In 1966 North Korea managed a 1-0 win against Italy in the World Cup finals. In 1980 relatively small British club Nottingham Forest won a second successive European Cup. In 1997 a team coached by Ruud Gullit won a trophy. Football miracles do happen!
Perth Glory look set to perform another football miracle- it's only April but already 22 of the 23-man squad has been finalised (pending Pellegrino not succeeding in his ambitious trial in Scotland). What's more, we know that the final player will be a foreigner, and a striker, and possibly Robbie Fowler.
What a change then from A-League seasons past, when Perth were still scratching around the WA state league or Ron Smith's former youth sides for the final names to never make an impact at A-League level. There will be no last minute additions of players like Prentice, Bulloch, Lee or Magdic. There will be no waiting until the 11th hour to see if Burns or Coyne will be coming home. There will be no holding our breaths as Mile Sterjovski umms and ahhs about becoming the Perth marquee.
This time around it's all very simple. We've confirmed players from last season such as Amphlett and McGarry will remain as full-time players. We've promoted a couple of youth players. We've ditched one guy in Srhoj who the fans didn't really like and we've added Josh Mitchell and Michael Baird who should bring some real depth to the side. And we've got more than three months to ease those two new faces into the squad.
When Fowler (or, if he decides against us, maybe Wayne Rooney or David Villa) signs, it'll make for just three genuinely new faces for the playing squad next season. That compares with seven last season, nine the year before that and 11 in 2007. When you consider beyond that that two of those thrree have solid European experience behind them and the third is likely to be an international marquee (thank you to the A-League administration for finally seeing sense and changing your rules) and suddenly Perth look like a professional football club. Considering Dave Mitchell's efforts in rebuilding Ron Smith's ramshackle collection of football wannabes with the players that took us to a debut finals campaign, the coach really must be credited for his excellent recruitment (I'll reserve judgement about his coaching ability until he surprises me- and not the bringing on Harnwell as a central midfielder while Amaral plays as a striker against Gold Coast United kind of surprise).
Squad stability is a key element for league success. Look at Melbourne Victory, who seem to rely on the same old players season after season. Merrick has had the set plan since day one, and they simply replace one good player when he leaves (e.g. Fred) with an equal (e.g. Hernandez) as necessary. All the while, the likes of Muscat, Thompson and Vargas ensure a sense of continuity that has helped them be the most successful of all A-League clubs (if you exclude being able to do even moderately well in continental football as a criterion).
Similarly, Central Coast Mariners have- based on my presumptions rather than any genuine statistical analysis- had the most consistent of any A-League squad. They may not have won an A-League championship in that time, but by making two finals and winning one Premiership they have certainly punched above their weight. The confidence and camaraderie that comes with a consistent squad surely did contribute to those lofty achievements.
It's universally accepted that football sides take time to reach their peak. Indeed, with the right coaching a good side with that unquantifiable "chemistry" can greatly exceed its own limitations. An example of that might be the 1995 Blackburn Rovers side that won the English Premier League despite a notable absence of star players (Alan Shearer being the exception). In comparison, Real Madrid has been continually buying the best players in the world for 20 years. Have they been the best of all teams in that time? Just six La Liga titles and three Champions League crowns (compared to nine and three for Barcelona) suggests not. And even now, a team that boasts mega-signings Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Alonso and Albiol failed to make the quarter-finals in Europe. At the same time Barcelona, with just three additions and 10 of its 21-man first team products of the clubs own academy, look almost unstoppable on their march to successive seasons of glory.
A stable team is a good team. For Perth Glory, next season we will have a stable team. Mitchell will have no excuses not to be getting the best out of a squad that is definitively now "his". Perth fans have every right to expect a squad which on paper is at a minimum equal to any other in the league not to display that on the park. In three months time we'll see if they can.
