HARRY GIVES ANGE THE X-FACTOR
Postecoglou will be hoping kindred spirit Kewell can help sprinkle a little stardust on the SPFL champions
LKewell is a technical coach who specialises in individual development
AST week saw the 50th anniversary of David Bowie’s seminal record The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The 1972 masterpiece helped define a generation, yet within barely a year of its release Bowie had dispensed with his band as he searched for a fresh look and sound for his ever-evolving music.
We shouldn’t expect Ange Postecoglou to morph into the Thin White Duke in time for the new season, but the Celtic manager abides by some of the principles that kept Bowie relevant and interesting.
Throughout a coaching journey that has taken him from Australia to Glasgow via Japan, Postecoglou has tended to travel light.
Rather than maintain a band of trusted acolytes, he prefers to work with unfamiliar faces — firm in his belief that the process of building professional relationships forces him to keep his message fresh and direct.
And so when he arrived in Glasgow from Yokohama F. Marinos last summer he did so alone, accepting the existing staff of John Kennedy, Gavin Strachan and Stephen McManus.
Twelve months and two trophies later, he has decided to add Harry Kewell to the mix. But why now and why Kewell? Despite their shared nationality, this is no old pals’ act.
As successful and high-profile Socceroos, they are of course acquainted but their careers have, to date, barely overlapped.
Rather than shared nationality it’s a converging view on how the game should be played that has drawn them together.
Just as the Australian targets players who fit the profile for his hard-pressing, relentless attacking template, so he has sought to bring in a coach who shares his outlook.
As a player Kewell was a maverick. A talented attacking midfielder who could operate centrally or off either flank, he made his name at Leeds United and had banked plenty of Champions League experience before moving to Liverpool and actually lifting the big trophy in 2005.
If he never seemed a likely fit for a management career, he took on a youth role at Watford before accepting his first job at Crawley Town in 2017.
He did well enough there to earn a switch to fellow League Two side Notts County the following year but that adventure ended unceremoniously after just 11 league games.
It would be nearly two years before Kewell re-emerged, this time at Oldham Atheltic, where former Hearts and Republic of Ireland full-back Alan Maybury filled the role of assistant for just under a year.
His last posting, with Barnet in the National League, amounted to just a three-month stint last year.
So far, so apparently underwhelming. However, the role at Celtic should theoretically be a better and more bespoke fit for his skill-set than the all-consuming managerial tasks he faced in the churn of England’s lower leagues.
For one, he will be working with a better calibre of player. And he will be given scope to impart his ideas to a group of players who have proven themselves willing and able to implement Postecoglou’s front-foot ideas.
Those who know Kewell speak of an affable, mild-mannered character who flips into an altogether more intense character when he enters the training ground environment.
A technical coach who specialises in individual development, his job might be to take an underperforming player under his wing one day, the next to deliver a session that invites improvisation from the wider group.
The arrival of the 43-year-old augments the existing staff of Kennedy and Strachan — and will result in a shift to ‘B’ team duties for McManus.
The dynamics at Lennoxtown will change. Despite a club statement that dressed up the importance of McManus’s new role, it’s hard to view it as anything other than a demotion for the ex-club captain.
But Postecoglou does not manage via sentiment. Although keen to share credit liberally among his staff on the five occasions he was named manager of the month last season, he tends to manage in solitary fashion.
A video posted on the club’s social media channels early in his reign spawned the ‘we never stop’ mantra that helped define his season. His vocal and persistent presence was a feature of his early weeks at the club as he dragged the squad out of the preseason’s malaise and enforced his ideology.
Yet he would soon take a step back, using his voice sparingly and the better for effect. Instructions tend to be fed through his first lieutenant Kennedy, the main bridge to both the coaches and players.
Observing the traditions of predecessors like Martin O’Neill and Brendan Rodgers, Postecoglou reasoned that some distance is essential between his office and the training pitch.
Kewell will also fill a void that has arguably existed since Damien Duff left Parkhead to return to the Republic of Ireland for family reasons back in 2020.
Duff, a decorated club and international player, added some glamour to the club’s coaching staff under Neil Lennon, his achievements alone commanding automatic respect. Kolo Toure filled a similar role under Rodgers.
Kewell’s Champions League pedigree will count for something as Celtic return to the competition’s group stage this year but he will harbour mixed feelings surrounding his own contribution to Liverpool’s success in Istanbul in 2005.
A starter in the final against AC Milan, Kewell had to come off injured midway through the first half, long before Steven Gerrard kick-started the second-half comeback that saw Rafa Benitez’s side claw back a three-goal deficit to ultimately win on penalties.
Capped 58 times by his country and voted Australia’s most talented player, Kewell played at two World Cups before playing his last international in 2012 — the year before Postecoglou took charge.
He had little left to prove by the time he retired from playing in 2014 but his refusal to abandon a coaching career in the face of adversity suggests he retains his hunger.
And if Kewell’s credentials are not immediately apparent, Postecoglou’s success rate in the player market is reason enough to earn the new coach a chance to sprinkle some of his stardust around Celtic.