There are many who would say that Perth Glory Owner Tony Sage has more money that sense buying a Football Club, and he has probably even thought that him self in the past year.
But unless there is a great deal more in the report compiled by David Hatt and Rick Charlesworth than has been published then he really does have money to burn.
One would presume that what the club has released would make up at least a quarter of Mr Hatt’s report, a report that took him an amazing three months to compile. Yet what has been released could have been gleaned from many in the football environment in Perth in no more than three or four hours.
Many of the issues raised are pertinent and have been glaringly obvious to many for the past couple of years. What should worry Mr Sage is that the management team he employed were unable to identify these issues and address them. Other issues one has to say are going to be extremely hard to implement and show a real lack of understanding of the problems.
There are also many issues in what has been released that has many football fans concerned. One statement bringing much into question as those who have been mentioned have stated that they were never spoken to and are none too pleased with what they have supposedly said.
What is even more interesting is that Mr Sage asked two hockey specialists to compile the report. Back when Frank Farina was coach of Australia hockey coach Barry Dancer sat down with the coaching staff in Australian football to look at the synergies between the two sports and what lessons they could share to help each other advance. After an extensive discussion they found that there was not one area where the two sports could be compared. Something that Mr Sage should take into account before implementing all of the recommendations without any thought.
As we said when Mr Hatt embarked on his report it would be worth little if he did not visit clubs like the Melbourne Victory, to find out why they have been the A League’s most consistent team. Sadly we have been advised that such a visit did not occur.
Miracles do happen, but rarely overnight, hopefully the full report will have the Glory on the right path, but Glory fans can expect to endure more pain for the time being.
