Joining Celtic ‘a no-brainer’

43-year-old Australian has previously held coaching and management roles at Crawley Town, Notts County, Oldham and Barnet.

He was in talks over a return to football elsewhere when compatriot Postecoglou (right) offered him the chance to head to Glasgow.

‘It was funny enough — I was actually going for an interview for another job,’ said Kewell, reflecting on the approach.

‘I thought it went really well and I was looking forward to the call back. There just had to be a few little movements of something else. And in between that time, I actually had a call off the manager. The way he spoke to me and presented the job, I said yes straight away. I didn’t even worry about the next part. I felt it was the opportunity for me to learn not only off an Australian manager, but a great manager who has started to do his work in Europe. He is very forthright in what he wants from his players and it’s similar to what I like.

‘The way he spoke to me about football and what he wants from me, I said virtually straight away: “Of course I’ll come”.’

Kewell stressed that he aims to offer Postecoglou far more than a shared nationality when Celtic begin pre-season training on Monday.

‘When I spoke to him, I didn’t want to be someone coming up here because of that Australian link,’ he told Celtic TV. ‘He spoke very positively that he’d been monitoring me for a while and I never knew that. So, when he did speak about the ideas of what I can bring to the team, it was a no-brainer. ‘I have strong ambitions, but I have come into a huge club. I am going to sit, learn and watch. I am going to study. ‘I am going to see exactly what I can bring to the team. ‘I am not going to go straight in there and go: “This, this and this”. That’s not me. ‘I want to learn. Even just speaking to John (Kennedy), he has so much experience. I am going to be just picking his brains left, right and centre.’