By Vince Rugari
Peter Cklamovski has spent most of the past 16 years in Ange Postecoglou's shadow - watching, listening and taking notes. On Sunday, his own journey begins.
For Australian football, there's something bittersweet about Cklamovski's new gig as head coach of Shimizu S-Pulse. It's a job he earned off the strength of his work as Postecoglou's right-hand man at J.League champions Yokohama F. Marinos last year, and an incredible opportunity for one of the game's best and brightest young minds.
New Shimizu S-Pulse coach Peter Cklamovski looks on at the official J.League launch event in Tokyo.Credit: Getty Images
It's certainly not lost on Cklamovski that his standing in Japan is much, much higher than it is at home - despite the fact that he's been one of the few constants throughout Postecoglou's very public rise to prominence over the past decade.
"It's a funny one," he admits to The Sun-Herald. "I've definitely got a profile here that's based on what sort of person I am, how I coach and how hard I work. That's earned respect here.
"I did that in Australia too, but ... I don't know. It's not for me to comment on."
Cklamovski, 41, is the latest of a small but growing number of Australian coaches working overseas. He is just the fourth Australian to take the helm of a Japanese club - after Eddie Thomson, Graham Arnold and Postecoglou - but the first to do so with no prior solo experience.
I'm like a sponge, mate. I absorbed everything I could.
Peter Cklamovski on Ange Postecoglou
A sold-out home crowd awaits for Cklamovski's senior coaching debut, with Shimizu to face FC Tokyo, last season's J.League runners-up.
Why a team in Japan was ready to give him a chance before anyone in the A-League is a question he can't answer.
"Zero," Cklamovski says when asked if he has fielded interest from local clubs. "No job offers, and to be honest, not interested. I've never been the one to chase my name in lights, I just had that belief - work hard, I know where I want to go, get better every day, and here I am."
So, how did he get here?
Ange Postecoglou with his Australian assistants at Yokohama F. Marinos, Peter Cklamovski (left) and Arthur Papas.Credit: Getty Images
Cklamovski's name has been around in Australian football circles for some time, but not many know a great deal about his background.
Born to Macedonian parents in Sydney, he has always been a student of the game and always wanted to work in it - although, by his own admission, his playing career was unremarkable.
He came through the junior ranks of Rockdale Ilinden but never made it past the NSW state league - a "banana league", as he lovingly calls it.
"I had a bit of talent ... the difference was I wasn't mentally strong enough to do it. I learned that the hard way," Cklamovski said.
Cklamovski observed his coaches closely, studied sports science at university, and took his first job as a coach at the King's School. From there, he went to Westfield Sports High, and in 2004, he crossed paths with Postecoglou - then in charge of the Joeys, Australia's under-17s rep side - for the first time.
Cklamovski worked with the team on an ad-hoc basis, and then followed Postecoglou into the Young Socceroos (under-20s) set-up. Not long after, Postecoglou's life and career was changed irrevocably by that infamous SBS interview with Craig Foster, which rendered him damaged goods.
When Postecoglou couldn't find a job in Australia and joined third-division Greek outfit Panachaiki, Cklamovski went along for the ride. When Postecoglou was sacked, Cklamovski went his own way for a few years, working as a fitness coach and analyst at Perth Glory and Adelaide United.
Peter Cklamovski gives instructions during a Melbourne Victory A-League training session in 2014.Credit: Getty Images
In 2012, they were reunited at Melbourne Victory and have been almost joined at the hip ever since. They're different characters - "the ying and the yang", as Cklamovski described it - but there is a deep level of mutual respect and understanding.
"I'm like a sponge, mate," Cklamovski said. "I absorbed everything I could. I had the mentality, if I could push him and raise his level anywhere I could, then at that same time, I'm pushing myself to higher levels.
"And that was my mentality for years working with him, because I just admired how good he was - even when nobody [else] did.
"From early doors I kind of fell in love with his football. It just resonated with me, ignited a flame within me.
"I've served a strong apprenticeship. I'd say, respectfully, I've learned from the best ... his obsession with the football he wants to play, his belief and conviction within that is always powerful, never waivers away from it. His success that he creates is a byproduct of all of that. He's a serial winner, mate."
Shimizu S-Pulse is no stranger to Australians, including Mitchell Duke, who spent four years at the club.Credit: Getty Images
Three months before the end of last season, Cklamovski informed Postecoglou he was ready to spread his wings, but was counselled to pick his next move carefully.
Cklamovski believes he's done that, having taken up the task of restoring S-Pulse - who reside in the centre of what is known as Japan's "football kingdom" - to their former glory. The club's chairman was clearly taken by Yokohama's swashbuckling football last season and wants it reproduced, which Cklamovski intends to do, albeit with slight modifications.
It will take time - after all, F. Marinos were nearly relegated in Postecoglou's first season - but Cklamovski also knows that football is a ruthless business, especially for first-time coaches in a foreign land.
"I'm ready for a rollercoaster of emotions," he said.
"They're on the same page as me - that's why they brought me in, they want to see football. For years they've been this defensive-orientated club and there's a genuine push from the chairman and the club that they want to change that. That's the power of getting me here, and it's happening.
"We're going to fall down sometimes, I'm expecting that. I'm trying to miss some speed humps and get our football flowing as quick as possible - quicker than Marinos, that's my challenge."
As for the first meeting of master and apprentice, it's March 18, and an S-Pulse home game.
"Mate, I love him like family," Cklamovski said. "It's a surreal feeling in a sense that I'm up against him, but it is what it is.
"Ange has got Marinos flying, they're going to continue to do special things while he's there. I get a chance to nail this project, and I'll be doing my best.
"If there's two good stories coming from it, that's only going to help the game [in Australia]."