I hope you know, that it won't let go,
It sticks around with you until the day you die...
And I hope you know, that it's touch and go,
I hope the tears don't stain the world that waits outside...
Where did it all go wrong?
--Oasis, Where Did It All Go Wrong?
Oh, Gallagher brothers - how you knew! How you knew!
A 5-0 thrashing for Glory, which I only became aware of yesterday after flying back in from Berlin, put the dampeners on what was a great weekend of Bundesliga, beer, and bockwurst. My exclamations of grief and shock at the scoreline - a loss was to be expected, but 5 goals? - brought no sympathy from my travelling companions, only a non-committal shrug and a "Well, what did you expect? They're rubbish!".
Where did it all go wrong, indeed? (The same companion has just pointed out that a shorter list would be, "Where did it go right?". Cheeky sod.)
2010 - Mitch Ditched, Fergie Parachutes In
Many people will remember Glory fans - yours truly included - calling for the head of David Mitchell, the man who (just) led Glory to finals football and then obviously struggled to get a coherent strategy together this season. You could make the argument that for all of Mitchell's failings, Ian Ferguson's just might be worse. Indeed, at least Mitchell won the odd game (and our season started fairly well, too). Perhaps Glory would be faring better if we'd actually kept faith in Mitchell in the first place?
Granted, I think that's a bit of a stretch. Sure, we might be doing better than we are now - political unrest in the backroom and all that - but that still doesn't guarantee we'd be winning these games. I think we'll look back at this time and think that this was an opportunity missed - a chance to grab a coach like Straka or Coolen and install him with a vast portion of the season still remaining; to make a break from the style of coaching we've traditionally had and go back to the good old "Stange-esque" days.
Finals 2009/2010 - Rewarding Underachieving
Lost in the joy of our first finals appearance in years was the feeling from many Glory fans that we had underachieved with our final placing of fifth. A squad featuring fomer Socceroos Mile Sterjovski, Chris Coyne, and Jacob Burns as well as players like Andy Todd and Victor Sikora should really have finished in a position in the regular season. A squad heavily invested in by Tony Sage really failed to reap the expected rewards.
The opportunity was there then, for Sage and co. to view the season as unsatisfactory and give the coach the boot, bringing in someone who knew football through and through and could inject younger talent as well as motivate bigger players such as Sterjovski and Burns to play to their best each and every week.
2008/2009 - Stability or Substance?
In 2008, Perth Glory's owner Tony Sage had a choice to make. It was another disappointing year for the club, where Perth had again started slowly and Mitchell hadn't exactly convinced in his first full year in charge. Rumours again began to circulate about another coaching change. Sage now faced the decision; sack Mitchell and take the chance of getting the right man for the job, or back his manager and extend his contract - showcasing the kind of stability and measured thinking that enabled franchises like Melbourne Victory to put up with short-term pain for medium-term championship success.
His decision, as history knows, was to back Mitchell. On one hand, you could say that he made the right decision as Glory charged (stumbled?) to a finals place. On the other, you must consider that with the squad at Mitchell's disposal he should have done a lot better - and of course we know how things have gone downhill since then.
February 2007 - Tony's Trio Takes the Throne
When three men appeared with bags of cash to take possession to the Glory from FFA, pretty much every single Glory fan rejoiced as one. But maybe all our problems stem from this one moment? With Sage and co. seems to have come a "buddy-buddy" approach to appointments, both with backroom staff and coaches. They didn't sever the contracts of existing underperforming staff; a move understandable because of high fees that would have needed to be paid, but for three millionaires it's also somewhat of a cheap move. For a few years, we also had two assistants where one coach could have been doing the same job. Nobody ever wanted to say anything bad about the coach or the administrative staff who clearly weren't doing their jobs - but Tony himself seems to have no qualms about blaming the players nowadays.
Sure, Tony has saved Perth's football club from almost certain ruin. Unfortunately, in doing so he may have also added to its continual mediocrity through being unable to make the same harsh decisions that he makes in the business world.
Season 2006/2007 - FFA Control
What a fucking disaster this was. Matt Carroll wanting to change the club's name and colours. Our marquee-friggin-player wanting to change the club's name and colours. Carroll and the FFA Puppet CEO Michelle Phillips described the fans as a "stumbling block" that would need to be overcome. The FFA would only let Perth spend between one and two thirds of the available salary cap. They engaged in extremely poor recruiting, both in the form of substandard players like Jeremy Christie and those who would be an expensive, injury-prone burden on the club for years to come, such as the aforementioned Lazaridis and defender Hayden Foxe. The staff appointments made during the FFA era took an age to recover from, both financially and professionally, and it left Perth with a toxic legacy.
March 2006 - Nick Tana Leaves Perth Glory
Finally, it could be that Perth's problems first began (and have remained ever since) when their NSL-era owner pulled the plug and left them to the devices of the FFA. If Nick Tana had been better prepared for the A-League, if he had waited until a suitable buyer came along, if the fans hadn't been so critical of him - so many 'ifs' that could have resulted in Glory having a brighter future. Frankly, you could take the opinion that he left Perth to the wolves - wolves that stripped the club to the bone, inflicting mortal injuries that the club is struggling to recover from.
The thing is, in my humble opinion, none of these events are solely responsible for Glory being in its current state. Rather, I believe it is the fault of a culture that has existed at the club since the end of the NSL. Even in our final season under Mich D'Avray, Glory didn't recruit as extravagantly, nor play as aggressively, nor attract as many crowds as they did in the seasons before. One could say they became complacent after dominating the NSL for so long; that they just assumed that A-League opposition would fall like dominos much in the way that Olympic, Collingwood Warriors, or South Melbourne once did.
This culture of complacency has long since resided at nib Stadium; from the first season in the A-League until the modern days of "if the fans are just positive enough, we'll turn this form slump around". What utter tosh. I'm sorry - but it shouldn't matter how the fans are feeling, the players should be good enough to avoid being beaten 5-0 by opponents who (no offence) aren't exactly title contenders this season. It seems like the club is happy to remain reactive rather than proactive - responding to suggestions (perhaps I should take credit for the posting of the latest episode of NaumTV after a facebook request to the club) or chopping and changing the squad in response to problems, rather than thinking on its own two feet.
Frankly, it didn't all go wrong at any point in Glory's A-League history. Rather, it's always been wrong. The 'old boys club' that exists at the club ensures that it is not the fault of the coach, nor the backroom staff, that the team isn't performing. It certainly isn't the fault of the CEO (bring back Lui!) nor the 'director of football' or 'footballing manager' or whatever other silly corporate title we wish to give out to someone who should really be a hell of a lot better at their job. These people keep getting their paycheques, and people like Mile Sterjovski keep getting told they're expensive flops. Let's get one thing straight here - we do have some expensive flops, and we also have players who were rubbish from the get-go. But we have others who just need a bit of motivation - something that should come from the coach, and in turn the people who run the club. If they can't provide it, they're not doing their jobs correctly.
Whilst I'm happy for you to disagree, let's not kid ourselves. Perth don't have a single point of failure in their A-League history; it's been an ongoing story of complacency.
And it's high bloody time somebody in the club woke up to it.
