Sacked in the Morning: Ryan McGowan's 'worst 16 hours of my life' under Ange Postecoglou
- Published
Ange Postecoglou managed Australia from age-group level to senior squad
Ryan McGowan says he found a flight sitting beside former manager Ange Postecoglou so intimidating that it was "the worst 16 hours of my life".
St Johnstone midfielder McGowan missed out on the Australia squad for the current World Cup finals.
But he recalled his experience under the present Celtic boss.
"I am sitting there just sweating," McGowan told BBC Scotland. "I was so nervous. He didn't speak to me once. Not even like, 'how are you?'"
The 33-year-old recounted the flight from Sydney to Dubai on Sacked in the Morning with former Scotland managers Gordon Strachan and Craig Levein.
McGowan said he had not realised at the time that Postecoglou's behaviour masked what appears to have been a devilish sense of humour.
"He did a podcast a few months ago and he said, 'I used to love doing it; it used to freak all the boys out'," he revealed.
McGowan, whose 22 caps included three appearances at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, explained that sitting beside Postecoglou was payback for "messing around" his team-mates.
"I'd been up to a bit of mischief with some of the senior boys beforehand, which I now seriously regret," he said.
"I was at Hearts on my 100 quid a week and I used to put all my coffees on the senior boys' rooms because they could obviously afford it. But I didn't know they could pick the seats when we were flying from Sydney to Dubai.
"I got my ticket and it was 1A, business class up the front. I get on the flight, all set up and the next thing Ange comes and he's sitting right next to me."
McGowan was even too fearful to interrupt his manager's sleep to visit the toilet.
"I held it in the whole way," he admitted. "No way was I waking him up.
"Some of the boys were ordering wine. I was like 'just water, thank you'. When we got there, he just up and left."
Ryan McGowan (left) had less stressful flights, such as this one on his way to the World Cup in Brazil
Postecoglou's imposing style led Celtic to the Scottish title last season while they lead again this season, but what kind of manager is he?
"He's the best coach I've worked with," McGowan suggested.
"He is so distant and so scary, you are petrified of him - I still am. He'd have certain rules that were just non-negotiable.
"As an average player, I liked that. He just told you what to do and you tried to do it as best you could. He was very good at that.
"There are certain managers who are like, 'go and express yourself'. I can't express myself at all. Just tell me what to do and I'll try to do it!"
You can watch the latest episode of Sacked In The Morning on iPlayer and the BBC Scotland channel on Friday at 22:30 GMT.