Postecoglou picked to lead A-League All Stars

Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou was named as manager to lead the A-League All Stars against Manchester United for their July clash.

Postecoglou was announced as the inaugural A-League All Stars coach on Monday after winning a fan vote, just edging out Tony Popovic and Graham Arnold to take on the Premier League leaders in Sydney on July 20.

Postecoglou finished with 36.8 percent of the vote, just ahead of the Wanderers boss Popovic (36.2) with Arnold third on 15.4 percent.

“It’s a huge thrill and honour to be voted by the fans,” Postecoglou told reporters.

“Man United is massive game, a massive club and on the eve of their season there will be a great deal of attention on it.

“Getting the opportunity to deal with the best players in the (A-League) as a coach is one of those unique opportunities I’m really thrilled and honoured to accept.

“It’s exciting, to bring a group of players together that otherwise wouldn’t ever come together in one team is challenging but what (I am) looking forward to.”

On a day of announcements for the match, FFA chief David Gallop also revealed Foxtel as the naming rights sponsor while voting to select the All Stars line-up was declared open.

Fans can now start choosing the players they want in the squad and they will be responsible for 50 percent of the voting.

Another 20 percent will be decided by an expert panel, another 20 percent via the PFA Team of the Year, with the remaining 10 percent going to Postecoglou.

The two-time championship winning coach will also get to pick three players of his own in the 18-man squad.

Regardless of who is in his team, Postecoglou has vowed to go all-out to upstage the 19-time English champions.

“We won’t be parking an All-Star bus,” he said.

“People that know me and watched me coached the last few years know the style I want to play.

“With these sorts of games it should be a celebration of football. I don’t want to go out there and stop Man U from playing their football, we want to showcase what we can do.”

“Watch games over the weekend, there isn’t a defensive mindset in the A-League… we go at it and that’s what we want to display.”

Gallop added: “This is a chance to showcase the A-League to the world, taking on one of the biggest clubs in world football.

“This is not just a one-off match, it’s the creation of an annual event that celebrates the most popular players and coaches in the A-League.”

Postecoglou could be without a number of A-League-based Socceroos players due to the national team’s involvement in the East Asian Cup finals in late July.