactically I think he is very limited.
I dont want him to lose his job. I want him to be successful and be here for 10 years. But apart from the start of last season I've seen no sign of Ange growing as a manager at this level. And I think that's the key...levels. Hes just not able for this kind of scrutiny, pressure and criticism. But the fact is, if he didn't make silly statements to the press about always winning a trophy in the second season or trying to be smug by cupping his ears to his own fans, he might have got an easier ride.
He's very nieve with the media and the fans. He's arrogant, but with no justification imo and his treatment of Gray and Spence has been very questionable and tactically I think he is very limited.
I dont want him to lose his job. I want him to be successful and be here for 10 years. But apart from the start of last season I've seen no sign of Ange growing as a manager at this level. And I think that's the key...levels. Hes just not able for this kind of scrutiny, pressure and criticism. But the fact is, if he didn't make silly statements to the press about always winning a trophy in the second season or trying to be smug by cupping his ears to his own fans, he might have got an easier ride.
ClemFandango
Lord High Chief of the Privvy
Founding Member
The aggregator twitter accounts have all "blown up" in the past hour after an article from Matt Law from the Telegraph who claims to have spoken to a "well placed source" in the club who suggests that our transfer and squad plans over the summer are currently in limbo because of Ange's fate.
Apparently there's a possibility he will leave even if we do win the Europa League but that he'll also be sacked if we don't.
It's a paywalled article but I grabbed this ..
Apparently there's a possibility he will leave even if we do win the Europa League but that he'll also be sacked if we don't.
It's a paywalled article but I grabbed this ..
Yid
Moderator
Founding Member
Fucking penny pinching shit show of an outfit...
J.spurs
Well-Known Member
Founding Member
That damn mole again...
Yid
Moderator
Founding Member
Let's accept that after the Europa run is over one way or another, he is gone. Just so that I can state the obvious and make my point...
Ultimately, what Ange has contrived to do, is take us from a 5th place finish in 2023/24, to 17th in 2024/25...
We have swapped places with Nottingham Forest...
Now let's deal with the elephant in the room, Harry Kane...
Harry Kane carried this side on his shoulders for maybe 3 or 4 seasons. He scored the goals, he brought other players around him up to a similar level and captained our side with pride and passion. He set the standard all other Spurs players needed to strive to meet...
Harry's now doing the same thing in Germany, and will soon receive the reward he richly deserves for doing so.
Spurs did not adapt. The team didn't receive the leadership, coaching, attention or care required from anyone at the club, when loosing a talisman, a national hero, an absolute worldie. The side was left in tatters with no direction, no leader, and no one to drive the standards required, in order to drag games out of the fire and claw your way up the league.
It's not like we haven't spent money either, I will ultimately blame Levy, but money has been spent on this squad.
272m in 2023/24
175m in 2024/25
We've had Ange come in, we've had new coaching staff, we've had new directors of football, we've had all sorts of new backroom staff or technical staff come into the club. Not made a fucking ounce of difference, in fact it's all gone backwards in a big way and fucking fast.
We've got world class facilities, with skywalks, go karts, concerts and other sporting events such as MLB, NFL, Boxing and UFC...
There is one constant! We all know what that is and I think at this point he is damaging the clubs reputation. No one wants to deal with him in good faith, managers don't want to work for him because it's all built on sand...
And I think that is where we are right now...
Levy has rebuilt our club in his image. He has torn down tradition, style, philosophy and love for this club and replaced it with capitalism. In his head he thinks he has revolutionised the club, dragged it into the modern corporate world he lives in... I'll admit it, we all fucking live in it now... But he has ultimately neglected the foundations.
He has screwed the fans who can't afford to go to games anymore. He has screwed the side who cannot perform at the level required anymore meaning that the product and the consumer base no longer work for one another and they're drifting apart. The foundations have gone, and I don't yet think we've hit rock bottom...
Any other season, Ange gets us relegated... And I think unless something changes drastically, next season we'll be fighting it out all season for survival...
The season is over, just look at the performance of our captain yesterday... Shower of absolute shit. He doesn't care anymore and I'd be surprised if his plane tickets ain't booked already, and that they're one way. Most of the players are in the same boat.
Our side is toast, and I mean fully goosed. It's going to take a full reset (again) with the pain that comes with, to recover what we've lost in those 12 league table positions...
We can't afford to go backwards any further... That's the best ground in Europe for a Championship side... I don't think the highest ticket prices in Europe will cut the mustard down there Danny boy...!
We're fucked, like more fucked than I think anyone is acknowledging and while Ange has helped steer this ship onto the rocks, he isn't the navigator... He isn't this shit shows architect... And yet ultimately, he will be blamed for it...
Ultimately, what Ange has contrived to do, is take us from a 5th place finish in 2023/24, to 17th in 2024/25...
We have swapped places with Nottingham Forest...
Now let's deal with the elephant in the room, Harry Kane...
Harry Kane carried this side on his shoulders for maybe 3 or 4 seasons. He scored the goals, he brought other players around him up to a similar level and captained our side with pride and passion. He set the standard all other Spurs players needed to strive to meet...
Harry's now doing the same thing in Germany, and will soon receive the reward he richly deserves for doing so.
Spurs did not adapt. The team didn't receive the leadership, coaching, attention or care required from anyone at the club, when loosing a talisman, a national hero, an absolute worldie. The side was left in tatters with no direction, no leader, and no one to drive the standards required, in order to drag games out of the fire and claw your way up the league.
It's not like we haven't spent money either, I will ultimately blame Levy, but money has been spent on this squad.
272m in 2023/24
175m in 2024/25
We've had Ange come in, we've had new coaching staff, we've had new directors of football, we've had all sorts of new backroom staff or technical staff come into the club. Not made a fucking ounce of difference, in fact it's all gone backwards in a big way and fucking fast.
We've got world class facilities, with skywalks, go karts, concerts and other sporting events such as MLB, NFL, Boxing and UFC...
There is one constant! We all know what that is and I think at this point he is damaging the clubs reputation. No one wants to deal with him in good faith, managers don't want to work for him because it's all built on sand...
And I think that is where we are right now...
Levy has rebuilt our club in his image. He has torn down tradition, style, philosophy and love for this club and replaced it with capitalism. In his head he thinks he has revolutionised the club, dragged it into the modern corporate world he lives in... I'll admit it, we all fucking live in it now... But he has ultimately neglected the foundations.
He has screwed the fans who can't afford to go to games anymore. He has screwed the side who cannot perform at the level required anymore meaning that the product and the consumer base no longer work for one another and they're drifting apart. The foundations have gone, and I don't yet think we've hit rock bottom...
Any other season, Ange gets us relegated... And I think unless something changes drastically, next season we'll be fighting it out all season for survival...
The season is over, just look at the performance of our captain yesterday... Shower of absolute shit. He doesn't care anymore and I'd be surprised if his plane tickets ain't booked already, and that they're one way. Most of the players are in the same boat.
Our side is toast, and I mean fully goosed. It's going to take a full reset (again) with the pain that comes with, to recover what we've lost in those 12 league table positions...
We can't afford to go backwards any further... That's the best ground in Europe for a Championship side... I don't think the highest ticket prices in Europe will cut the mustard down there Danny boy...!
We're fucked, like more fucked than I think anyone is acknowledging and while Ange has helped steer this ship onto the rocks, he isn't the navigator... He isn't this shit shows architect... And yet ultimately, he will be blamed for it...