ANGE Postecoglous reign as Socceroos coach will begin as soon as the stand-off between Football Federation Australia and Melbourne Victory over the clubs demand for hefty compensation is resolved.

Victory, the A-League’s richest club, has requested close to a $1 million from the governing body with Postecoglou’s $600,000-a-year deal expiring in 2015.

But FFA is desperate to avoid another hefty payout after it was forced to compensate dumped coach Holger Osieck $1 million of his $1.5 million salary. He was sacked last Saturday, after consecutive 6-0 drubbings to Brazil and France.

Postecoglou will be in charge of the Socceroos’ two friendlies in Australia in November, unless negotiations break down.

Victory officials did not return calls, while FFA declined to comment.

It is also understood FFA is negotiating a payout with Socceroos assistant Robbie Hooker, who was hand-picked by Osieck in 2010. But first assistant Aurelio Vidmar will stay with FFA and could remain on Postecoglou's coaching staff.

Postecoglou will hand pick his assistants and it’s believed that he wants Victory’s conditioning guru, head of performance Peter Cklamovski, to join him in his Socceroos stable.

Victory had already started putting plans in place last week for Kevin Muscat to take over as interim coach for the rest of the season and he has already sounded out assistants.

While it was declared a three-horse race also including Central Coast’s Graham Arnold and Western Sydney’s Tony Popovic, Postecoglou was ultimately the man they were after and the only one chief executive David Gallop has interviewed.

Victory allowed FFA to speak to Postecoglou but is standing its ground and even if he gets the job he looks set to coach Victory in Friday night’s clash against Brisbane Roar.

FFA is desperate to finalise the appointment by Friday so Postecoglou can have the chance to select a squad for next month’s two home friendlies.

The players’ clubs have to be notified 14 days before the first game, which is likely to be on Thursday, November 14, and Postecoglou may pick an extended squad to bring in several fresh faces.

The Victory board is believed to have discussed the compensation matter last week and Postecoglou openly expressed his desire to lead the national team.

media_camera Ange Postecoglou looks on pensively at Victory training. Picture: George Salpigtidis

Victory players were oblivious to the manoeuvering behind the scenes with the 48-year-old taking training as per normal ahead of Friday’s clash against his old side at Etihad Stadium.

FFA may even agree to allow Postecoglou to coach Victory in its Melbourne Cup Eve clash against Wellington Phoenix.

The governing body’s desperation to make the appointment this week is compounded by the fact that, after the upcoming friendlies, the Socceroos won’t play again until the next FIFA international window in March.

Postecoglou’s imminent appointment will cap a remarkable transformation for the man who was unemployable, following a seven-year spell coaching the Australian Joeys (Under 17s) and Young Socceroos (Under 20s) that drew criticism for poor results.

Postecoglou, capped four times by Australia, won two national titles with South Melbourne and most recently two more with Brisbane Roar.

Originally published as Victory playing hard ball with FFA