The club has confirmed it will not be offering the 35 year old former Socceroo a new deal for the 2008/09 Hyundai A-League season.

However the door is open for a potential off-field role for the player at Members Equity Stadium.

Mitchell said the decision was not made lightly and was based purely on the best long term interests of the club.

The Glory coach said: “Stan has been a wonderful ambassador for Australian football over a significant period of time.

“It was great to have him wear the Perth Glory colours over the past two seasons however injury and some unfortunate circumstances meant that Stan wasn’t able to play as many matches as he and the club would have liked.

“Moving forward and putting together a squad for the season ahead I’ve had to make some tough decisions and not offering Stan a new contract has been one of the toughest of all.

“There was a possibility that we could have nursed Stan though another season in the A-League but I don’t think that would have done him or the club any favours. This is a vital campaign for the Glory and every single person in our squad will be called upon and they must be ready for action.

“After looking at the various scenarios I felt for the long term prosperity of the club and the development of our exciting young talent that this was the best course of action.”

Lazaridis returned home to Perth to join the Glory for the 2006/07 Hyundai A-League season after a stellar career in the English Premier League with West Ham United and Birmingham City. Injury curtailed his impact in the first season and he managed just 11 matches. An FFA Anti-Doping ban, for taking an anti hair-loss medication, ruled him out for the majority of his second season at the club although he did return late in the season for two games.

The West Australian born left footer is arguably the states most accomplished footballer. After starting out at local club Floreat Athena he went on to play for more than a decade in England and represented Australia in 57 ‘A’ internationals to be the eighth most capped Socceroo of all time.

Perth Glory Chief Executive Officer Scott Gooch said the door will always be open for Lazaridis to continue his involvement with the club in an off-field capacity.

He said: “Stan is a terrific person and will always be welcome at Perth Glory.
“I look forward to sitting down with him once he has had time to think about the next stage of his life and hopefully that could include an off-field role with Perth Glory.”

Perth has 14 contracted players for next season and is in the final stages of contract negotiations with several players ahead of pre-season training which will commence on Thursday 8 May 2008.

“We have a good mix of youth and experience at the moment and with a several more players set to join the club in the near future I believe we will have a very competitive squad that will be able to achieve our goal of playing finals football,” Mitchell said.