'Seriously' - Ange Postecoglou bites back at journalists as Nottingham Forest lose to Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United increased the pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou.
Ange Postecoglou has come out fighting as Sunday’s Premier League defeat to Newcastle United piled the pressure on the Nottingham Forest boss.
The former Tottenham Hotspur manager replaced Nuno Espirito Santo at the City Ground a month ago and has failed to win any of his seven matches so far.
Forest’s 2-0 loss to the Magpies sees them sit 17th in the Premier League table, just one point above the relegation zone heading into the two-week international break.
There have been suggestions Forest could look to change manager in the next fortnight but Postecoglou came out fighting in a fiery eight-minute press conference in the St James’ Park media room.
Here’s the full transcript:
Do you expect to have a conversation with the ownership about your future this week?
“I expect to have a discussion with the owner and everyone else at the football club about what we've embarked on here and where we're at and what we need to do for sure. If people want to make an assessment of me after three and a half weeks, which we've had six or seven games around, there's nothing I can do about that.
“At the same time, there's nothing wrong with things being tough. That's okay. I'll sit in there and I'll say to them, I did have an option. I could have been sitting on the couch watching the game tonight and not be in the middle of it. I'd rather be here. I'd much rather be here. I love a fight.
“So it's a fight. So it's a struggle, that's okay. Now, if people outside don't think I'm the right person, or even internally don't think I'm... It makes no difference for me. That just... It's... I took this role on knowing it would be a massive challenge with what we were trying to do in terms of changing the direction of the club. Nothing I've seen in the last three and a half weeks has changed my view on that.
“I love the challenge of taking this club to where it needs to be. And I'm very confident we'll get there.”
At the end there, just on the pitch, you didn't see that much interaction with your players?
“Well, look, if you want to find things here for sure, you'll go, ‘I wore a different jacket today as well’. And, you know, I kind of stood in a different... Don't read anything. I mean, seriously. I mean, you know, it's... I guess it's a fun game, isn't it? It's fun every week.
“It's me this week, and who knows, maybe you're all right and I'm gone. And next week it'll be somebody else. And there's a lot of fun around it. I don't care. It doesn't... Like I said, I love the position I'm in right now, where I can fight for everything. It's what I've done my whole career.
“And, you know, the kind of scrutiny around it, and, you know, I'm not a woe-is-me kind of guy, man. I couldn't care less. You know, if people think that, you know, I'm somehow not enjoying what I'm doing at the moment, then they've got no idea what I want.”
If you're given time out, will you turn the situation around?
“No, no. It's a lost cause. I mean, it's... Seriously. Why... What's wrong with something being hard? Seriously, what's wrong with it? Why does everything have to be so... Why do we want everything just delivered, nicely packaged? I'm sure your parents had a struggle in their life, right? And they didn't give up. You may have even been a lost cause at some point, but they didn't give up like that, right?
“But what I'm saying is, right, I'm not having a go at you, please, don't take it away, is that, you know, it seems to be these days that as soon as something goes wrong, the lads, you know, well, that's it, it's wrong, we'll change it, we'll break it up. Like, everything that needs kind of something fixed is invariably going to go through a tough time.
“This is not unfamiliar territory for me, as I said. So... ..beyond it being a lost cause, I see it as an exciting opportunity. That's why I took the role. And I still believe that now, more so than ever before. But at the same time, you've got to embrace it. There's going to be a fight and struggle for it.
You haven't lost your self-belief?
“But that's my point, why? Because it's tough. Like, why would that... Do you think I'd be sitting here at the age of 60? I started in Australia when I was 32 years old and sent me to professional football. And I'm here in the Premier League at the age of 60. Do you reckon I don't... I lack self-belief or don't like a fight? I didn't get here because of my connections.
“So, in fact, I've picked fights. I have, even in the schoolyard. I've picked fights with people who I knew would beat me up. That's the kind of person I am. So that's fine, you know?
“Like I said, I totally understand that, you know, it's... ..it's kind of... ..you know, part of the fanfare around, you know, the Premier League is that there needs to be a manager who's always, you know, under the spotlight. I get that. It's my turn at the moment.
“But I think, like most other managers, I think... ..we actually enjoy this bit. I'd be very surprised if there were many managers who don't enjoy, you know, having the kind of challenging hands that I have at the moment.”