Ange Postecoglou’s attention to detail made the Celtic manager stand out from the coaching crowd, according to Ryan McGowan.
And the St Johnstone defender believes Callum Davidson is cut from the same cloth.
Footballers have become more demanding of training ground practices as the former Hearts man’s career has progressed.
Postecoglou was forensic with his pre-match preparations when McGowan played under him with the Australian national team.
Now, after a couple of months getting to know how Davidson puts together a working week on the back pitches at McDiarmid park, the former Hearts man is getting a similar reassuring vibe.
📸#SJFC pic.twitter.com/JpsNjLXd3y
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) September 12, 2022
Giving an insight into the critical eye an experienced top level pro brings to a new club, McGowan said: “Players really enjoy training here. That’s the thing that’s taken me aback more than anything.
“Everyone thinks training sessions should be pretty easy to put on.
“But players are getting smarter, more switched on.
“If you can see that the training sessions have been put on with a little bit more thought behind them, work on how it’s going to work on the Saturday then players believe in it more.
“And you enjoy it more because you know it’s going to help you.
“There have been a lot of managers I’ve worked with in the past where you think: ‘They’ve just rocked up this morning and thought, we’ll do this’. It’s off the cuff.
“Here, it’s so planned out and so detailed. That, as a player, gives you belief.”
‘A guy in Glasgow’
Asked to think back to a time when a manager made a similar impression, the 33-year-old reflected: “There’s a guy in Glasgow, Ange Postecoglou. He’s doing alright there.
“I’m not comparing but his training sessions were very much about the team we were playing next and working how we’d got about it throughout the week.
🎤🆙 Ange Postecoglou Mic'd Up!
At the end of his first full week at Lennoxtown, the new Manager kindly gave fans a fascinating insight into his training sessions 🍀👊 pic.twitter.com/fA9pbxHUA7
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 2, 2021
“Here, what we do each week is a little bit different.
“If we’re playing against, say, St Mirren who play three at the back so we’re going to try and get down the wings.
“Monday to Friday would be a lot about how we’re going to get balls into those areas.
“Against Rangers it was maybe in the 10 position because they only tend to play with one sitter.
“All week during training – passing or possession drills – it would be trying to find that way of playing.
“Again, it sounds simple but if you keep doing that then by the time the game comes everyone knows what you want to do.
“A lot of coaches are like ‘Monday, we do this. Tuesday we do that’. Then come a Saturday it’s ‘I want you to do this and this’. Whereas we work on it all week.
“As players we can even coach it on the pitch.”
No Tayside hat-trick
McGowan was part of two relegation campaigns – with Dundee United and Dundee.
He is confident it won’t become a Tayside hat-trick, or indeed that Saints will have another close-shave as they did before he arrived in Perth.
“Looking at the players the club brought in over the summer – and having known the club so long – I had the impression that they’d have a real determination to not let last season happen again,” he said.
“And having spoken to the gaffer and doing a bit more research, you’re looking at the squad on paper thinking it’s highly unlikely it would.
“Having played a long time in Scotland, you understand how important it is to get that mix and balance of experience and of knowing how to win games.
“All of us in the changing room know we have a good chance of making the top six or being a successful team.
“But we can say and talk all we want. We have to be at it on Saturday.
“I was very happy with how we played against St Mirren but that’s to be expected every week.
“We’re not going to win every week but that same amount of effort, application, desire to win the game has to be there.”
McGowan added: “With United and Dundee I arrived mid-season at both.
“My first game at United was the semi-final of the League Cup which we won.
“Then things kind of started transpiring towards the end of that season. At the start of the following one we knew it was going to be difficult.
“A change of manager happened quite quickly and I left in January because of the money issues.
“It’s a totally different feeling to here. It’s a really positive atmosphere to work in.”
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