Ange Postecoglou will need to find entirely new assistant coaches at Tottenham Hotspur. Today, Celtic named Brendan Rodgers as Postecoglou’s replacement in Glasgow, and it now appears that the two assistants he wanted to bring with him — John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan — will be staying in Scotland
This paragraph was buried in the middle of Celtic’s announcement of Rodgers assuming his new position:
“We are also pleased to confirm that John Kennedy, who has served the club over many years in a playing and coaching capacity, will support Brendan as the club’s Assistant Manager, along with first-team coaches Stevie Woods, Gavin Strachan and Harry Kewell, and B Team coaches Stephen McManus and Darren O’Dea.”
The bad news, of course, is that Kennedy and Strachan were Postecoglou’s first choices for the positions. Both were instrumental in implementing Ange’s high press, high octane tactics that were so successful in the SPL over the past two seasons. It was well reported that Postecoglou wanted to bring them to London, but that Celtic were trying hard not to let them go. It’s also good news for Celtic as they’re able to maintain some momentum after Postecoglou’s departure, since some of the assistants will remain.
But Ange is also a manager who doesn’t have a set assistant corps. He likes working with young assistants and has frequently found and used new ones as the situation arises, so this doesn’t at all mean that Spurs won’t be able to implement his style of play. Ryan Mason is already confirmed on Ange’s staff, Chris Davies was rumored to have agreed to join, and we assume Gianni Vio is sticking around. There have been murmurs that Spurs academy assistant Matt Wells might make the step up to the first team squad, and we may just have to wait to see what else happens. Ange himself doesn’t even start work until July 1.
I guess I don’t have a strong take on missing out on Strachan and Kennedy, apart from it takes Tottenham under Ange slightly off of the path of least resistance. It doesn’t, however, mean that Ange’s job has gotten any harder, necessarily.
