A week ago it looked as if there were going to be two Australians in prominent head coaching roles in the UK. But then Ange Postecoglou was fired by Nottingham Forest and Kevin Muscat’s move to Rangers collapsed. Postecoglou has much thinking to do, but there is no reason for Muscat to wait much longer to make his move to Europe.
According to reports, a return to Glasgow to the club where Muscat won the treble as a player in 2003 was nixed as he wanted to finish the three remaining games of the Chinese Super League season with leaders Shanghai Port. If so, Muscat is to be commended, but even if he fails to deliver another league title in the next month, his options in Europe should not be limited to former clubs. Indeed, the recent links can be useful in showcasing a coaching career that ranks alongside that of his former mentor.
That is not the only reason why, when the call west eventually comes, there won’t be the kind of faux amazement and ignorance that greeted news of Celtic’s appointment of Postecoglou four years ago. Everyone knows Muscat, or at least the player he was. The version on the sidelines, however, is a little different.
Any mention of the man as a coach has to include a line to clarify that the way his teams play is not the same way he did. It may give his long list of “victims” in Australia, Scotland and England a little satisfaction to know that as a progressive coach, he has tried to shake off his past. His career has, however, become more interesting since he hung up the most feared boots in football.
Postecoglou won the A-League and the J-League before arriving in Europe, but Muscat has done that and more after being appointed as his compatriot’s No 2 at Melbourne Victory in 2012. The following year, Muscat became head coach, taking on the high-intensity attacking football that his predecessor had built, but with a little more pragmatism.
The 52-year-old stayed in Australia until May 2019, winning two A-League championships and one premiership. There was then a short and sour spell in Belgium with Sint-Truidense – 15 games and just two wins. He then stepped into Postecoglou’s shoes once more, taking the Yokohama F. Marinos job in the middle of the 2021 season and won the 2022 title.
Once again, he built on the existing philosophy, his team scoring more than two goals a game, a feat even more impressive as there were 14 new players to blend in. It was a well received title as it involved beating off a stiff challenge from local rivals Kawasaki Frontale. Muscat’s record in Japan – second, first, second – looks good when next to Postecoglou’s 12th, first and ninth. It is no coincidence that Yokohama kept with Australian coaches after Muscat left in December 2023 and, perhaps also no coincidence, that Harry Kewell, John Hutchinson and Patrick Kisborno have not been able to replicate his success. With four games left, only two points separate Marinos from the relegation zone.
Two points also separate Shanghai from Chengdu at the top of the Chinese Super League as Muscat seeks successive titles. The league is not as strong as a decade ago when it was the talk of the football world. Many of the big spenders have fallen by the wayside or down the tiers and it helps that Shanghai are one of the few to be able to still spend some money. It helps more that the players love him.
“He is the best coach here in China now,” said Shanghai’s Brazilian star Leonardo. “I knew him from Japan, and that’s why I wanted to join him in Shanghai. He puts his emotion on the pitch, which is what the players like, because he always tries to help and teach the players how to play, how to run, where is the space in the game.”
Perhaps the one black mark on that coaching resume, apart from Belgium, is a lack of success in continental competition. Only once did he take Melbourne Victory past the Asian Champions League group stage, in 2016, though the groups in 2014 and 2018 were tricky and Australian teams tend to struggle in Asia. In 2022, he led Yokohama to the same stage, and his last act as coach in 2023 was to book a place in the last 16. Marinos went all the way to the final under Kewell but Muscat should get some of the credit for that.
And for much more. Muscat has become one of the most successful coaches outside Europe and South America. It’s time for another Australian in the big leagues.
