Celtic, Ange Postecoglou & the South Melbourne Scots who shaped him

The lifelong Celtic supporter grew up in Drumchapel but emigrated to Australia when he was 11 years old. He went on to be capped 13 times by the Socceroos.

Blair spent his entire club career at South Melbourne – all 14 years of it. That’s where things get really interesting.

Of all the things he has achieved in his life, Blair is most proud of the fact he can count Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou as one of his best mates.

Postecoglou has even name-checked 'Blairy' – as he calls him – a couple of times in his media interviews since taking over the managerial reins at Parkhead last summer.

The duo formed a special bond at South Melbourne, where they won two NSL titles together in 1984 and 1991.

Blair revealed that, despite the perception in some quarters, when Postecoglou agreed to become Neil Lennon's permanent successor last June it wasn't as some guy who had been parachuted in from the other side of the world and knew nothing about the club.

On the contrary, Postecoglou had been immersed in Celtic, Scottish football and its cultures from early on in his career due to the number of ex-pats plying their trade with South Melbourne in the NSL.

Blair takes up the story from there…

“I was born in Glasgow and born into the Celtic tradition,” he told The Celtic Way. “My father was a mad Celtic fan. I was brought up in Drumchapel then my parents decided to come to Australia when I was 11.

“We went to a club called Albion Rovers at first, who played in Scotland colours and had a team filled with Scots. Then, when I was 16 or 17, I went to South Melbourne which was a Greek-founded club but it had the biggest support and it paid the biggest wages. They had a host of ex-pats playing for them who all had a real influence on Ange.

Steve Blair and Ange Postecoglou, both circled, with South Melbourne Hellas in 1991

"There was Jim Shirra, who was ex-Dundee, and Frank Munro who played for both Celtic and Wolves. There was former Berwick Rangers and Albion Rovers player Charlie Egan, ex-Aberdeen winger George Campbell and Kenny Murphy, who was with Dundee United. All of them played in Scotland before coming to Australia and playing for South Melbourne. Ange mixed with them all and that influence gave him an insight into the Scottish football mentality – and playing with a winning style.”

It wasn't too long before Postecoglou found out all about the fierce Celtic/Rangers rivalry for himself.

Blair recalls that the five-a-sides matches after South Melbourne training sessions could get rather tasty as the players were divided into teams representing both halves of Glasgow. That's where Blair, thankfully, got his Celtic claws into Postecoglou.

"You'd either be on the Celtic or Rangers team,” former centre-back Blair said. “We then proceeded to kick lumps out of each other. Those games were fiercely contested, let me tell you. That's where my influence with Ange came to the fore as I always used to say to him 'Celtic are the team – stay on this side, mate.'”

While Blair could understand that initial scepticism and reticence to Posteogou's appointment he knew that his mate would always come good if he was given sufficient time in the job and not eaten alive by the Glasgow goldfish bowl existence.

Blair knew something that the outside world didn't: a visit to Scotland in the 1980s had also helped Postecoglou develop and further his Scottish football education even more.

As a result, his knowledge of our game was actually greater than many experts would have had you believe. In fact, Blair insists that Postecoglou was very well versed in everything Celtic.

"When Ange was recruited as the Celtic manager some people initially thought ‘who is this guy?’ said Blair, 60. “The comments were that he'll not have a clue and that he'll get eaten alive in the Glasgow goldfish bowl.

“But Ange had all that grounding from the Scottish ex-pats players who were influencing him. He had been immersed in Scottish football from very early on in and invested in it through these players. It had a real impact on Ange.

Blair and Postecoglou with club awards

“Ange visited Scotland with me years and years ago. He came along and we visited all the different clubs – Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts, Hibernian – it was all part of his learning and footballing education.

"When you understand that then you realise that he had extensive knowledge of Celtic long before he got the job. He wasn't just plucked from Australia – he had an education and he understood the divide perfectly well.

"He was well aware that this [the Glasgow Derby] is a rivalry notched up to 12. He also gets it when the supporters talk about playing the Celtic way. I told him that at this club it’s not enough just to win, you have to win ‘the Celtic way’. With style, creating excitement, entertaining and scoring goals. None of that was lost on him or even new to him. He was extremely familiar with it all.”

Blair admits that, as a supporter, he just can’t contain himself sometimes and has become something of a text pest to Postecoglou ever since he touched down in Glasgow’s east end.

“I text Ange all the time,” he said. “In fact I annoy the shit out of him, to be honest. I told him that there are Celtic supporters who will be getting up at 5am or 6am to come along and watch his team. Irrespective of whether they are plumbers, joiners, lawyers or whatever, Celtic is their life. Ange totally gets that.

"He gets Celtic from top to bottom. He understands the culture and how the escapism from the drudgery of working life for some of the supporters is their football club. That's why they demand entertainment and want a style of football that isn’t boring.

“Ange has delivered on his promise to put bums on seats. He understands that the football club you support is handed down from generation to generation. All my kids are Celtic supporters. You are born into it – it chooses you, not the other way around. Once it grips you, that's it. I get up at 2am or 3am to watch every Celtic game. It is crazy.

“While I knew Ange was going to be a success there was always some trepidation. I wondered if he would get the time he needed to sort it all out. I knew if he got that time he would be OK. He came through a rough patch at the start of the season but he turned it all around and he made Celtic into champions.”

Blair does have designs on returning to Scotland one day but he joked that his presence might be more of a hindrance than a help to the Hoops boss.

“I’ll come over to see Ange at some point,” he said. “But if I was in Glasgow I’d just annoy the hell out of him!”

Despite the jokes, it is clear the pair are close. Extremely close.

On the pitch, they have shared titles together with South Melbourne. Off the field, Blair was by his friend's side at a darker time too: when Postecoglou's father, Jim, sadly passed away in hospital.

The Celtic boss often cites his dad as a major influence and driving force in his playing and coaching career – and that inspiration, Blair believes, is a large part of why Postecoglou always seems to dedicate his success to others.

Those who have helped him on his journey – whether it be his father, Hungary legend and ex-South Melbourne coach Ferenc Puskas or even lifelong friends like Blair who have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him at various junctures – all get a lot of credit from the man himself.

As Postecoglou said on the night Celtic clinched the title at Tannadice: “I carry them all with me.”

“I played with Ange during all his career at South Melbourne,” Blair said. “Every game Ange played for South Melbourne, I played in too. We've won championships together, we've lost together, we both represented Australia, we did everything together. We are very tight, really close pals.

“When Ange has success it is not just his success, it is everybody's success. His biggest enjoyment and kick is to see others enjoy themselves. He genuinely loves bringing happiness and joy to others. When he walks around the ground at the end of every Celtic match he is genuinely taking the time to thank the supporters for everything. He enjoys seeing the smiles on their faces.”

READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou, Jock Stein and Ferenc Puskas - The Celtic through-line that binds football royalty

Postecoglou might not give too much away to the media but beating at the heart of his core is an out-and-out family man with a wickedly dry sense of humour. Blair would know – he is part of his trusted inner sanctum, after all.

“I know Ange very differently from everybody else,” he said. “When he is on the TV and talking to the press and he gives you his poker face not giving much away, I just laugh at that. He is great in the way he conducts himself. I know Ange as a completely different person. I know the funny Ange, the casual Ange, we laugh together so much. He has a wonderful sense of humour. I love the way he acts with the media as he bats it straight back at them. He doesn't take shit from anybody.

"That was evident when he dug the sports journalists up for calling the season early when we had played seven games. He will never be tripped up. I remember someone asked him what he knew about Hearts. He had been to Tynecastle himself, he had managed players who had played for Hearts. He knows football inside out. The answer he gave to that when he said he wasn't on another planet was typically dry-humoured Ange. He was basically saying ‘don't take me for a mug’.

“But whenever Ange texts me he always ends the message by asking about my kids. He'll finish off by saying make sure your kids are OK, hope your kids are alright. That is the mark of the man.

“As the Celtic manager, he is so busy and he has a million and one things to do, with people pulling him in all sorts of directions. There is so much pressure on him yet he always finds the time to remember to give his love to my kids. That sums him up totally.”

Indeed, the Postecoglou that Blair knows is a guy who is both intensely loyal and has never forgotten his friends on his way up the footballing ladder.

“Ange has rung me on his way to training sometimes,” said Blair. “He checks in with me regularly and asks how I am doing and if I watched the Celtic game. I text him after every game like an annoying wee boy.

Blair's pal is doing alright in his new job

“Before every Rangers game, I text him saying ‘this is the one, it's more important than the last game!' These are not one-sentence texts either, they are huge. Ange must think ‘what is he on about?’

"Yet he always gets back to me. I'm glad he does that. He knows I am coming from a position where I want him to do well and be successful and am just nervous about the result and nervous for him. He understands all that completely. Despite achieving what he has and his career taking him to great heights he has never once forgotten his friends.”

Postecoglou carved a managerial reputation for himself for the best part of 25 years on the other side of the world with the Australian national side. He took the Socceroos to the 2014 World Cup guided them to Asian Cup success a year later. He has won titles in both Australia with South Melbourne and Brisbane Roar and Japan with Yokahama F Marinos.

But before turning his hand to managing full-time, he learned under Puskas as a player. Blair witnessed that first-hand and recalls Postecoglou and the Hungary legend enjoying a wonderful working relationship at South Melbourne.

It was, he remembers, often left to Postecoglou to fire the Puskas bullets if his side did not come up to scratch.

“Ange had a close relationship with Ferenc Puskas,” Blair said. “He was the team captain and they shared the Greek language.

“Puskas's English was broken. It was very basic. Sometimes it didn't make much sense. He knew words like 'goal’ and ‘go forward' but he always turned to Ange to get his message across to the players.

"He would convey his thoughts and feelings to him, sometimes they'd speak and then you would see Ange getting wound up and deliver a ‘get the fucking finger out lads’ speech. Puskas meant the world to Ange. He and his dad taught him everything about the game.

"My own dealings with Puskas were to talk about stuff like the 1960 European Cup final at Hampden when he played for Real Madrid against Eintracht Frankfurt and scored four goals. I'd talk to him about doing that in front of 120,000 fans and what the experience was like. He also told us how he played against Celtic in 1962 and he spoke about Billy McNeill. Being a centre-half and a massive Celtic supporter, I thought this was brilliant and I lapped it all up. We were more in awe of Puskas and what he had achieved in the game.

"But Ange's relationship with him was completely different. He learned at the feet of one of the best. Sometimes when people give you advice it goes over your head. Not with Ange. He was like a sponge and absorbed all the information.

“From the Puskas influence to all the Scottish boys that he played with in the South Melbourne team and the players he competed against, he took it all in. He stored it all away and kept it for the day he would be given the opportunity of a lifetime – which is what he has now at Celtic. It is unbelievable.”

Blair himself was a decent player in his day and even scored the opener for Australia B in a 4-2 friendly defeat against a Rangers side – featuring, among others, Ally McCoist, Davie Cooper, Dave McPherson, Bobby Russell, Sandy Clark and Ian Redford – at Adamstown Oval in Newcastle in 1984.

He was given the chance to train with Celtic for a three-week trial spell in 1981 – where his driving companion was none other than former Hoops defender and current West Ham United boss David Moyes.

Training was meant to turn into a trial match but the Hoops refused to stump up the insurance fees demanded by the Australian FA and his dreams bit the dust.

“Can you imagine a boy from Drumchapel, growing up a Celtic fan, going on to score against Rangers for the Australia B team?” he said. “I tell my kids but they still ask me ‘did you even play, dad?’

"When I trained for three weeks with Celtic as part of a trial spell, they did want to see me in competitive action but my Australian club sent the letter requiring insurance and Celtic were never going to pay the fee required. I was an unknown player from Australia so that was the end of the matter. The dream was nice while it lasted.”

Blair's letter confirming his trial with Celtic in 1981

He now runs his own business – World of Soccer & Trophies – but that didn’t stop him from offering to form part of Postecoglou’s backroom staff when he initially moved to Scotland. Strictly to help him settle into his new surroundings, of course.

In typical Postecoglou fashion, ‘Blairy’ was let down gently.

“I emailed him and offered to come and be part of his team, just as moral support,” he recalls. “I thought he’d get slaughtered. I told him I’d do anything he wanted me to do. He wrote back saying ‘just relax, Blairy… just relax’.

“It was the kindest knockback ever but what it did do was fill me with confidence that even early on in his Celtic managerial tenure Ange was comfortable with his surroundings and confident that he knew what he is doing.

“He doesn't need to prove anything to anybody. He knows what Celtic needs and he knows how to deliver it. He has done it all by himself and not brought in any new backroom staff at all and he deserves enormous credit for doing that.

"But the whole thing is just still so surreal. This is my club. The team that I have followed passionately all of my life and my pal lands the manager's job. You couldn’t make it up! That he has brought great success to the team after one season in charge means so much to me.

Blair is largely responsible for spreading the good gospel of Celtic to Postecoglou back in the 1980s – and the team’s transformation under the man himself has been of similarly biblical proportions. For that alone, the club owes Blair a huge debt of gratitude.

Postecoglou and Blair shared a common bond of football, family and friendship during their days with South Melbourne. It is a tie that binds and a bond that will not be broken.

Nowadays the pair share an entirely different kind of bond: Celtic. You couldn't make it up indeed, Blairy mate.