“Ange, this is not just another game.”
Ange Postecoglou remembers the words of warning he received from above when he was boss of Melbourne Victory ahead of his first derby clash with Melbourne Heart.
He didn’t need the message then and he won’t need anyone from the Celtic boardroom to brief him about today’s Glasgow showdown.
Postecoglou might be about to sample the wildly unique world of the Old Firm but he has plenty of derby
experience to lean on.
In his playing days the rivalry between his Greek South Melbourne side and the Croatian Melbourne Knights was pretty fierce.
He captained his side to a shootout victory in the 1990 NSL Grand Final against their rivals in an epic that had last-minute levellers, flares, fans charging and 10 grand fines dished out in the aftermath.
In the dugout several years later – with Australian football having gone through a professional revamp – it was the Brisbane Roar dust-ups with the Sydney clubs after experiencing the more modern local battle in Melbourne.
Writing in his old Herald Sun column in 2014, Postecoglou said: “It seemed more personal than other big games.
“The pain of defeat in other fixtures can be soothed by the fact the enemy had got on a plane or car and left town by the time the sun came up.
“A defeat in the derby followed you everywhere. There was no escaping the hurt, whether in public, in the workplace or sometimes at home.
“And the victors were not shy in taking every opportunity to rub it in.”
Sounds familiar.
Fast forward to 2021 and the Hoops boss said: “Yeah, that was about 10 years ago and I was pretending to be a journalist!
“I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in a number of games that hold that kind of significance and you take something away from all of them.
“The experience, the build-up to it – it’s all part of it and you come out of the other side, usually, with the knowledge that you have added to the person you are.
“As human beings these experiences shape us. These games were all unique and have different things attached to them.
“Does it prepare you for this particular derby?
“Probably not. Each derby is unique and this one is definitely unique.
“It’s one of the biggest fixtures in global football so I am looking forward to that experience and I am sure I will come out the other side enhanced as a person.”
Postecoglou went on to lose his first Melbourne derby and admits when he saw the guy who warned him going in, he couldn’t look him in the eye.
So he is well aware of what’s at stake against Rangers this afternoon.
The 56-year-old said: “As coaches we can say it’s only one game of football it’s only three points, you don’t get extra.
“That’s true as a coach or manager. But it’s not lost on me that this means more than three points to our supporters.
“I know what this will mean if we can get a victory, particularly away from home. I know what it will mean to our supporters but even for our players it is a big game and there is extra significance.
“Managers want to take a calculated view and say that we won’t get carried away if we are successful and not get too down if we lose.
“But it’s a fixture that means a lot to the people at this football club and you carry that responsibility into the game.”
Postecoglou knows the importance but he won’t ditch his values.
He didn’t change his attacking style in the 2-1 defeat by AZ in Alkmaar in midweek and won’t be trying to shut up shop in Govan.
So expect key roles for strikers Kyogo Furuhashi and Odsonne Edouard.
The Hoops boss said: “I set up my teams to play that way because you know that in the big games there is inevitably an extra energy.
“Whether that is generated by the significance of the fixture or the crowd, the pace tends to be pretty frenetic at the start. If you get used to that on a daily basis then you are more likely to be able to perform in these matches. It’s not a major adjustment.
“We expect the pace, tempo and intensity to be high at Ibrox but that’s the football we want to play.
“If we go into that environment and do that we will come out stronger for sure.”
Back at Melbourne Victory, his first encounter didn’t go to plan. But Postecoglou refused to hide.
He stood on the pitch after the final whistle, soaked up the celebrations from one side and took the hits from his own.
He wrote in his column: “It was my first derby defeat but I wanted to somehow feel the pain of everyone who had been at the club for years.
“My punishment was to stay out there as long as possible.
“I could see the hurt and vowed that it would not happen again.
“All of a sudden, even for me, it was not just another game.
“And it didn’t happen again.”
It’s a lesson Postecoglou doesn’t need or want to learn again today at Ibrox.
