Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou admits he grew up in Melbourne on three-month-old Shoot! magazines.
Speaking with BBC Sport, Posetcoglou discussed his playing and early coaching career in Melbourne ahead of Sunday's North London derby against Arsenal.
He said: "Even as a player I was really curious, asking every manager about the game, why they made the decisions. Even today I want to know why, why, why? I was made captain of a club aged 22, so there was obviously a leadership skill there I wasn't really aware of.
"I always wanted to be a manager. I loved the game. I loved all of it, not just playing. I would get three-month-old Shoot magazines, Roy of the Rovers. I would read everything. I was a massive Liverpool fan, I loved Bill Shankly, I loved the boot room stories.
"I am comfortable walking into a room and talking to footballers. I am not comfortable going into a social setting and having small talk, but put me in a room with footballers and I am more than comfortable in that space.
"Some of it [his football philosophy] was dad. The teams you loved to watch, 1974 it was all about Holland, it was always the teams who excited. Even Liverpool in the 70s with the whole possession stuff. He always tracked me down that road.
"My dad didn't like watching Italian football at times, that influenced me and I got attracted into these teams, those players. In the bizarre world I have grown up in, I ended up with one of the greatest footballers of all time, in Ferenc Puskas, being my manager [at South Melbourne]. He just didn't like defending at all.
"His attitude was they score four, we score five. We are talking late 1980s where it was 4-4-2 everywhere. He wanted to play wingers and he didn't ever want our wingers to come [back] past the halfway line.
"Now, I was a full-back who hated defending. We ended up winning the league. Our strikers got bags of goals, it stirred something inside me and I thought why not? Why not just go for it? Why not play the football everyone wants to play and just score goals, don't worry about conceding."
Postecoglou admits he had to leave Australia to gain recognition within the game.
"People have only discovered me in the last couple of years, where I have had 25 years of being fairly successful.
"I didn't understand it, I used to come over here five, six years ago - I was national team boss and people would introduce me to so and so. And it was like going to those Hollywood auditions and being rejected, they just didn't know who I was.
"It was so depressing, I'd been working for 25 years. I never thought I would get here to be honest, not because of my ability, just because no one was looking this way.
"Japan is an unbelievable country. I loved my time there. With the language taken away as a tool, which I like to use, it really challenged me as a manager and it worked.
"I had success and that really added to my belief. I thought wherever I end up next, I conquered that and I will have my language back and will feel more comfortable.
"That gave me maybe a bit more credibility. I was also part of the City Football Group, which exposed me to this part of the world. People kept telling me, 'you are better off being sacked three times in Europe than being successful this side of the world'."
