Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou remembered visiting Swindon Town to watch Massimo Luongo ahead of facing him in the Premier League.

Luongo was a second-half substitute at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday as his Ipswich Town side won their first game since winning promotion from the Championship last season, his first match at Spurs despite coming through their academy.

Postecoglou was the Australia manager whilst Luongo was playing for Town between 2013 and 2015, the pair won the Asia Cup together in 2015 as the former Spurs youth player became the central cog for the Socceroos, winning Most Valuable Player for that tournament and even earning a nomination for the Ballon d’Or.

 

 

Luongo initially joined Swindon on loan from Tottenham towards the end of the 2012/13 season with two other youngsters, Nathan Byrne and Dean Parrett, before joining permanently that summer and being a key man as Mark Cooper’s side made the playoff final in 2015.

Under Kieran McKenna, Luongo has helped guide Ipswich to back-to-back promotions to reach the Premier League alongside fellow Swindon alumnus Luke Woolfenden.

The midfielder made his international debut whilst at Swindon in 2014 and was taken to the World Cup in Brazil by Postecoglou but never made an appearance as Australia went out in the group stage.

Ahead of the game this weekend, Postecoglou remembered coming to The Nigel Eady County Ground to watch Luongo.

He said: “It will be good to catch up with Mass, we really loved coaching him.

“I remember one of my first scouting trips when I was Socceroos national team boss was to watch Swindon Town play in League One against someone – I wasn’t going to the Bernabeu or Camp Nou to watch the Aussies play.

“Tim Sherwood was in the director’s box where I was and they spoke really highly of Mass from his time here at Spurs – the kind of player he was and the kind of person he was.

“We hit a sweet spot both me and him during that Asia Cup where he was player of the tournament and he was outstanding.

“It has taken us ten years to get to the Premier League, both of us, we probably both thought we would get here a bit quicker than we did.

“He is a great player and I shared a really special time with him, I really loved coaching him, and I look forward to catching up with him.”