What do Domenico Tedesco, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ange Postecoglou have in common? All three have played Football Manager. The latter chatted about his virtual career and the hardest moment in the game
“This is where it all started for me,” Ange Postecoglou tells Goal. The current Tottenham Hotspur coach talks about his beginnings in Football Manager. “It was shortly after the game came out, when I was still working for the national team,” the 58-year-old continues: “It’s great football-wise, but you have a lot of idle time as a national team coach,” which is why he picked up Sports Interactive’s FM and was immediately “hooked.”
Fired “when I was expecting a monument “
“It’s very similar to what I do. But at the same time, the game has freedoms to do the kind of things that aren’t possible in real life,” the Spurs coach reasons. The Australian chose Southend United as his first stop in FM 2005. As a reference to his former youth club South Melbourne. Southend United played in the fourth English league at the time, so the goal was clearly defined: To lead the club to the top.
And the coach succeeded in doing so. As a result, not only Manchester United and Arsenal FC came to Roots Hall, but also Real Madrid and AC Milan in the Premier League. His greatest virtual success, but also his “most painful”. Because: “When I expected a monument”, they fired Postecoglou in the game six months after reaching the Champions League. “That’s just the way it is,” the former Australian national team coach sums up today.
He has also worked digitally at bigger clubs. “But there was no more success” like that with Southend United. Apart from that, Postecoglou enjoyed one thing in particular: “There were a lot of youngsters that I saw as 17 and 18-year-olds who then appeared in Football Manager. It was fun to snap up these talents. Players like Carlos Vela – and then taking them to the top. “
Back to childhood
To achieve this, Football Manager requires a number of things. Tactics are certainly a basic framework. In terms of playing philosophy, Postecoglou has always tried to “create superiority in possession, but I also want to see my team in the attacking third”. It was important to him “to play our game in the opponent’s half”. Even today, when the 58-year-old is on the touchline, “it always bothers me when the opponent has the ball. And it doesn’t suit me at all when they have the ball in our half.”
Ultimately, he tries to teach the players on the real pitch the kind of soccer they wanted to play when they were kids: “Back in the park, when goalposts were formed with T-shirts or 5vs5 was played without regard to tactics and space allocation.” He draws parallels with FM. According to him, people who turn to such simulations do so for one reason: “It transports them into the world they dream of. It’s the same with footballers.” Accordingly, Postecoglou wants to create a system that every footballer loves: “Have the ball, be creative, score goals, inspire.”
The Spurs coach has one piece of advice for all FM players: “Try to realize your wildest dreams as persistently as possible. Because even success doesn’t guarantee that you won’t be fired. It happened to me too, so take a risk. “
