Football fans can be cruel, and there is no doubt that fans of other A-League clubs around the country will be enjoying watching Perth Glory rearranging the deckchairs on what has a appeared to be the unsinkable ship.
We all know the quote from Abraham Lincoln about trying to keep everyone happy all of the time and it is worth remembering when it comes to sport.
It is fair to say that since the birth of the A-League the times have been few and far between when the fans of Perth Glory have been happy with the coach in charge of the team. Steve McMahon upset fans from the off when he said the team wasn’t good enough to win anything; he was ultimately correct. Ron Smith was told by the FFA to build a team over a period of time which would give Perth Glory the foundations to be a top team in the A-League. Perth Glory fans who were used to success from year one in the NSL lacked the patience to wait for a team to be built, so too did the new owners who wanted instant success.
Suddenly every coach’s career was reliant on the team making the A-League finals. Dave Mitchell was the first to achieve this, and with the highest number of local players in his squad since the start of the A-League. A poor run of results and he was moved aside and his assistant took over, Ian Ferguson. In Ferguson’s first full season in charge Glory had a season to remember, they marched all the way to the Grand Final and were robbed of victory by a decision that will debated for many years to come. In February of the following season after five straight losses and six hours of game time without a goal scored Ferguson was shown the door.
Western Australian Alistair Edwards became the first past player to become head coach and was the first local coach appointed since Gary Marrocchi led the team in their inaugural season. There was much expectation with the appointment and in what was left of the season Edwards managed to steer the side to another finals series. Despite being rewarded with a three year deal Edwards way did not go down well with the seasoned pros, or some of the fans and in December of the following season he was shown the door.
Kenny Lowe was then handed the reins of the club. Lowe had been an assistant manager when Dave Mitchell and Ron Smith had been head coach and was regarded as one of the best development coaches in the state. In his first season in charge he led the club to the final of the FFA Cup. He repeated that feat the following year. However in his four years in charge he was only able to make the finals once finishing 5th in 2016/17 while ending up 8th 7th and 8th in his other seasons in charge. Lowe has moved into a Youth development role at the club’s academy, a move many see as a good one if the club is to develop local talent. Cynics however feel that he has been given this role as his contract was not due to expire “until at least the end of the 2018/19 campaign,” and means the club does not have to pay out the contract.
Lowe’s rein was interesting as he wooed many in the media with his quick turn of phrase and witty one-liners. Yet over time, and with the team not producing on the park these comments began to grate with the fans. It gave the appearance that it was all a bit of laugh, when to them results really mattered. Maybe with hindsight Lowe may have reined in some of his post game banter when results were not going his way, that may have kept the fans on his side; then again you are asking a man to change his personality.
Every Perth Glory coach, like every football coach across the globe has their detractors, so there is nothing new there. The question that needs to be asked is why are all finding it so hard to succeed? Why are the same issues constantly being raised as excuses? This implies a club failing to address issues that are holding it back.
Following the last game of the season, and when the club could no longer make the finals Lowe was moved aside. The club stating “following a comprehensive internal review, the club has decided to move in a new direction and as part of that, Kenny Lowe will step away from his role as Head Coach with immediate effect.”
The Glory’s last game was the 14th of April, he was moved aside on the 20th. Is that time for a “comprehensive internal review?”
It would appear that the same proviso that other coaches had to live by in the end determined Lowe’s fate. Make the finals or lose your job. If that is the case why not be transparent about it?
What seems strange is that this must have been a possible outcome long before the end of the season. So why were players that the club saw as important, who were coming out of contract at the end of the season, not re-signed before the coach was sacked?
The issue with signing players after the coach has left is that fans want to know who is making those decisions. Who is building the team for next season? The other issue is, as fans have seen in the past, the new coach will come in and state that this was not “his team” if results are slow to come by. He will argue that he deserves another year and when he has the squad he wants only then should he be judged. The fans have heard it all before, and what it means is that there is a very good chance that next season can already be written off.
With the CEO heading back to Melbourne, having resigned days after dismissing the coach, only one person can be responsible for the signing of the players, the Head of Football Jacob Burns, as it would be bizarre if the outgoing coach was being consulted.
If you look at the players being re-signed for next year, with the exception of Jacob Italiano have any shone in the past disappointing season? Are they players the club should be rushing to sign again for next year, or should they be waiting to see who else is available?
If the club is looking to nurture local players and make this more of a team from Western Australia fielding players from Western Australia then it makes perfect sense to resign some of the players. The key issue here is that again this message needs to be conveyed to the fans.
Sadly one feels that the Perth Glory after such a disappointing season is rushing to re-sign players because it knows that as a club it has slipped so far out of the running that many East coast players will only sign for the club as a last resort; simply because they cannot get a deal on the East coast. So it becomes vital that they sign the players they already have here.
Then again the club could be rushing to sign players because they play Premier League side Chelsea in July. It would be embarrassing if they did not have a squad for that game. It could also end up being a financial disaster. The club having earmarked this game as a money spinner to carry it forward in 2018/19.
If the club was carrying out a review, which it would appear started before the last week of the season, there were really only three possible scenarios. The first was the club genuinely believed that they would make the finals and therefore Kenny Lowe was likely to keep his position as coach. That being the case he would have already been looking ahead to next season, would have known the players he wanted to keep, and those he wanted to let go. He would also have been aware as to which players were coming off contract at other A-League clubs and would have no doubt created a wish list of signings. So that being the case why would you not resign the players he wanted to keep before the end of the season?
The second scenario was that Kenny’s time was up whether he made the finals or not. In which case one would have expected the management at the club to have already had feelers out as to the ideal replacement. In the initial conversations with prospective coaches they would have no doubt asked those in the running for the job which players they wanted to keep if they were to get the job. This way if several people shortlisted all named the same three or four players there would be no harm in signing the players, and an excuse for another disappointing season would be eradicated before the season began. This could well have happened.
The third and last scenario was the club failed to make the finals, Lowe is fired and all signings go on hold until the new coach is appointed.
From the outside it appears there is not the planning that there should be at a professional club. This could well be because the staffing levels are at a minimum, in order save money. So everyone is chasing their tail to stay in the present, let alone plan for the future.
To see John Boardman step into the role of acting CEO is a case of deja-vu. To hear of internal reviews is a case of deja-vu. All the fans are waiting for is an announcement that the club is embarking on a worldwide search to find the next coach and then the trifecta will be complete.
For these reasons one has to respect those fans who have and continue to stick with the club, as their loyalty has been severely tested. To mock them, as opposing fans are wont to do is rubbing salt into a festering wound.
The off season in the A-league is longer than most, so there is time once again for optimism. There is time for fans to switch their focus to the World Cup before daring to dream that next season will be different. That Perth Glory will once again be the pride of WA and challenging not for finals, but challenging to be crowned Champions.
(27/4/18 – Perth Glory has confirmed today that the players that have re-signed for the club were indeed signed before Kenny Lowe was sacked and contracts were being negotiated as soon as the period when other other clubs could approach them opened. A decision was made not to announce the signings until post season).
Thank you everyone for your comments. As much as Tony Sage has kept the club going it is hard to defend the way he has run it and the fact that it has fallen from being one of the premier clubs to one that no one wants to play for. The best thing would be for him to sell 100% and move on. No one is going to buy 80% and let him keep a percentage, not based on his track record.
F you put it perfectly the club has become “a refuge for the old, the discarded, the troubled and generally not up to standard.”
I find the Kilkenny signing strange and an example of the club not learning lessons from the past. I agree with F he was outstanding when he came in, but in a very poor team lacking leadership on the park. As stated he had to perform or where was his career from here going to go? By all accounts he was a true professional, on and off the pitch, which you would expect, but the club may have been wiser to exert caution.
One year with the option of another. See if he can recapture that form, is a changed man and will continue to be a leader on and off the pitch. If he performs he earns the second year and again if he preforms that season give him a third. Castro is a case in point from being the best player in the league, but then given a two year deal we then only witnessed flashes of that brilliance.
Finally as you state All White, I hope Kilkenny has that agreement of a job once he retires set in stone, as a new owner will no doubt have a new parent company owning the club and as has happened in the past will void all existing contracts in order to enable him or her to bring in their people and the new coach to have the players he wants.
It will be interesting to see who the new coach is and what he makes the three year deal and whether he is part of his plans. If the coach wants to move him on, unless they can sell him, which would be unlikely Tony Sage will have to pay him out, which is equally unlikely, so it could mean he would have too stay. It will be interesting how this plays out. Hopefully he plays like he did since his arrival and it proves an astute signing.
@ All White
Kilkenny was player of the year under a different coaches. This year it was well documented that he fell out with the current coach and a number of team mates. The reason why such a player, even with his pedigree, wasn’t picked up by another Eastern States club, which he desperately wanted, was because he has a well known reputation as being disruptive and difficult to work with and at his age, who is willing to try and change him. He did well for us because we’re such a basket case of mismatch footballers that it wasn’t hard to stand out. Just look at Castro, everyone agreed he was just awful this year but look at the bigger picture and he was still probably the best we had such is the state of the club.
But that’s what Glory has become under Tony Sages ownership – a refuge for the old, the discarded, the troubled and generally not up to standard.
It’s become that way because people are now opening their eye’s and seeing that the club is run by a man who is simply incapable of operating a football club as it should. After all these years it’s been proven beyond any doubt.
Excellent post Ashley, very comprehensive.
I did thoroughly enjoy the statement “To see John Boardman step into the role of acting CEO is a case of deja-vu. To hear of internal reviews is a case of deja-vu. All the fans are waiting for is an announcement that the club is embarking on a worldwide search to find the next coach and then the trifecta will be complete” as it captured the essence of Tony Sage’s ownership of this club from the get go however you did miss the quartet, that being, hastily re-signing underperforming and/or unsuitably skilled footballers. Which has already begun.
Either way, it’s comforting to know that more and more people are waking up to realisation that it wasn’t so much the coaches and players who have held this club back more so the true Achilles heel which is none other than a Mr Tony Sage.
Until he leaves it will forever be groundhog day at Perth Glory.
Tony Sage is the problem. Until he goes nothing will change. He is only there for his own ego, has no love of the game and the sooner he leaves the better.
I could not agree more, how can you sign players when you don’t know who the coach is going to be and the style of football he is going to try and play? I see they just signed Neil Kilkenny to a three year deal. The guy is 32 years old. So coming to the end of his career. Sure he did well coming in at the end of the season but only because he knew he would struggle to get a deal anywhere unless he performed. Why did he leave Melbourne City? How can you go from Player of the year the season before to not wanted at the club? Clearly something was not right. Let us wait and see but Glory could well regret signing him on such a long term contract and with the guarantee of a job after he stops playing. He may want to be aware that the same promise was made to Jamie Harnwell and wasn’t kept!
How can a player be guaranteed such a role, especially if the owner is trying to sell the club? The new owners may simply say we don’t want you and that is it.
None of this comes as a surprise, after all it is Perth Glory!
There’s one common denominator: Tony Sage.