Leaders of Men
The leaders of men,
Born out of your frustration...
The leaders of men,
Just a strange infatuation...
The leaders of men,
Made a promise for a new life...
No saviour for our sakes,
To twist the internees of hate,
Self induced manipulation,
To crush all thoughts of mass salvation.
--Joy Division, “Leaders of Men”
Winston Churchill. Napoleon. Gandhi. FDR. Martin Luther King Jr. Leaders one and all, inspiring their people to feats of greatness and heralding in new eras of prosperity. Unfortunately, for every Curtin or Elizabeth, there’s a Louis XVI or Mugabe. Amusingly enough, this can be demonstrated all too clearly on a much smaller scale - with a look at the history of my own Perth Glory; and their leaders both powerful and pathetic.
Gary Marocchi
Coached: 1996 - 1998
Games: 52
Wins: 21
Draws: 11
Losses: 20
Goals Scored: 88
Conceded: 77
The inaugural coach of Perth Glory Football Club, Gary Marocchi was the local man to lead a group of local lads in the national competition. Faced with a hostile group of eastern states clubs who viewed West Australian football as vastly inferior to the old VPL or NSWPL, the Glory gave a good account of themselves in their opening season, finishing one point outside the finals in what was a surprisingly good start to the club’s history. Marocchi was praised for playing attractive football, drawing average crowds of nearly 12,000 people a game in his first season, and nearly 15,000 a game in his second - still Perth’s highest average attendance for a season. But his team conceded just as many as they scored - and while Marocchi’s team bagged nearly 1.7 goals a game, they failed to make the finals at his second attempt.
Bernd Stange
Coached: 1998 - 2001
Games: 90
Wins: 53
Draws: 19
Losses: 20
Goals Scored: 195
Conceded: 112
Ah, the Burnt Snagger - was there ever a more popular coach in West Australian football? It wasn’t just the style of football he played; nor the results he achieved. It was Bernd’s passion for the game that inspired his team and their fans and pushed him into Glory folklore. He even became a local Perth celebrity after kissing a policewoman after a famous Glory victory; the media loved him, the fans loved him, and he was without doubt a charismatic boon for the game in Perth. The Glory achieved finals football in all three years of Stange’s reign; they scored more than two goals a game on average across this period, and in his last year upped that rate to 2.6 per game. He also cut down the goals conceded from Marocchi’s 1.5/game to a rate of 1.2. Evidently, with Bernd the best defence was a good offence. So loved was Stange that when owner Nick Tana readied to sack him fans were outraged and protested to have their German wunderkoach saved. Eventually though, Stange failed to make the 2000/2001 grand final and he left at the end of his contract.
Mich d’Avray
Coached: 2001-2004
Games: 72
Wins: 50
Draws: 12
Losses: 10
Goals Scored: 156
Conceded: 67
Where Bernd Stange was the most popular Glory coach in history, Mich d’Avray was the most successful. Under “the right Mitch”, Perth won back-to-back NSL championships and appeared in 3 straight NSL Grand Finals. His is a record that most A-League coaches would be envious of - and his collection of silverware speaks to the strength of his squad as well as the precision of his tactics. Strangely, he never seems to get the plaudits assigned to his predecessor - “Boring Boring Glory” was Perth under Mich, whereas Marocchi and Stange played free and expansive football. True enough, d’Avray improved Glory’s defence - conceding just 0.9 goals a game. But his teams also scored more goals per game than any other Glory manager; at 2.17 goals a match he was as prolific as Stange and godlike compared with any A-League peer.
Steve McMahon
Coached: 2005-2006
Games: 15
Wins: 6
Draws: 4
Losses: 5
Goals Scored: 23
Conceded: 19
He hated the media. The media hated him. He loved his son. The fans hated his son. The fans soon hated him when it became obvious that he still loved his son. He was our most successful A-League manager, winning 40% of his games compared to David Mitchell’s 36%. The fans still hated him - and frankly, most still do. Such is the bizarre world of Steve McMahon, a man for whom press conferences were battlegrounds and the football pitch was a place for him to play ugly parent. Some fans blame him for Nick Tana leaving - others retort by saying that despite his faults he was our best A-League coach. Either way, he’s certainly far from the most boring manager Perth has ever had.
Alan Vest
Coached: 2006
Games: 6
Wins: 2
Draws: 1
Losses: 3
Goals Scored: 11
Conceded: 10
Poor Vesty - he was only in charge for six games, so doesn’t really deserve to be on here. He is the John McEwen of Perth Glory FC. He took over from McMahon and had to try to get the club to the finals. He didn’t. Still - his win ratio of 33% is better than Ron Smith and Ian Ferguson’s combined, and not that far off David Mitchell’s 36%.
Ron Smith
Coached: 2006 - 2008
Games: 32
Wins: 5
Draws: 11
Losses: 16
Goals Scored: 33
Conceded: 46
With a win percentage of just 15.6%, Ron Smith is the most unsuccessful manager ever to take charge of Perth Glory for a full season or more. He didn’t win a single one of eleven games in his second year in charge - and it was no surprise that he got the boot soon before it could be stretched to twelve. Smith was the first Glory manager to have a negative goal difference for his stint with the club - and since he left, no subsequent Glory manager has been able to do any different (Mitchell had a -9 record, Ferguson has -14). Smith lost exactly half of all games he coached whilst at the club - a record currently only beaten by Fergie and his 53% loss ratio - so it’s no wonder David Mitchell was soon called in.
David Mitchell
Coached: 2008 - 2010
Games: 67
Wins: 24
Draws: 14
Losses: 29
Goals Scored: 100
Conceded: 109
Mitchell had a far longer stint than Smith - he impressed after initially taking over from Ron, decided that Nikita Rukavytsya was probably suited to being a striker rather than a left midfielder, and made a few early interesting recruitment calls. He is the Glory’s third longest-serving manager - and remains the only A-League coach who has taken Perth to finals football. But he still lost 43% of his games - more than Marocchi or McMahon did, and his defensive record is Perth’s poorest bar Ian Ferguson and Alan Vest; shipping 1.63 goals a game. With the help of Ruka and Eugene Dadi however, he did get the Glory scoring again - 1.5 goals a game was back on par with early A-League Glory, a long way from Smith’s barely-1-a-game but still a long way from Stange and d’Avray’s 2.17.
Ian Ferguson
Coached: 2010 - present
Games: 17
Wins: 2
Draws: 6
Losses: 9
Goals Scored: 15
Conceded: 29
I felt sorry for Fergie when I amassed this list and saw just how poor his record actually was since he took over the team last year. Then I thought - “yeah, but whose fault is that?” and frankly, I don’t really feel bad any more. He concedes more goals per game than any other manager we’ve had (1.7). For the first time in their history, Glory are scoring under a goal a game under his tutelage (0.9). He has won less than 12% of his games and he loses a greater percentage of games than any other Glory manager. He is, statiscally, the worst manager Perth Glory have ever had.
And Tony Sage says he’s staying for next year - hooray! It’s like re-electing Neville Chamberlain once Hitler has invaded the entire world.
But I think I’ll leave final thoughts about that to a true Glory leader:
Thanks Jamie.
