Ferguson left "by mutual consent" after a series of rows with owner Tony Sage and last season's grand finalists at the bottom of the ladder after picking up just two points from a possible 24, without a single goal in more than five hours of football.

Now Sage has turned to former Glory striker Alistair Edwards to take the reins until the end of the season, assited by former Glory skipper Gareth Naven who has stepped up from his current role at NYL coach.

Edwards, 44, has been given two months' leave by the FFA from his role as Joeys coach to sit in for Glory, but Sage said he would be able to apply for the job full-time if he was still interested at the end of the season.

Sage has promised to launch a worldwide hunt for a new boss in June - but until then, Edwards is in charge...and Sage promised he has freedom to hire and fire who he likes.

But today Edwards just wanted to pay tribute to the man he was replacing.

"It's fantastic club and one of the biggest clubs in the A-League with a fantastic history," said Edwards at his first press conference today.

"It's never a good situation when a fellow professional coach loses their position. This happened very, very quickly.

"The first call I made was to Ian because obviously I wanted to thank his as his contribution to the A-League and Perth Glory has been immense.

"Not only that, he is a quality person,. For a guy who has taken the team to the grand final the previous year, to now be in the situation he is just goes to show the perilous nature of football.

"We discussed that as a playing group and we are really looking forward to moving forward but we should all acknowledge publicly the contribution that Ian has made to the game.

"He is a man of great integrity and I feel for him."

Edwards added: “I think we have a great group of players who don’t deserve where they are.

“Are we looking to bring new players in? No. As of tomorrow, it’s all guns blazing and we are really looking forward to the challenge ahead.”