Damage Control

Remember the start of last season? Perth Glory were flying high, undefeated and ready to charge towards the finals and give Tony Sage the reward of an A-League title in return for his valuable investment. Then things went sour, and very quickly. Never mind. Remember the start of this season? I bet FourFourTwo’s online editor, Kevin Airs, wishes people didn’t:

“I promised not to say this until after 10 rounds but... This Glory squad is too good even for Fergie to **** it up. Bolted on for the finals.”

That was after round two of the 2011/12 A-League season. Since then, the club have collected seven of a possible thirty championship points, and have suffered defeat in seven of their last nine matches. It is déjà vu for Glory fans and the Perth public; yet some members of the club’s administration seem oblivious to this fact, and their continual insistence that it is a combination of bad luck, unfair fixtures, and poor quality refereeing that sees Glory eighth on the ladder at time of writing (and with the potential to be bottom at the end of this round) brings back memories of the Iraqi information minister:

“Fergie’s a great coach, nothing is wrong, we just have really bad luck.”

Earlier on in the season, we witnessed some pretty extraordinary comments from people at Glory. Ian Ferguson himself labelled people who had been criticising him online as faceless bigots; despite the fact that statistically his record at Glory was quite poor. Then later we had club CEO Paul Kelly tell 6PR that people wanting Liam Miller played in the centre of the park were couch dictators – I assume that’s like a backseat driver, but perhaps he thinks they rule their living rooms with an AK47 and some crazy outfits. At the time, Glory weren’t quite in such a dire mess and these comments largely passed through unnoticed by the general mass of Perth supporters. Lately though, the club’s public relations department has continued to fail to stop Sage, Kelly, and Ferguson from shoving their feet in their collective mouths; and it’s starting to tell.

First there was the great Tony Sage Is Leaving saga – the toys were thrown out of the pram, then there was silence, then there was a backflip, then there was an appearance at a pre-game pub to soothe troubled supporters. Throughout it all though, Sage has maintained that Fergie has his full backing and that all the whole dressing room is united behind the coach – much to the consternation of fans. Then Paul Kelly appeared on the Hour of Glory radio show and said that the club wanted to know why people were no longer coming to Glory games; reflected in recent attendances of around just 6,000 people. This comment, in conjunction with Tony’s initial angry outburst about people not coming to games, seems to indicate that the club have absolutely no idea what the masses of people voting with their feet are trying to tell them – the football they’re watching is rubbish, and they have no faith in the coach being able to rectify that situation. Incredibly though, Sage spoke to the Sunday Times on Christmas Eve and denied this was the case:

Sage claimed there was only a tiny minority of fans who were determined to destabilise the club and oust coach Ian Ferguson. "When you sit down and tell them the facts, everyone was fully supportive," he said. "We've done a forensic look at all the blogs and all that and its about 15 core people that are really trying to tear the club apart."

One fan (evidently one of these 15 anarchists) summed it up rather well on facebook:

CSI: Glory (Radio Edit)

Amusingly, the evidence to the contrary is right there on the Perth Glory facebook page for anyone who wishes to see. Earlier in the season detractors concerned about Fergie’s coaching record were drowned out by optimists and people defending the manager. Now, the atmosphere of that page is quite different. People are discussing the possibility of someone other than Tony Sage owning the club like it’s a viable alternative, something that has never before really come up amongst Glory fans; and the majority of posts are now clearly calling on the club to get rid of the coach. This was captured nowhere better than in a poll question asked by the club before the Mariners game:

No, it’s just 15 fans trying to destroy the club. Honest!

As you might expect, the staffer behind the facebook post (rumoured to be different to the normal bloke, as evidently they didn’t know how to stop fans posting their own responses) quickly deleted the poll once it became apparent that the vast majority of people thought the score would be ‘Sack Fergie’ and not ‘Glory 2-0’. Obviously, the people of Perth have had enough of Ian Ferguson and the excuses trotted out by the current administration. In damage control ever since Tony Sage’s declaration that he was leaving, the club have continued to emit an image of being totally detached from the reality of the problems they are facing, and as having no issue with the brand of football being put on display for fans - Tony Sage's comment that we'd only played 90 minutes of bad football all year continues to get a workout on football forums from fans of the Glory and opposition supporters alike. As recently as prior to the Newcastle game, Ian Ferguson publicly stated that the team needed not an injection of youth or speed, not more focus on skill and creativity, but a renewed amount of grunt. Yes, grunt. If that doesn’t doesn’t sum up the current state of thinking at the club, I really don’t know what does.

In an era where fans demand that teams play like Brisbane Roar or Melbourne Heart – hell even Central Coast or the Glory of old – Perth Glory are instead backing a man who thinks grunt and graft will save the day. That’s why people are no longer coming to games, Mr Kelly. Mr Sage, don’t think for a second that football isn’t viable in Perth – it’s just that people want to watch actual football, not the dross that’s currently being served up. Ian, you might be a nice bloke and all but I’m afraid the stats say you’re not up to this level yet. And to whoever is supposed to be teaching these people how to talk to the media and fans – maybe you should start by getting them to listen first.

The current approach by the club is only making things worse; by backing Ferguson to the hilt, Glory is seen to be endorsing a poor brand of football and an approach to appointing coaches that has existed since the FFA took us over after Nick Tana (see my prior column for more info). The voices and texts of fans coming in to radio shows, and the posts being made on the facebook page, newspaper sites, and this very forum should tell the club all they need to know about their current predicament. Continuing to ignore them will only cause more fans to be disenchanted, and risk the hardcore of 6000 football supporters here in Perth to be further reduced. Tony Sage was wrong when he said A-League football wasn’t viable in this city – but Perth Glory’s current path seems to show that they’re on a mission to prove him right.

Happy new year, everyone. I’ve resolved not to wish for anything football-related in 2012 – it doesn’t seem to have worked for about seven years!