As the final whistle blew at nib Stadium on Sunday, even my girlfriend and mates were screaming and clapping for the team in purple. A bumper crowd, buoyed by the extras who turned up for the sole reason of seeing That Harry Guy, were instead treated to a game of football unlike anything Glory have played since the late NSL. It wasn’t Barcelona – it wasn’t even Brisbane Roar – but it was bloody entertaining nonetheless. As one of my ‘non-football’ mates told me, “It seemed like they were going to score every time they had the ball”. The fact that Kewell had a rubbish game apart from a cheap penalty didn’t even enter into it – this was super soccer, hard and fast and entertaining from end to end; centre backs who defended like their lives depended on it, and attackers who caused the opponent grief at every turn. It had something for everyone apart from the most ardent cynic. Don’t like long passes? Don’t like Jacob Burns or Steve Pantelidis? Too bad – but more than 12,000 people seemed pretty bloody happy with them on Sunday.

The same could be said of coach Ian Ferguson, really. Asked at the post-game press conference if he felt vindicated and satisfied with the team’s performance proving his doubters wrong, he dismissed the notion and simply stated that he’d always had faith in his team. Ferguson went on to claim that he had always expected the team to start clicking around round ten or twelve, and he felt the recent results more than showed this. If he was still a coach under pressure – indeed, if he ever was – he didn’t show it. Now yours truly has had his doubts about Ferguson’s ability and some of the decisions he’s made, certainly in a tactical sense – but I’m more than happy to be proved wrong with some more excellent form from his side. Granted I still have my reservations, but you can’t argue with results, and if this side finishes in the top four come season’s end, I think they would have achieved what should have been expected of a squad of their quality. Of course, there's still a long way to go yet.

Also at the press conference was a player who has proved predictions – not just mine, but also the majority of football fans – drastically wrong. Steve Pantelidis was labelled a thug when Perth signed him last year, and I for one certainly pointed out his run-ins with the Match Review Panel. At the time, I mocked Miron Bleiberg for claiming that his former charge was simply misunderstood; but maybe the Crazy Israeli is right after all. Pantelidis was hacked, tackled, and tugged on all day by his former employers, but simply refused to give in to the pressure and lash out with an ‘accidental’ elbow or ‘unfortunate’ tackle. He even copped a finger to the eye, which one journalist jokingly suggested he had tried to break with his eyelid. But there was no red mist to descend, and in an attitude similar to Jacob Burns’ this year, he simply got his head down and got on with the job. When asked in the press conference if he struggled to line up in a defence that seemed to be ever-changing through injury and suspension, he simply shrugged and said it was good to be playing – and that as a utility he’d play anywhere he was asked to.

Something both Pantelidis' manager Ferguson and captain Jacob Burns are keen to do is to keep a lid on the excitement that is starting to build at nib Stadium about the team’s recent run. This is a good idea – too soon we forget the horrible run of results that preceded the recent wins – but their reasoning still leaves me a little perplexed. In words that seemed to echo Ferguson’s at the post-match presser, Burns recently told FourFourTwo Australia that:

  • Results were down to things just going the Glory’s way, as opposed to a change in tactics or training methods.
  • In the majority of games they’d played this season, Perth deserved more from the match than what they’d got.
  • The side had been playing a good brand of football, and really it was just luck or a few individual mistakes that had gotten in the way.
  • Going from their losing streak to a winning one, Glory “haven’t changed anything in particular”.

When you consider that Perth’s change in form coincided perfectly with the adoption of a single-striker formation and an extra man in Steve McGarry in their midfield, it seems utterly bizarre that neither the captain nor the coach of the team can put their finger on what has improved or changed in their approach. Of course, away from the cameras and microphones I am sure the team is aware of exactly what they’ve done to improve themselves – the fact that Ferguson didn’t start with his two main strikers despite them both being available shows this. But it almost appears like the Official Perth Glory Public Relations And Media Line™ is, “nothing’s changed, we’ve always been good, nothing to see here, just blame bad luck”. And to be honest, to me that just seems quite bizarre. 

Still, that puzzle aside, it’s definitely a good move for this team to be keeping a lid on things.

…And Putting A Dome On Others?

Now for something completely different: some column space in the Purple Nowhere for yet another bizarre stadium rumour around Perth Glory – this time concerning, of all things, the Burswood Dome entertainment complex. For those from the east, or those Perthites who don’t know what a casino is, Burswood Dome is a complex that hosts the Hopman Cup tennis tournament and medium-sized concerts in Perth. It doesn’t have the biggest capacity in the world – under 10,000 people for the tennis and a tad over 13,000 for concerts – but it can fit a full-sized football pitch. Just. The rumour was first mentioned on a Glory fan forum, has since poked its head up on Twitter, and drawn claims of  “I heard this from Sage himself” and “I heard it from a usually reliable source” from amongst some posters.

If this sounds like some sort of bizarre recurring dream – it is. Back in 2007, then new owner Tony Sage declared that the ‘expensive’ nib Stadium would be a secondary option for the club, preferring to base his side at the Burswood Dome in anticipation of a coming new rectangular stadium (oh, how times change!) 

"Stadium wise, Burswood is ready to go. The pitch takes eight hours to put in and about 12 hours to remove, and (Burswood) would absorb a lot of the costs…We're waiting to hear back from them though in regards to capacity. We want to average 12,500 this season so we need at least that many seats plus room for 1000 corporates."

Averaging 12,500 people to each Glory game is clearly not on the club’s radar any longer – and Sage’s seemingly declining relationship with nib Stadium (if it ever existed) and talk of moving to the WA Hockey Stadium in Bentley may have put Burswood back on the agenda. Owned by the Crown Casino group, Burswood is expected to lose the tennis to the new Perth Arena next year – and a tenant like Glory might be very welcome to their bottom line.

Thus the question then becomes, just what would football be like at Burswood Dome? It would be indoor for one, because the roof does not open – although it does let some natural light filter through. Then there’s the question of seating arrangements, capacity problems, membership value, and most importantly of all – what happens to the Shed? The dome may turn out to be one of the only viable alternatives to nib Stadium in Perth, a stadium which is getting upgraded next season – work that will require a reduction in seating capability. If Sage does decide to move, then you’d imagine a shift to a location which he’s (allegedly) already scoped out would make some sense.

Of course, this whole rumour could be nothing more than hot air – but at least it would fit in with our current weather patterns here in the west. In the meantime though, it gives us Perth fans something to talk about; because after all, it’s not like Glory have done anything differently lately, is it?