Brighton’s new manager Dario Vidosic has expressed his “huge gratitude” to the other Australian at the helm of a top team in England for helping him secure his new role.
The 37-year-old Vidosic and Premier League Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou have a “long history” as a player and coach dating back to 2006.
As the former Socceroos star adjusted to his new job in the English Women’s Super League with Brighton, nicknamed the Seagulls due to their coastal location, after a 14-year playing career, he thanked Postecoglou for making the transition a smooth one.
“Look, I have to give Ange a big compliment, he helped me with my references,” the new Brighton manager said at his first press conference on Friday.
‘His name, and not just in England but in Australia, is a reference and recognition to someone like him who holds the flag of Australian football high and shows what he can do.
‘So I have to say a massive thank you to him and I will try to get in touch with him. He is a fantastic manager and what he is doing at Tottenham and what he has achieved in his first season, and not just in England but since he took on that managerial role.
‘He was my coach at the national youth team, so there’s a long history there from player to coach. Now I hope to get a little bit of guidance from coach to coach, that would be great.’
The two first met in 2006 at the Australian under-20 team, and again a few years later at the Socceroos.
Croatian-born Vidosic’s tenure at the Socceroos was nearly over when Postecoglou took charge of the green and gold senior team.
Ange Postecoglou (left) and Dario Vidosic (right) during their coaching days together at Brisbane Roar in the Australian A-League
Under Holger Osieck, the playmaker was not called up to the national team for two years, until he became the German manager’s regular midfielder in 2013.
Football Australia sacked Osieck in October 2013 after two consecutive 6-0 defeats and Postecoglou took over, promptly naming the ex-A-League Men’s star in his 2014 World Cup squad.
Now the former Melbourne City coach sits in the Brighton dugout on a three-year contract after retiring from professional football in 2020.
The former Western Sydney Wanderer will play for one of 12 Australians in the WSL at his new club, Matilda Charlize Rule.
Rule will be hoping her second season goes more smoothly than her first, having suffered a hip injury in December that will see her sidelined for the remainder of the 2023/24 season.
Vidosic, who previously played against Rule as a coach when she was at Sydney FC, said he was looking forward to working with Rule and his other stars in preparation for the season.
“I ran into her yesterday so it was nice to see a fellow countryman in the house,” he told Optus Sport.
“In Australia it was always a battle against her in the Melbourne City v Sydney FC battles we’ve had over the last few years. It’s nice to see a familiar face here and an excellent footballer, another young talent.”
Vidosic and Postecoglou have a long history together, dating back to his playing days for the Socceroos when Ange was in charge
There will be one familiar face at training for Vidosic, with Matilda Charlize Rule (right) already established at Brighton
“We’ve talked about some of those young talents and she’s one of them. I’m looking forward to coaching her and getting to know her better. And not just her, but everyone in the squad.”
Vidosic becomes the first Australian to manage the league since Joe Montemurro left Arsenal in mid-2021, with the Lyon coach following in the footsteps of City’s ALW program and the WSL.
But he turned to a familiar Kiwi face to find out more about his new club, asking former A-League Women’s star Rebekah Stott, who played for Brighton twice, what to expect.
“I tried to keep it a secret, but I didn’t know that these guys were probably talking to Stotty all the time. So she probably didn’t tell me much, I didn’t tell her much,” Vidosic laughed.
‘But after I had that conversation with her, she repeated everything I had seen in the first three, four days.
‘I think the biggest thing I’ve noticed in these few days without being on the pitch is the people on the pitch. They’re all great people, I’ve felt really, really welcome, even though I’m so far from home, I felt at home.
“She said I would love it here and she was absolutely right.”