As Ange Postecoglou talks on the phone from his office in Yokohama about his new life in Japan, you wait for a hint of self-validation.

An "I told you so" remark or perhaps a thinly disguised barb aimed at those back home who so quickly lost faith in his attacking philosophy and visions of Australia not merely playing in World Cups, but winning one.

The timing would be right. J-League results are currently shouting Postecoglou's name from Japanese roof tops, with Yokohama F. Marinos third on the table, just three points behind league leaders Kashima Antlers.

As significantly, Postecoglou's team has climbed the table playing an audacious style of football that has not only captivated home supporters but is also making waves across the competition.

This represents a remarkable transformation for the foundation J-League franchise that was living off past glories upon Postecoglou's arrival last season, and vindication of his methods in an increasingly competitive league.

"It's a conservative society and football is fairly conservative as well," Postecoglou says.

"So to have the players believe in something they probably never experienced before has really been satisfying."

And so after some chit-chat about the Postecoglou family's comfortable acclimatisation to a new country and his team's current success, the topic inevitably turns to his abrupt departure from the Australian coaching job before the 2018 World Cup.

Ange Postecoglou was emotional when leaving the Socceroos post. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

Does Postecoglou's current success and growing status provide some level of satisfaction given the scathing criticism he received during the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign?

Rather than any rancour there is almost a wistful tone in Postecoglou's voice as he explains why he now considers himself a footballing outsider — "a curiosity" as he puts it — in a country where he experienced so much domestic and international success.

In explaining his self-designated status, Postecoglou provides perhaps the most cogent explanation of his shock decision to quit the Socceroos job after World Cup qualification, something that confused those who could see only through the prism of instant sporting gratification.

"I went into the job wanting to make a change," he begins.

"I misread what was expected of me. Whether it is my [forceful] personality, but I never just wanted to be the Socceroos coach. It wasn't something that was a burning desire in me.

"I understand the desire to captain or coach the country. I get that. But for me the Holy Grail wasn't just getting the job.

Ange Postecoglou copped criticism during qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. ( AAP: Dean Lewins )

"When I was appointed, Australia had just been beaten 6-0 twice [by Brazil and France], it was at the lowest ebb. So I thought 'here is an opportunity to really change things'.

"So for me the Holy Grail was changing Australian football in the way we play, the way we think about ourselves, the way we develop our players. That was the exciting thing and I took that job thinking: 'What a great opportunity'.

"Our best ever generation of players is retiring and a new generation is coming in. To me it was like a four- to eight-year journey in changing the game.

"But when it got tight in qualifying I got the sense everyone in the organisation [FFA] forgot what the initial brief was. We just have to qualify for the World Cup. Nothing else matters. It doesn't matter how we play or what comes next.

"I said 'No, no, that's not why I took this job'. In the end we delivered anyway, got qualification. And I went off into the sunset because I didn't get what I wanted. I wanted something different.

"People are still critical of you because you walked out on something. Well, I felt like I had to walk away if that was all they were interested in."

Postecoglou has proven immediately that walking away from Australian football did not mean walking away from his football principles.

Postecoglou did not want to sacrifice his footballing principles. ( AP: Moises Castillo )

Untrustworthy translators, dressing room coups and strict hierarchies

Before his arrival at Yokohama F. Marinos, the Abu Dhabi-based City Group had taken a 20 per cent share in the Nissan-owned club.

The machinations of Japanese football can be treacherous for foreign coaches — nine of the 18 J-League club's managers have been sacked in the past 12 months, most of them foreigners.

Postecoglou had been warned about the untrustworthy translators, dressing room coups and the strict hierarchies that have brought down many imported J-League coaches, including current Socceroos boss Graham Arnold.

But rather than succumbing to the paranoia that engulfs some in an unfamiliar environment, Postecoglou stuck to his own methods, quickly winning over the dressing room with his attacking game plan.

After achieving World Cup qualification with Australia, he has continued his success in Japan. ( AAP: David Moir )

"It wasn't just the players, but the supporters and the people at the club who saw we were building something that was going to be exciting," he says of his first season, in which Yokohama finished 12th.

"At no stage did I feel like I was losing people, although it probably helped we had a good cup run [Yokohama lost in the final]."

While the language barriers made communication in that first season difficult, it also had its advantages. If TV football show panellists were second-guessing his methods or calling for his head as they had in Australia, he could not understand them.

Such is Yokohama's impact on Japanese football, there could be an impending irony to Postecoglou's presence in Japan. At the same time one of his closest friends Chris Nikou has become chairman of the FFA the former Socceroos coach is having an impact on the Socceroos' greatest regional rival.

"The [Japan] national team has shown a lot of curiosity about the way we're playing and I've encouraged them that they certainly have the players, the infrastructure and the will to be really successful in World Cups," he says.

"The football industry here is tapped into what we are doing."

So while some ponder the possibility of Postecoglou returning to Australia with Yokohama to play Melbourne Victory or Sydney FC in an Asian Champions League game, Japan beating the Socceroos with a 3-1-5-1 formation inspired by the ex-Australian coach would prove his greatest vindication.

"I did well at South Melbourne, I did well with Brisbane, did well with Victory, did well with the Socceroos." ( AAP: Patrick Hamilton )

Regardless, there remains a stain on Australian football while Postecoglou continues to add to his accomplishments overseas while feeling like an outsider in his own country.

For his part, Postecoglou is simultaneously proud of what he achieved in Australia while quietly resigned to his current position as that "curiosity", now at arms-length from the Australian game.

"I did well at South Melbourne, I did well with Brisbane, did well with Victory, did well with the Socceroos," he says.

"Show that record and it's impressive, but as soon as you put my name to it a lot of different perspectives are put on it.

"Again, is that my personality? Should this person have an influence on what we are doing as a code? Is he asking for too much?

"Maybe I'm better where I am."