Dear Tony,
Firstly, I feel it is important to thank you for all you have done for the club. There is no doubt that the Perth Glory Football Club could not be anywhere near where it is at present without your efforts and support as owner. You took a club that had suffered through the demise of the National Soccer League, the humbling reality check of early A-League failures and the horrors of A-League-imposed rule and breathed new hope into the players, fans and staff.
Thanks to your support and David Mitchell's efforts, a poor squad was transformed into one of the best in the competition. Gone were the days of signings like Steve McMahon Jr, Henry Fa'arodo and Brian Deane and instead we gained quality players like Mile Sterjovski, Andy Todd and Robbie Fowler. Perth Glory fans are proud to have players of such quality at the club.
Perth Glory fans do, however, also want to see these quality players putting in quality performances and forming a quality team. At present this simply is not happening. It is simply unfathomable that we should be watching former national team players like Jacob Burns and Mile Sterjovski being outperformed by journeymen footballers like Ufuk Talay and Gareth Edds as they were on Friday night. It is inexcusable that players as good as those wearing purple and white should fail to win or even entertain their fans as often as they do.
While the performances of the team and the star players have been well below par and have contributed to the poor position Perth Glory find themselves in, I ask you to consider just who is responsible for these players performing to their best. It is by definition the coaching team's responsibility to prepare the players to succeed both physically and mentally. David Mitchell has not been doing this, and based on Friday nights performance Ian Ferguson has been as much responsible as Glory's new Director of Football.
The vast majority of fans, whatever level of football knowledge they might possess, can see the infantile nature of Perth's tactics over the last two seasons. The simplicity of long kicks out of defence and constantly pushing the ball wide so wingers can attack the corner flags occasionally works in pub football, but it doesn't take a good A-League manager to see how to beat it. It's no wonder, then, that after a few weeks of having the element of surprise virtually all teams have worked out how to easily pick apart the current Perth Glory line-up. The resulting 5-game losing streak can be directly attributed to this lack of sophistication in the team organisation.
You have yourself laid some blame with the players for the poor performances over the last month, and you are right to do so. But the best players look good because the team works to their strengths. The teams being sent out by Mitchell and now Ferguson do not work to anything; they simply play. There is no strategy. There is no control of the game. There is no cohesion or structure.
One need only look at the football played by Brisbane and Adelaide this year under their new coaches to see what is possible. Brisbane were a basket case under Frank Farina, but in less than 12 months they are among the best sides in the competition. Players like Paartalu, Broich, Stefanutto and DeVere are suddenly performing much better than stars like Moore, van Dijk, Tiatto and Zullo did under Farina. The reason is simple- Postecoglou has instilled a rigid adherence to a fluid game-plan that ensures good players contribute to the team and in turn the team enhances the performances of the good players.
I am not writing to express my personal views on football strategy and philosophy, but merely to emphasise the importance of it in forming a successful footballing side. If you believe Ian Ferguson, given his role in coaching the Perth Glory side as an assistant and now head coach to this point in the season, has the right philosophy for the club to achieve the targets you have set and most fans also expect, then that is your right as owner.
But if you can see that Ferguson does not have the right philosophy to achieve what you want, then *please* on behalf of the fans make the move now to bring a fresh approach to the team's leadership. It needn't be some expensive foreigner- even former Glory players like Damien Mori, Alistair Edwards, Bobby Despotovski, Gareth Naven or Gavin Wilkinson have managed to build credible post-playing careers in football and would all be welcome appointments.
If you do not make a change, then you risk offending many of your most loyal fans. I know that I have been a fan of the club you now own for 14 years, and I find the performances of the coaches and the players over the last month offensive.
As I stated at the beginning of this letter, I sincerely thank you for your efforts to give hope to the fans of the Perth Glory Football Club. However it is this very hope that you have given us that makes it even harder to accept failure. And failure feels almost inevitable with the current coaching staff at the club.
Please act to save our season.
Regards,
Mike Bovell
Perth Glory fan for 14 years
FourFourTwo Perth Glory fan blogger
- On behalf of the interests of all Perth Glory fans
