A week ago there were two announcements made regarding the future of Perth Glory. One was a statement from the long term owner Tony Sage, the other came from the Australian Premier Leagues.
There were some anomalies in these statements, but the crucial fact was that Tony Sage no longer owns the A-League club.
Whatever anyone thinks of Mr Sage as an individual or the way he has run the club, he has managed to keep the Western side of Australia represented in the A-League, the highest competition in the country when it comes to football. Mr Sage would not be human if he did not look back occasionally and rue some of the decisions he has made. Times when he listened to wrong advice, advice given to him by people he would have come to realise had ulterior motives. The signing of players based on ego or what he thought they would bring to the club, rather than what they actually could deliver.
Mr Sage stated “It is with profound sadness that I can confirm my decision to step down as owner of this wonderful football club.” There can be no doubt that this statement is genuine.
The Australian Premier Leagues were a little more blunt, stating that “a resolution has been reached for the transition of Perth Glory Football Club’s licence to new owners.” They went on to say in their statement that “Current owner and Chairman Tony Sage will cease in his ownership of the club immediately.”
It has been said that both parties were skirting around what actually transpired. It has never been a secret that Mr Sage was looking to sell Perth Glory, and that the asking price continued to rise. One of the stumbling blocks with some interested parties was the fact that he wished to keep a share in the club. Many did not want that to occur. They wanted to come in with a new broom and sweep out all that was old and start afresh.
Not the Footy Show has been told that the license agreements for the A-League require owners to sell the licence, if they wish to walk away, or in extreme circumstances the APL will reclaim the licence.
The Australian Premier Leagues have announced that the club is in receivership, and they have appointed advisory firm KordaMentha to manage the receivership process for Perth Glory Football Club.
This comes as no surprise as covered in A New Era For Glory On The Horizon we revealed that potential buyers of the licence did not wish to take on the current debts that exist at the club.
Receivership is a far better option for Tony Sage, as if the club were declared bankrupt it would have a devastating impact on his mining businesses and their stock market listings.
KordaMentha, will be looking to find a buyer. A buyer that will pay a price that covers the A League Licence fee and more. A price that will enable them to pay off those who are owed money by the club, including the Australian Premier Leagues who it is alleged loaned money to the club to cover staff wages. Mr Sage will be hoping that they find a buyer who will pay close to what he believed the club was worth, as only once all these other various payments are made will he receive anything left in the pot.
After 17 years keeping the club alive few would surely begrudge him some form of pay-out?
The problem is, as anyone who knows football in Western Australia will tell you, there is a great deal to be done to win back the public and elevate Perth Glory to once again being one of the major players on the sporting landscape. This is going to cost money. There will need to be a hefty investment when it comes to marketing. The coverage of Perth Glory games will also need to be looked at, as the club needs to find avenues that bring results, and some of those may not be with the tried and tested ways of old. Innovation is going to be the key. So will they want to pay a higher price for the club when they know the investment it is going to take to lift it back to where it was?
With a planned expansion to the A-League that means more competition for players in an already limited talent pool. So many would say that this is not the ideal time to be buying an A-League licence at a club that has since the dawn of the A-League struggled to attract players from other parts of the country.
The one legacy Tony Sage may well leave behind but never receive the credit for, is the energy that was finally put into the Youth Development at the club. As he stated “I leave the club with an Academy rich in talent, with over 15 of our young players currently representing Australia at various age levels.” This could well be the thing that helps the club rise again.
Western Australians are parochial. They love to see their own wearing the colours of teams in their state. Having Kenny Lowe come back and work on the development was a wise move. However, for that youth to develop properly the Perth Glory has to look at the NPL competition and realise that its youth development will not benefit if they continually poach up and coming players and weaken the overall competition. No one benefits from that. So the new owners need to sit down with the NPL clubs and Football West and come up with a format, and a competition that benefits all parties, and is attractive to watch. One that helps all in Western Australia and once again makes Perth Glory the team every aspiring player wants to start their career at.
The one area that Tony Sage can hold out hope in terms of a pay-off is that the new owners wish to keep the name Perth Glory.
In 2021 the APL struck an agreement to sell a 33 per cent stake in the competition to an American company, Silver Lake, a deal that sealed the largest single injection of capital into Australian football in the game’s history; the entire A-Leagues organisation was at the time valued at $425 million. APL CEO Danny Townsend has apparently recently been in the USA trying to secure increased investment. He may well have been also discussing the plight of Perth Glory.
The reason he may have been doing this is that some claim that the deal with Silver Lake lists all of the names of all of the clubs in the A-League, and if one were to change it could cause contractual issues.
With the club in receivership if a new owner wished to purchase the license they would not essentially be obliged to keep the Perth Glory name. The APL may want them too if indeed there is a clause in the agreement with Silver Lake. The issue for the new owners is that if they did want to keep the name they would have to pay for it.
They would have to pay a price that the goodwill attached to the name is valued at. There would in turn be a price on the intellectual property attached to the club’s branding and brand recognition in Australia, overseas and in Western Australia. The name, the logo, the playing colours are all deemed assets, and therefore all have a value.
So will the new owners stick with the established name, badge and colours, and all the history attached to it? Or will they look to rebrand the club as the new licence holders?
The APL have said that the receivership “process is expected to conclude within the next ten weeks.” No doubt it will depend who the new owners are, and how attached they are to the history of the club. Melbourne Heart, which had far less history than Perth Glory was soon tossed aside as The City Group took over the licence, and with strong links to Manchester City, the Heart became Melbourne City.
While changing the name may be a money-saving option, and would mean a clean slate with the public, what price can you put on loyalty. Whoever the new owners are they must not forget that two generations have grown up following the club. This has been their club. They are attached to it in a way that only true fans of any club are. Many of them have stayed loyal during some of the turbulent Tony Sage times. It would be foolish to forget that.
So if Perth Glory is to continue the big question is what price do you put on the name, the colours and all that history? Over quarter of a century’s worth of history, is wrapped up in the club, and like many of the great clubs, there have been highs and there have been lows. There has even been the odd scandal. At the end of the day is that not a great reason to keep the name? As it proves that come what may, despite players, coaches, CEO’s or owners coming and going, the club itself and the game of football remain. They are the constants, they are what people are connected to.
