Ange’s improbable achivement of securing Tottenham a trophy will go down as one of Australia’s best coaching achievements. The win was huge, and I, like many others was up at 5am to watch it unfold live.

For South, the win is huge too. The club has always been supportive of its favourite son, and so it should. Knights have names their main stand after Viduka, and South similarly have named their training ground after key people too. Ange has one, but do does Paul Wade and Trimmers – a pretty huge accolade considering it’s Albert Park!

South is extremely fortunate to count Ange as one of its own and it’s important to celebrate these things. They inspire, give hope and really, is what running a football club is about, seeing a junior, a lifer, make it to the top. In the current pay to play days of NPL football it’s hard to see another following this path anywhere (not just South), but nevertheless repeating this journey should be the goal of the. There’s a lesson here for us, to foster a strong club culture and build good club people, not just good footballers, good people.

How did South respond to this specific victory though? Well firstly they hosted a screening at the club reportedly attended by about 40 people (great turnout for 5am), and after the win they shared a number of posts, including a beautiful montage of Ange’s time at South and his achievements afterwards. The club also released some retro gear which I’ll be honest, I have bought – my order confirmation came before the advertising email! All in all a good response I think, a fair way of capitalising that was classy and not overly corny.

What should the legacy of all this be though? Well, Ange has turned more eyes to the club then any other recent endeavor – over 1 million views have been clocked on the video montage posted by the club, but closer to home calls for a statue I think are more then fair.

We want to see Puscas’ statue moved to Lakeside (another issue) but a Postecolgou statue is deserved not just to reflect the achievements of the man himself, which are extraordinary, but also all he represents. South deserves a permanent marker of their contribution to Albert Park and the wider community and migrants deserve recognition in these typically Anglo dominated spaces too. Just as women have been under-represented in public spaces so too have migrants, particularly first generation migrants.

Walking by an Ange statue on the way to games isn’t just a point of pride for South but should serve as a reminder to all migrants that you can achieve something great here and you will be celebrated for it.

However as some fans have rightly pointed out, the club has a job to do right now, it’s not in the best look to be celebrating while the team is struggling. I sympathise with this view to a point, and hope the club can reflect on Ange and think to rectify a few issues in the present. Not just the results, but also the youth pipeline, community aspect of the club and the connection with fans.

However, as I’ve said before the club has many aspects to it, and the men’s football program is just one, although it drives the majority of sentiment around the club. Football and media are separate workstreams so I don’t think form should impact celebratory Ange posts – however the messaging from the top needs to be honest for where the club is at. Every Greek and his dog will claim Ange as a friend, that’s not the case. Many ‘dormant’ fans will use Ange to espouse South’s glory, of which not much is apparent right now on the park.

Yes let’s celebrate but let’s be honest and look at the bigger picture. Ange is potentially a once in a lifetime son of the club, his legend will be eternal but now is the time to bask in it. Results on the other hand (even relegation) are temporary, however the club should never let distractions (even like Ange) stop us from being reflective and improving.

Well done Ange, and let’s go South – let’s get some results worthy of the legends of our club.