After finishing his first season in charge of J-League club Yokohama F.Marinos, Postecoglou was in Sydney to help launch Playing for Australia, a book chronicling the 150 year history of Australian football.

Written by Trevor Thompson, it tells the story of Asia’s influence on the development of the Socceroos during their first two decades and how after turning to Britain the game stagnated.

Postecoglou told FTBL that Australian football’s failure to connect with Asia means the local game has suffered.

“This book is about the fact that we haven’t connected as much as we should with our closest neighbours whose love of football is equal to anything in the world and we haven’t grasped that,” he said.

“Trevor’s book shows that is not a recent thing, it’s in our history and hopefully with a book like this people have a look and see the failures in grasping the opportunities that are right on our door step.”

Postecoglou believes Playing for Australia highlights many of the same issues that Australian football is facing at present and has battled throughout its history.

“For me the book provides the perfect context for where the game is now,” he said during his 20 minute speech at the launch in Gleebooks in Sydney last night.

“It astounds me how often we repeat this cycle of opportunities that exists that we tend to stumble over or misstep.

“When you read Trevor’s book you get an understanding that we’ve neglected our history. I’ve always banged on about our recent history in the 70s and 80s, but it dates back to  the early 1900s.

“You realise that the game has sought some sort of elevation in this country even from back then.

“We have always looked beyond ourselves for people to give us surety; that what we love is right and significant and true.

“We have never really stood on our own two feet. This beautiful game doesn’t need elevation from anyone.

“Back then it was the empire in Great Britain. We were beholden to them and we neglected the fact that right on our doorstep, Asia, there were countries already that had fallen in love with the game and looking to progress it.

“I read that the first Barcelona superstar was born in the Philippines, it’s just crazy to think of where the seeds of these wonderful stories began.

“We talk about our influence with the Dutch. But think about the Indonesians, they have had such a rich history and that has been on our door step.

“Yet when you look at our engagement, even to this day, we haven’t truly recognised the significance of it.”