Glory's mining millionaire owner has been making a heavy financial loss at the club for the past few years and this season cut back on spending throughout the club, including the playing squad.

The 2011-12 A-League grand finalists let former Socceroo Chris Coyne, youth international Scott Neville, Brazilian winger Andrezinho and ex-Netherlands international Victor Sikora all depart in the off-season, with a number of youngsters brought in along with star recruit Michael Thwaite.

Despite the spending cuts, Ferguson remained optimistic about the team's chances of pushing for the title.

“Tony (Sage) can't keep sustaining the money he has lost,” Ferguson told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“There's been big cuts all over the club and that's fine, I've got no problem with that, we've just got to tighten our belts up and make sure we try and get the right players in. What we have done is brought in a lot of younger energy and potential.

“We're hoping we can try to emulate last season and go one step better. That's go to the finals and hopefully be successful this time.”

Ferguson identified former Gold Coast United attacker Chris Harold as a player who has impressed him in pre-season, along with Socceroos defender Thwaite who he hopes can help the side play out from the back.

“He's a very good defender, he's very good on the ball, he's got a good range of passing,” Ferguson said on Thwaite.

“His short play is good, he links up well coming out of the back. First and foremost we needed to strengthen there which we've done.”

Glory, who fly out for Melbourne on Tuesday for games against Heart and Victory, have had a long pre-season that begun with a three-game July tour of South Africa which Ferguson admitted on reflection had come too early.

“The games we had in South Africa were great for us but probably came a bit too early because then we had to come down again and then ramp it up again,” he said.

“If we had the South Africa games around about now and then the two upcoming Melbourne games it would have been fantastic for us.

“It's a learning curve. It's something we've looked at over the past few months and we'll make sure when we plan a pre-season trip it'll be later in pre-season.”

Glory's first game of the A-League season will be a grand final re-match against Brisbane at Patersons Stadium and Ferguson said he believed the “spice” of last term's finale would help build a big crowd.

“I'm looking forward to it. Because of the restrictions of the ground and the building that's going on at nib Stadium we've been forced to play there,” he said.

“Again it's new to us and it'll be new to Brisbane. We get three or four training sessions on it before the game takes place. We're looking forward to that and we're hoping a big crowd turns out.

“The good thing is the pitch gets pushed to the side, so it won't be played right in the middle and the fans can get close to it.

“We're obviously looking forward to it, it's going to be a massive game for us. We're playing the grand final winners so there'll be a bit of spice in that one.”

Glory will also play in another big stadium when they tackle Alessandro Del Piero's Sydney FC at ANZ Stadium in Round 4 with the Sky Blues announcing the relocation this week.

“That'll be something we're looking forward to,” Ferguson added. “Obviously with the new signing Alessandro Del Piero, it's a great time for the A-League and these players. What a time to play against such a superstar.

"If that can't get them buzzing, then nothing will.”