Congratulations to Alistair Edwards and his coaching team on turning Perth Glory’s fortunes around this season and guiding the team into the Finals for 2013, where now anything is possible.
Sitting on the other side of the country watching their final game of the regular season against what appeared to be a very disinterested Adelaide United it was great to see NIB Stadium full, with over 16,000 attending thanks to the club giving away 10,000 tickets.
The question is having seen such a jump in attendance did those who gave out the tickets then give all how came through the turnstiles with a free ticket a questionnaire asking them why they were attending now and if they had previously, and would they attend again? It would be useful information to gather as obviously the Perth public will attend if it is free but are currently not prepared to buy tickets for some particular reason.
When the 10,000 free tickets deal was announced hopefully the powers that be have also sat down and thought of a way to reward those who actually paid for tickets, as no doubt some of their noses would be out of joint. Then there are the members and the loyal 6000 or so who have supported the club all season, even during Ian Ferguson’s annual mid season slump, how will they be rewarded for their support? How must they feel to see so many tickets simply given away when they have invested in the club and supported it through thick and thin?
The one thing that this initiative did prove is that times are changing at Perth Glory. The question is who is pulling the strings? Owner Tony Sage would never give 10,000 tickets away when he was loathe a year or so ago to give children two tickets so that their parents could take them to the game. Also he has according to sources at the club been very tight with the purse strings of late, and allowing so many extra punters in would have meant the hire price on security and other incidentals would have risen on match day with no increase in income. What was interesting was to see one of the Board of Perth Glory write on social media that he was unaware of such a move.
Another obvious change has been the content being put out by the club on social media. The past week has seen a definite shift in the style of content being posted, and the volume. There have been less spelling errors too! The past week has seen a structure and purpose to these posts which has been lacking in the past.
So who is currently pulling the strings at Perth Glory? Is it the FFA? There is rumoured to be a Board meeting of the club scheduled for this week but with the team now in the finals one wonders if this will be pushed back, there are some predicting that this may well be the last board meeting of the club in its current format. Time will tell, one thing is for sure the times are changing at Perth Glory.
The social media content has taken a decided and obvious change in the messages that are being
