Postecoglou spoke about his dad in an emotional interview with the Daily Mail. He revealed his impossible desire for Jim “just to have one night to see his son on the touchline” after “all the stuff we used to watch together in the middle of the night”.
Postecoglou, who won four senior caps for Australia as a player, became manager of South Melbourne in 1996 before spending seven years coaching the country’s youth teams. He then managed three more Australian clubs and Greek outfit Panachaiki.
Postecoglou was manager of Australia between 2013 and 2017 – winning the Asian Cup in 2015 – and led Japanese outfit Yokohoma F Marinos to a league title in 2019. Yet he didn’t feel like he “made it” until Celtic appointed him in June 2021.
The experienced coach won five trophies during his two-year spell at Celtic – including consecutive league titles – to capture Tottenham’s attention. Postecoglou admitted his dad “would be proud” of him – but he would still be giving his son “clips round the ear”.
He added: “That was his way of complimenting me. (He would say), ‘You have done well, but you could have made a couple of substitutions or you could have played this way’. That was just the relationship we had. Its not lost.