Sadly for Perth Glory the 2017/18 season has been a disappointing one. They failed to make the finals, which is a massive blow when only four teams in the league miss out on being a part of the end of season play offs and the chance to be crowned Champions.
As is to be expected there has been a great deal of finger pointing and calls for people’s heads to roll.
Every year fans believe that this will be their year. That is what makes sport so compelling. Many teams flirt with success only to disappoint, whereas others achieve on a regular basis.
Apart from 2011/12, when the Glory finished the season third, and lost the Grand Final to Brisbane Roar, Glory have never finished higher than fifth. Some will argue that the pre-season goal of making the finals is a clear indication of the team setting the bar low. The club has however had more success in the FFA Cup with two losing final appearances.
In the National Soccer League Perth Glory were the team everyone wanted to beat. They were the most professionally run outfit in the league. They had the biggest crowds and at one stage were one of only three or four teams with full time players. It was a very different landscape back then. So different that despite the club being in the hands of private owners it was a club that the people of Western Australia felt belonged to them. A club they took pride in because they were winners; the Western Australian public love winning teams. Tickets to the games were the hottest in town and The West Australian newspaper knew this, hence they gave the game an eight page and then four page lift out within the paper. They knew that when Glory’s crowds were high people wanted to read about the club. As the crowds subsided so too did their coverage.
The A-League was created with the idea of making all teams equal. There would be a salary cap, all teams would be professional, all squads would be the same size. Each club would have to have three under 21 players in their squad. It was believed that this would create a balanced competition. Yet it hasn’t.
The two teams the furthest from the East Coast of Australia reflect that, Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory’s performances in the A-League are remarkably similar and that cannot be a coincidence. This is not clear now it has been for a while as we wrote in Sage Lives Up to HIs Name back in 2010. It is however a fact that the FFA continually ignore.
To back this comment up Perth Glory have played 330 regular A-League season games since the competition started. They have won 115, Drawn 75 and Lost 140. Wellington Phoenix did not play the first two seasons, the New Zealand Knights did and their record was played 42 games, won 6, drew 7 and lost 29. Wellington Phoenix since coming into the A-League have played 288 regular season games, won 94, drawn 62 and lost 94. If we add the two New Zealand teams together it comes to 330 games played by both teams, they have won 100, drawn 69 and lost 161. Only one team in A-League history has lost more games than both of these two teams and this is Newcastle Jets who have lost 143 games.
David Mitchell when coach of Perth Glory was ridiculed when he stated that Perth Glory could not take an extended squad to an away game in the hope that on match day a player with a niggle may be fit, because the costs were prohibitive. Yet for Sydney or Melbourne sides to pay an extra airfare to travel between cities is only a few hundred dollars as opposed to close to a $1000. This is a clear disadvantage and not surprisingly owner Tony Sage is raising it again after the season his team have had.
Once all of the clubs in the A-League were offering a decent wage, unlike in the NSL, there was no longer a need to come to Perth. Unlike in the NSL the crowds in Perth were no longer the best, so another incentive to head west was gone. We saw after three or four seasons that players would not sign for Perth Glory before they had exhausted all options on the East Coast. Which meant that many players who signed did not sign because they wanted to be a part of the club, the signed in many cases because it was their last chance at a professional contract in Australia. Mitch Nicholls is probably a case in point.
Whether Glory fans like it or not the truth at the moment is that this is not a club players in Australia want to play for. The reasons? They are no doubt many, the travel is always cited as one, but one of the biggest will be that the club does not look like it is likely to be challenging for honours.
Is that the coach’s fault? Is it the owners fault? Is it the buzz word in sport, ‘the culture’ at the club. It is possibly a combination of all.
Certainly the lack of scouting done by the club must have something to do with the culture and building a team. In 2016/17 when the Chris Herd signing fell through Milan Smiljanić was signed. We were told that he was a friend of popular midfielder Nebojša Marinković. Did Marinkovic have any influence on the signing? Did his agent? It matters not now but this was a poor signing and caused the team untold problems on the pitch as neither would tackle, so teams waltzed through the midfield putting the defence under extra pressure.
This season it looked as if history was repeating when the club signed Spaniard Xavi Torres this season. It was made public that Diego Castro “gave Torres a glowing endorsement when the club was considering signing the Spaniard, with the pair playing together at Getafe.” When 34-year old Andreu who had been released by Western Sydney Wanderers at the end of 2015-16 was announced as signing for Perth Glory it was revealed by The West Australian that “Castro has been highly influential in convincing Glory coach Kenny Lowe to sign his mate.” The two had played together over a decade earlier at La Liga club Malaga before moving to second-division Sporting Gijon where they were roommates and played together for four seasons. Were these Spanish acquisitions what Glory needed this year and did they deliver?
One thing that is clear is that lessons need to be learned from this season. An investigation into why so many players picked up soft tissue injuries during the season has to be top of the list. The work of the strength and conditioning coach has to be looked at closely. Toby Horak joined the club in that role from an Australian Rules Football background in 2014, and there have been no such issues until this season, so what did the club do differently if anything?
One thing that could be linked to these injuries, which has been touched on by others is whether the pre-season was adequate. What has been baffling in recent seasons is how not every player has been back at the club for the first day of pre-season training. At any club having rules for one, and rules for the rest is a recipe for disaster.
That issue has it would appear seeped into the whole ethos of the team. Certain individuals believe that they are the star of the side and wish to constantly remind their team mates. Others feel that they should be in the limelight too and petty jealousies have formed, which may not have been aired publicly, but have been allowed to fester.
Like many a sporting club there have been numerous rumours in relation to players activities away from the pitch. These sadly nearly always become bigger issues when a team is not doing well. If the team was top of the league fans would not begrudge a player having a few drinks out on the town. So some of these accusations need to be taken with a pinch of salt, but the club needs to be monitoring the players to ensure that it does not blow up into unwanted publicity.
As with any team that is not performing the crowds will drop. Yet Perth Glory has created a rod for its own back when it comes to crowd numbers. So many tickets are given away to each home game, especially to the “Football Family,” the local clubs. These tickets are going to many who would normally purchase a ticket. They no longer do as they know they can easily pick up a free ticket. The question has to be asked why would you give people who play, watch and love the game free tickets? They are the audience you need to be marketing to, with the aim of having them buy tickets and come and watch. The free tickets should be going to people you are hoping to turn into fans. People who would not normally go to games.
By giving so many free tickets to the “Football Family” sadly the club has undervalued itself. IT is almost saying that football fans will not pay to come and watch us. If people can get tickets for free why would they pay? Now many have the attitude that if they cannot get a free ticket they won’t go.
Ironically just days after the club announced “that the club’s membership record has been broken for a fifth consecutive year. 8750 members are now on board, a figure which represents an increase of 55% since the 2013/14 season when the total was 5528 and almost 100% on the 2012/13 mark of 4463,” the man who had driven this result in terms of ticketing packages was made redundant.
In the last 24 hours certain sections of the media have been praising the announcement that Perth Glory has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sarawak in Malaysia to play an A-League fixture offshore. This is not good news, it is extremely sad news for football. By all means play a preseason game there but not an A-League game. Of course this will have to be ratified by FIFA, who in truth were looking at cross border leagues a few years ago.
The same media castigated the Central Coast owner Mike Charlesworth when he said he was going to take Mariners games away from Gosford and play them in Sydney. At least fans can drive from Gosford to Sydney, Glory fans will have to fly to Sarawak. Not only that, there are no direct flights from Perth.
Why is this sad news? It is sad because many of those loyal fans who buy a season ticket – not the “membership packages” for a handful of games – will now miss out on one game in the season. Glory complains about the scheduling, and will need to be careful when they plan such a game, as if that game is off shore and they have no games at home for two weeks either side it is going to be hard to keep the Perth public interested in the team for five weeks without a game; of course if they are winning it will be easier.
Perth Glory complain about the travel, yet here they are adding extra travel by planning a “home” game in Malaysia. The question has to be why? The answer is obvious, cost. It is understood that the Malaysians, knowing that the A-League is a far superior competition to their own Premier League – The Super Liga is their top competition – would love to host such a game, and as a result are prepared to pay all the bills associated to hosting such a match. So the club would save a large chunk of money by playing offshore. It may save money but will it make money from the venture?
Which leads us into the latest news to break, that owner Tony Sage has knocked back foreign ownership of the club because the prospective buyers have wanted to change the name and the colours of the team.
First of all a large stumbling block with some of those interested in purchasing the club has been the price being asked in relation to the financials. The second has been that the current owner wishes to remain a part owner, sources claiming that he wishes to hang onto 20% of the club. New owners do not want that, they want to come in and have compete control.
Whether the owners are foreign or Australian, only a fool would buy a club and not carry out due diligence on their purchase. Of course they will look over the books and see what the current operating costs are and where the club is hemorrhaging financially. In addition if they are serious about making it a success they will carry out market research to find out what the Perth Glory club, colours, badge and players represent to the people of Western Australia and the A-League.
In a sport where you are judged on results, at the current time that feedback may not be very positive. There were many who felt that the success of the NSL version of the Perth Glory would always be a heavy burden in the A-League, maybe that is proving to the be case. (Perth Glory’s Biggest Mistake). Maybe for a team in Western Australia to succeed it needs rebranding, or maybe competition.
It has clearly been a very hard season for the club. What transpires in the off season we will have to wait and see, but clearly there are some things that need to be addressed if the club is going to move forward. Hopefully though during this period there will be some positive news for fans, news that will give them hope that 2018/19 really will be a new dawn for the club.
At least fans will have the World Cup to take their mind off the issues closer to home.
Hi All White, firstly I watch a lot of NPL and can report that Keogh has not attended a number of Inglewood games because of his Glory commitments. Him coaching a NPL side isn’t a concern or a conflict of interest as it neither effects him or Glory whatsoever. If you can think of a scenario please feel free to share.
In respect to Castro, I’d agree, he had a shocker this season. It doesn’t help that Kenny and Glory pander to his demands, one of which, is that he’s allowed to roll back into Perth just 4 or 5 weeks prior to the commencement of the season which is clearly evident in his early season form which is very poor. If the club doesn’t meet his request to do as he pleases then I should think he wouldn’t even turn up. He is also 36 so he is hardly going to be enthused about putting his sangria down mid-summer in Spain with his family to come and complete a full pre-season in an Aussie winter whilst Kenny is shouting he’s a f!%@!% decent bloke is he ?
The other two hugely over rated and under-performing Spaniards were his mates and Ashley touched on how/why they were signed. The rest of the squad is littered with players that me and my mates still shake our heads as to just how they are full time professional footballers.
But that’s what we’ve become, a refuge for the discarded, forgotten and generally not up to standard.
I agree with F both Kenny and Sage must go, or we will just get the same crap served up again next year.
Castro and Keogh seemed to be fighting to be top dog all year and Castro was pathetic for a player with so much talent, as for his Spanish team mates what a waste of money, you could find players of equal ability in Australia. How did they get signed?
The rumours you refer too i presume are about players out drinking, having seen some they are not all rumours.
Finally how can you have a player for the Glory coaching a team in a competition in which his employer has a team? Surely that is a conflict of interest? And is it true that Football West moved an Inglewood fixture because it clashed with a Glory game and he would not be available? If so that is disgraceful and the opponent should complain.
In my opinion football in WA needs to be scrapped and start again from the Glory through Football West. Too many wannabes involved and no real people with game knowledge making the right decisions.
FFA amateurs , FW shocking organisation that only follows FFA , A League a competition in disarray , and we wonder why Glory is where it is . An owner who has no ideea about this game , a narcissist who time and again talks about how much money he looses, an organisation who has at the top of the pyramid people that don’t understand the football culture, a coach with limited experience but content with his salary ( a good coach allways looks for success first and then money will follow ) players that have other interests than the good of the club and i must say very naive supporters ( and i am very generous with the word naive) , non existent media knowledge ( most people on social media praise Glory because they are sponsored by Glory ) . All this factors are a recipe for disaster. A total change is needed , with new owner or owners that understand what it takes to run a REAL football club in the professional world of sports.
Maybe it is a matter of interpretation. A season ticket holder in my book is someone who purchases a package at the start of the season for every game, whether they are Platinum, Gold, Silver or whatever. Ticketing packages for five or eight games etc are not season ticket holders they are ticketing packages wrapped up as membership packages, so the club can imply they have “x” number of members.
Cannot disagree with your other two comments.
Not quite sure how you determined that people who bought the ticketing packages are not season ticket holders as last time I checked, season tickets are, only available via various packages (Gold, Silver, platinum, Shed) ? have I missed something ?
In respect to criticism of Kenny Lowe, it wasn’t so much the poor signings (which CEO Peter Filopoulos should also share the blame) but more so the self-proclaimed ‘pragmatic’ brand of football Kenny preaches. He should also have added descriptions such as predictable and reactive and repetitive and poor. You can count on one hand the number of decent, exciting games we’ve seen at NIB and it can be debated that the excitement was more down to the players on the park then Kenny’s influence from the side. He is, in short, not suitably skilled and certainly not the person to take this club to the next level.
Sage, as I have said many times, uses the club to keep his business profile in the public eye. Yes I’m aware that this is a common ploy in world football but if you are going to do so without constantly whinging about the money he is “supposedly” be losing. He has lost the support of the Government and has hugely alienated himself from the general footballing public. He refuses to invest in more than 1 decent player at a time and that has handicapped us badly. He seldom addresses the public with anything positive and only uses the media to express his negative views on various issues be it Government, FFA, Costs Incurred, travel etc etc etc. Therefore if there are genuine buyers for this football club and he is indeed losing money each year and not enjoying himself then why on earth is he going against all business principles and not selling ???
The club is a mess on and off the park.
We will not be renewing our memberships for the following season if Kenny Lowes is retained.
F, Thank you for your comment.
I was hoping that my comments re the signing of the Visa players over the last couple of years along with the resigning of Mitch Nicholas and the goal of making the finals rather than winning the league was making that point. Sadly though the big issue is no one wants to play here.
I question whether there are six thousand season ticket holders. There are about that number who purchased one of the Glory’s many ticketing packages, but they are not season ticket holders. Also I think you will find the free tickets are in the thousands not hundreds. Which shows how bad tings really are.
I also agree that the divide is greater than it has ever been. I know football fans who simply do not go any more, they say they have no connection with the club, and its hard to disagree.
Personally I thank Tony Sage for keeping the club going, but it is time to step aside. If new owners want to rebrand I say go for it. The key is to have a decent team, a team that the people of Western Australia can relate to, that represents them and is successful.
Quite the lengthy blog Ash and as concise as it is I cannot fathom for the life of me why you excluded any criticism of Kenny Lowe.
You know, the Manager Tony Sage presented to us long suffering fans after he PROMISED that a worldwide search for the best candidate would be undertaken which, if memory serves me correctly, he (Sage) advised they were inundated with applications before ultimately announcing that the position would be given to a man who is essentially a youth development coach.
5 years on and us fans have simply had enough of the consistently abject performances and overall mediocrity (on and off the park).
There are literally hundreds of thousands of football followers in this city yet the club can only attract some 6 and a half thousand season ticket holders and resorts to shamelessly giving out hundreds of free tickets to people each and every home game. The divide between the club and followers of the game in this city has never been so great. Enough is enough.
If Perth Glory truly wishes to genuinely return to the pinnacle of the code in this country than two people need to leave – Kenny Lowe and Tony Sage.
Full stop