Perth Glory are coming to terms with their poorest season in their 25-year history and the future of the club remains relatively unknown. Many within and around the organisation believe that big changes are needed if Perth are to return to their glory days, and it must start from the top.
As we head towards the final Perth Glory game of the Isuzu Ute A-League Men’s season against reigning champions Melbourne City, most fans will pencil the match in as a loss, despite salvaging some pride at home to Western Sydney on Saturday night. That match was also a swan song for the retiring Andy Keogh who managed 10 minutes of game time and it was a chance for fans to pay tribute to the Irish international after 156 games over three separate stints at the Glory.
“It was a good point, but disappointing not to pick up a win,” Keogh said following the match.
In what could be his final interview as a professional football player before moving into a yet to be disclosed role within the organisation, Keogh remained steely, albeit slightly cryptic, when asked about the state of Perth Glory and what the future may hold.
“It’s going to be a big re-build but watch this space,” Keogh told 10 Football’s Steve Allen.
It is becoming one of the club’s poorly kept secrets as current Glory owner Tony Sage just last week suggested that a change to the ownership model of the club is also up in the air.
“I’ve been talking to some incoming partners, that want to partner myself in (ownership of) the club!”
“I’ve been talking to some incoming partners, that want to partner myself in (ownership of) the club,” Sage told 882 6PR’s Sportsday program last week.
“They’ve got some ideas, I don’t want to make a decision until I know whether I’ll be 100% owner or less than that,” Sage said when asked about the vacant coaching position following the sacking of Richard Garcia early in the season, currently held by stand-in Ruben Zadkovich.
Sage also let the cat officially out of the bag, revealing to Sportsday that there is both international and local interest in purchasing the club, including through the Keogh family who own and operate mining services company UON, with Andy Keogh’s uncle Mark listed as the Executive Chair and his brother Kenny listed as the Chief Operating Officer of the company.
The relationship between Perth Glory and UON officially goes back to 2019 when UON agreed to sponsor the Perth Glory Academy, although it has been recently suggested that they may have provided other cash-injections to the Glory over the years.
“There is a local interest through one of our players who’s retiring on the weekend, through his family, and that’s Andy Keogh, it’s been leaked out obviously,” Sage revealed.
“There’s a big buyer from overseas, that has taken an interest in football in Australia and especially in Perth, so I’m just going to see what happens and make a decision by the end of May”
“There’s a big buyer from overseas, that has taken an interest in football in Australia and especially in Perth, so I’m just going to see what happens and make a decision by the end of May” he said.
The benefits to a change in ownership model will certainly be felt personally by Tony Sage – a new found ability to spread the financial burden of owning the A-League franchise will surely come as a relief.
Fans and other stakeholders may also see a welcome change in the club’s hierarchical accountability, with Board decisions likely to come under closer scrutiny under a new model, and rightly so.
It has been mentioned that the Glory will conduct a full post season review and to ensure its fairness and thoroughness, ALL staff and ALL operational processes should be held under the microscope, including the existing ownership, board and ALL decision making processes. Any new consortium should also be welcomed to take part in this process.
Such a review should be conducted 100% independently and, where possible, members should be notified of its progress and outcomes. As fans and the wider WA community become increasingly apathetic to the Glory cause, it is imperative that the club can demonstrate that it has turned a corner and that a brighter, more innovative, sustainable future may be on the way.
In saying that, it could be unlikely that a full takeover will go ahead, as is whether we’ll see a change in structure of the Perth Glory Board. This means that even with a minority stake, current owner Tony Sage may remain as Chairman of the Board. Such details would surely to be determined following official ownership negotiations with the relevant parties.
After 15 years, Tony Sage’s tenure as sole owner may be starting to wind down. He has made no secret of his quest to find investors for the franchise, and you would be hard-press to find someone who would begrudge Sage’s passion or the commitment to the club, albeit delivering very mixed results.
However, changes are afoot and for many they’ll be welcomed, as will a returned sense of optimism that Perth Glory can finally get its structural foundations in order as without strong foundations, the ‘club’ may not resemble much more than a house of cards – poorly designed, bowed support and destined to come crashing down when another storm arrives.
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To say this was a disappointing campaign is an understatement. Murphy’s Law stuck me personally, as this was the season I decided to splash the cash and go platinum. After what seemed an eternity of COVID induced away days, I finally did get to regularly take my cramped seat in the old stand. The view was great but not the football, as we all watched Glory struggle to get so much as a home point on their way to the infamous wooden spoon.
Of course it might have been different if Daniel Sturridge’s fitness hadn’t farcically reminded us of the William Gallas debacle a few years ago but to me, the biggest disappointment was in regard to managerial appointments, or more specifically, *non*appointments.
After Perth Soccer Club’s astonishing sacking of Ramon Falzon, three days after clinching his 4th WANPL title in 6 years in September 2021, you’d have thought Glory would have been keen to at least enquire about the availability of the coach with possibly the most successful record in WA football history. In particular, after Ruben Zadkovic’s disastrous switch to the first team, Ramon would have been ideal man to take over the U21 role.
But no. It would seem the club didn’t even know who Ramon was, let alone aware of his brilliant record of consistently out-coaching the likes of Richie Garcia, Kenny Lowe and Chris Coyne in the WANPL for years.