How a chat in the Herald kitchen led to a book on Ange Postecoglou

In their (rare) spare time, Herald journalists often author and publish some tremendous books that help deepen our understanding of issues, people or events.

Some of my favourites over recent years include Venom by chief federal political correspondent David Crowe, The Secret by state political editor Alexandra Smith, Red Zone by international editor Peter Hartcher, and Siege, Deborah Snow’s alarming deconstruction of the Lindt Cafe attack and police response.

The Herald’s Vince Rugari has written a book about Ange Postecoglou.

This week, another Herald reporter, Vince Rugari, has released a new book exploring former Socceroos coach and current Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou, one of the most successful Australians on the world stage right now. As Vince explains below, the idea for the book came from within the Herald, so I thought I’d have a chat with him for today’s note to subscribers.

Where did the idea for a book on Ange Postecoglou come from?
Funnily enough, inside our newsroom. Hachette were here giving a talk to journalists about what they look for as publishers and how to pitch books. Unfortunately, I missed it, but I had a good excuse: that was the morning after Ange had been confirmed as Tottenham coach, so I was busy filing stories. But I managed to catch Scott Henderson, one of the non-fiction types from Hachette, in the kitchen area, and the idea of doing a biography of Ange sort of came up then as we were chatting, and I thought I was pretty well-placed to do it having covered his career since his re-emergence at Brisbane Roar, back when I used to live up there. In any case, I’d been wanting to re-explore the circumstances in which Ange left the Socceroos – it’s been six years, nobody’s really delved into it since, and it was a really important moment for him and Australian football. I figured this was the perfect way to do that and a whole lot more. Scott and I stayed in touch, soon enough Hachette made an offer, and the day after the Women’s World Cup final, I started pouring all my energy into the book. It all happened pretty fast.

How did you find the writing process?
Long, arduous and challenging, but very rewarding. It was a bit like writing 18 feature stories at once. I only had four months to get the first manuscript in, so I didn’t really have any days off at all, but that was fine because I loved diving into Ange’s story and pulling it all together. I spoke to upwards of 50 people, watched some old games, trawled through newspaper archives and YouTube and, of course, had to fit in a trip to London to watch a couple of Tottenham Hotspur matches and get a sense of what was happening over there for myself. The final stretch of writing kind of ate up my Christmas period, which was tough, but I had to do it. Having said that, it would have been totally impossible if I still had to do my usual work for the Herald (that’s why my byline kind of disappeared!), so I was fortunate to have banked enough leave and be granted permission to take it.

How involved was Ange?
As much as he could be, given his time restraints, as well as his desire to keep his powder dry for an autobiography that won’t come out until he’s finished up as a manager – which, hopefully, isn’t for a long time yet. When I told him I had this opportunity, he told me to “just go for it”, said he would be happy to put me in touch with anyone I needed, and gave me some of his time when I was over in London, which was obviously essential for the book. He also told me to write the book I wanted to write, not the one I thought he’d want me to write. So I did that. He hasn’t read it, last I heard, and didn’t have any say on what went in there. The one restriction was he said he’d prefer I didn’t speak to his family, so I didn’t.

Besides Ange, what was your favourite interview?
Hard to split them, but Peter Cklamovski – Ange’s long-time former assistant, who is originally from Sydney – was fantastic on their relationship and the things he learned from riding shotgun with him for over a decade. Thomas Broich and Erik Paartalu were absolutely outstanding on his two years at Brisbane Roar (which remains one of my favourite eras in Australian sporting history), and Mitch Langerak and Jackson Irvine were particularly insightful on his four-year tenure in charge of the Socceroos. Everyone I spoke to was so giving of their time, mostly because talking about Ange and his football is so enjoyable and linked to so many great moments in so many people’s lives.

How do you think Spurs will fare this season?
After two games and a handful of signings, they’re looking pretty good, I think. They won’t have any problem generating chances – if they convert them as they did in their 4-0 win over Everton last weekend, then they’ll be pretty hard to stop. And Ange’s teams always get better in their second season; I can’t see them going backwards. A challenge for the Premier League title is probably unrealistic, but I think they’ll finish in the top four and I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be considered as one of the favourites to win the Europa League. They’ll win something soon under Ange, I’m sure of it.

Get 10% off when you order a copy of Vince Rugari’s Angeball from bigw.com.au by using the promo code SMH10. This offer is online only and valid until September 9, 2024, while stocks last.

Bevan Shields sends an exclusive newsletter to subscribers each week. Sign up to receive his Note from the Editor.