CHRIS SUTTON: Tottenham fans will love Big Ange and his heavy metal football

Nobody had heard of Arsene Wenger when he arrived at Arsenal from Japan and there were Celtic fans who were underwhelmed when Ange Postecoglou came from Yokohama in 2021.

Now some Tottenham fans are unimpressed with Postecoglou closing in on becoming their new boss. But I am surprised Postecoglou wasn’t higher up on Spurs’ list originally when they were being linked with Julian Nagelsmann, Arne Slot and Luis Enrique.

Scratch beneath the surface, look at his track record over 25 years, and this is a guy who turns clubs around, who turns teams in poor form into proven winners, who is familiar with the feeling of silverware. He is a first-class manager and I don’t know a single Celtic player who hasn’t enjoyed his heavy metal football.

Add that to his flawless record in the transfer market — albeit a different market to the one that England’s top clubs can compete in — and he seems a great fit for Tottenham.

One of the biggest surprises when he took over at Celtic was that he didn’t take any coaching staff with him. He’s self-sufficient. He does the work himself. In the early days the club uploaded a video of a session of his coaching because part of the fanbase were asking: ‘Who is this guy?’

Ange Postecoglou is closing in on the Tottenham vacancy despite concerns among supporters

Celtic fans were underwhelmed by his appointment but he enjoyed great success with the club

Daniel Levy is going after a manager who has a great record of turning around clubs that are in poor form and making them proven winners

Spurs fans should watch it. It gives you great insight into him. There’s this catchphrase at Celtic: ‘We never stop.’ He talks about being relentless, about pressing, about creating and scoring, about leaving everything out on the pitch until the very last whistle.

Postecoglou has an aura about him. He’s bullish. He’s strong. He has his specific way of playing and he sticks to it. That’s the biggest box he ticks: the brand of football. Tottenham have had three back-foot managers in a row — Nuno Espirito Santo, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte — but Postecoglou is as front-foot as they come.

He’s fearless, he believes in himself and he’s built a record to back it up. He won’t take a backwards step. He’ll take the game to anyone and everyone and is that not what Tottenham have been crying out for?

His style is similar to Manchester City’s. It includes inverted full backs and, if I was a Spurs fan, I’d be excited about that after the turgid mess I’ve been seeing.

Another characteristic is his ruthless nature. For example, at the turn of the year, two of Celtic’s most important players, Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis, had their heads turned. Both were excellent under Postecoglou but the bigger picture was more important and they were replaced well by Alistair Johnston and Oh Hyeon-gyu.

Postecoglou is all about hard work, intensity, bravery on the ball and trusting the process — his process.

We all know the arrogant view on Scottish football from down south but to manage one of the Glasgow giants you have to have a strong character and personality and skin as thick as a rhino. Postecoglou has all these traits in abundance.

The future of Harry Kane (right) is likely to be one of Postecoglou’s first big challenges

His style of play is similar to Manchester City as it includes inverted full backs

Tottenham fans will love the Australian (holding the Scottish Cup) and his heavy metal style

Not a single Celtic player didn’t enjoy Postecoglou’s style of play at the Scottish champions

He joined Celtic, a club in a bit of a pickle after Eddie Howe had kept them waiting for months, only to then turn down the job. Within a couple of months, after some shrewd recruitment and the players starting to understand what he wants, Celtic started to fly under Postecoglou. 

The belief he instilled in the team and brand of football was frightening and fearless. It was slick, sharp, blood and thunder football and that is what he can bring to Tottenham.

Winning trophies at Spurs has been a problem and it will be difficult with the strength of Premier League teams, but their supporters should strap themselves in for an enjoyable ride because they will love watching their team play an exhilarating brand of football under Big Ange. I’m absolutely certain of that.