I was asked at the weekend if this Perth Glory team was the worst in the Hyundai A league this year. Despite the personnel, and the fact that I predicted they would come third in the league this year, I had to say that I felt that performance-wise they were one of the worst.
This however had me thinking later as to who would make a team of their worst signings since the A league started and how they would match up against the worst NSL signings. I have to say it was a lot easier filling the A league side than the NSL one, so much so that we had to resort to picking players purely due to the lack of appearances rather than their lack of football ability.
The likes of Brian Deane Matthew Mayora and Lukas Glavas are lucky that since the A league the Glory have continually signed poor strikers.
My line up playing 4-4-2 would be as follows:
GK Frank Juric – turned up overweight and never looked like getting fit enough to be an asset.
Defenders –
Steve McMahon Jnr – Simply not good enough and never would have made it if his father hadn’t signed him
Ryan Townsend – lacked the pace to hold a place in this league despite dominating in the State league
Josh Mitchell – Touch and go between him and Mark Roberston, but the latter was on his last legs when he signed whereas Mitchell had no excuses.
Tyler Simpson – Short term cover for four games who did a job but never looked a regular starter.
Midfield
Mile Sterjovski – Makes the team in terms of his performance against being a marquee player. No doubt has talent but has seriously underachieved.
Anthony Danze – Had talent, but simply didn’t have the hunger or the desire to play football.
Daniel Vasilevski – Signed yet never managed to break into the side
Stan Lazaridis – The same as Mile, marquee player who simply did not deliver and his money per game ratio makes him one of the worst investments the club has made
Strikers
Mate Dragičević – Simply never up to the standard, and never looked like scoring.
Neil Teggart – Never made the starting line up due to injury, seemed to enjoy life in Perth, but not playing football and went home early.
Subs: Saric, Fa’arodo, Jordan Simpson and Jovanic
With the NSL side as mentioned it has been hard to find players who were poor in the midfield, as this was one of the team’s strengths with the likes of Paul McVittie, Gareth Naven, Edgar Junior, Troy Halpin, Con Boutsianis, Ivan Ergic and Andre Gumprecht. So we have plumped for a 4-3-3 formation.
GK
Vince Matassa – Very hard to pick a goalkeeper as in the NSL the Glory always had strength and depth in this position, Matassa played the least games without playing overseas, so gets the nod.
Defenders
Vlad Beretovac – The first Glory player to receive a red card, but again not that bad a player, but the standard was higher then.
Mohammed Mouhouti – I have to say I could not even remember him playing for Perth Glory when Mich d’Avray was coach so for that alone he gets a berth
Hamilton Thorp – Although used as a forward as well as a defender, his substitution before half time and shirt throw will always be remembered. Struggled to settle in.
Vasco Trpcevski – Touted as a star of the future, but never broke through and disappeared from the top level very quickly.
Midfield
PJ Roberts – Another player who simply could not break into a very good side on a regular basis due to the depth of talent.
Doug Ithier – Probably remembered for his hair more than his flair as he imposed himself in the middle of the park. A lack of poor midfielders sees him unfortunate to slot into this side after playing professionally for five years after leaving Glory..
Antonio Naglieri – purely because he only managed one start in the side. Has shown the talent that got him signed in the State league.
Strikers
Peter Anosike – Left as quickly as he arrived and probably just as well, however he did score in his five appearances.
Peter Buljan – Lacked the physical presence to dominate up front and with one goal in 21 appearances didn’t cut the mustard.
Aurelio Schwertz –Not the most memorable Brazilian, but again when he played did a job as four goals in 15 games shows.
Subs: (Based solely on lack of appearances as all had only one, except Milosevic who had the next least of the ‘keepers) Aaron Cole, Shane Crampton and Dean Apelgren (only 18 at the time).
One has to say that the NSL side looks by far the stronger team on paper and would be tipped to beat the A League team. This is sadly a reflection on how far the Glory have fallen.
Let us know your teams and if you agree that the NSL side would beat the A League one.
Personally I thought Tapai did a job, Vukmirovic was a consideration but felt defensively the four chosen were worse.
The idea was simply to try and show Perth Glory have signed mored duds in the new era than the old.
Thanks for the comment
I think your NSL list neglects some complete duds – eg Ernie Tapai, Peter Vukmirovic. I also think plenty of people would argue that Tommy Maras was a worse keeper than Matassa. It was unfortunate for Tommy that by the time Perth got a team in the NSL his best days were behind him.
One thing for sure, we’ve signed by far lot more ‘profile’ duds in the A-League – Juric, McMahon Jnr, Mitchell, Robertson, Vasilevski, Saric, Fa’arodo, Dragicevic, Teggart, Deane … I could go on
I agree, if you take Dean Aplegren as an example the NSL shutting down came at a bad time for him. There are others who fall into the same boat, who may well have made the step up, but the 18 month shut down meant they were overlooked
I honestly reckon we lost a whole generation of young players due to the introduction of the A-League.
The A-League raised the bar significantly in terms of professionalism and whilst in some cases I don’t think the skill level has improved that much, the ability to execute the skill at speed has improved.
It is one of the big reasons that I think Jamie Coyne is often found wanting in games. I remember him coming into the team as a youngster and he did OK, he was a solid full back and full of running.
In the A-League he’s often found taking too much time to control the ball or pick a pass and because of that he loses posession or makes mistakes.
Brett, I know they were only young boys and I felt bad, as I stated I did not pick them for lack of ability, purely on appearances, as I felt I could not find any midfielders.
Dion Valle was one I considered, Siasia was another but back then he was too quick a thinker for those around him.
I know Matassa played overseas but not in the professional leagues Wycombe were non league then I believe. But we had such strength in the ‘keepers.
I was trying to highlight that the lesser or inexperienced players of that era were better than the worst in this.
The team I picked would beat the A league one I believe. One thing is for sure should be plenty of goals but then again both teams would struggle to hit the target.
Bit harsh on a some of the local lads Ashley. Antonio Naglieri, Dean Apelgren and Aaron Cole were teenagers in what were some very strong squads.
I’d suggest instead Ben Blake, released in late 2002 without making a single appearance, Andrew Packer (03/04) who managed only 5 games and other Nigerian super-signing, Samson Siasia (97/98), scorer of 3 goals in 22 games.
Others worthy of consideration? Dion Valle (99-01) played 37 times but didn’t ever really look comfortable, and John Carbone (98-01) with 49 (mostly substitute) appearances across three seasons.
Incidentally, Vince Matassa (Aust U20 international) did play overseas – Wycombe Wanderers prior to Glory and Basingstoke Town, Salisbury City and Woking between 98 and 02.
On a slightly different tact, I’m working on a spreadsheet detailing the line-ups for every Glory league/finals game as well as total appearances and goals scored. Hopefully it’ll appear on footballwa.net in early ’11.
I decided to go and look it up and I think that I certainly do remember things being better than they were.
Thinking back closely now that I have the squad list, I distinctly remember our last season having lost Gumprecht to the Paramatta Power and being left with some rather ordinary bench players. We had a fading Scott Miller, Horsley dissapearing for part of the season and I distinctly remember directing a lot of my annoyance at Jade North and wondering how it was that Mark Byrnes ever captain the Australian u17 team.
NSL Team
Best – Mori, Horsley, Pondeljak, Mrdja, Despotovski, Murphy
Solid – Harnwell, Coyne, Caceres, Hassell?, North, Miller, Petkovic
Average – Faria, Bingley, Brynes, Packer, Danze
A-League
Best – Fowler, Neville, Todd, C Coyne,
Solid – Pearson, Risdon, Jelic, Pellegrino, McGarry, Sterjovski, Burns, Howath, Jukic, Harnwell, Sekulovski, Skorich, Velahpi
Average/Poor – Coyne, Mitchell, Baird,
I think it’s evident what the difference is, we have a lot of hard working solid players but most of our class is concentrated in our defensive players of which Todd and C Coyne have barely played at the back this season. The last season of the NSL saw us have a lot of quality through the spine of the team.
I agree wholeheartedly with what you say. Back then we had a wealth of riches, and all was rosey in the East Perth garden.
It is hard to compare as you say, when you look at the old NSL and the fact that the professionalism we see in the A League has lifted the game a notch.
Also successful times bring with them nostalgia which makes players appear better in the mind than they sometimes were.
Saying that, player for player compare the final NSL team with the current team and see how many would still be your first choice. That will back up what you say, that that team would beat the current one.
AHHH The memories of that Scott Miller goal. The scenes there at the ground are etched in my mind forever.
Yeah I figured, I really struggled to remember who were the bad players back then. However that could be because we didn’t really ever focus on the negatives, at the start we were all just happy to be in the NSL, by the end we were the biggest club and the instigators of the birth of the A-League. Plus it was easy to buy good players when we had more money than anyone else.
I don’t however think that those players would get a spot above any of our players currently in the team.
I often hear people get carried away comparing the NSL to the A-League with many considering the NSL as being a better quality when in reality the semi-professionalism of the league and lower coaching standards meant that team organisation, fitness and speed of playrers were a lot less than it is now but because of that it allowed individual brilliance to thrive and therefore had a greater entertainment value.
Face it, you just don’t see goals like Vas Kalageracos’ goal of the year anymore or last minute winners like Scotty Millers goal in the last 10 seconds in front of a packed shed end. Why, because teams are well organised and will shut down those chances.
I do think our last Glory side in the NSL would beat our current Glory side but that’s more to do with the current poor style of play than the fact that they were better than our current side.
Nevyn, I had to go back through yearbooks etc. As I said they were not necessarily the worst players, in the end I had to base some of the places purely on appearances. Some of these players were/are easily better than some of our A league signings.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment.
I think you’re being a bit harsh with a lot of those NSL players probably because even a die hard like me who has been there from the start has struggled to remember some of the players we used to have.