EXCLUSIVE: Perth Glory owner Tony Sage will address the playing group in the next day or two as the floundering side looks for answers as its A-League dreams slowly ebb away once again.
The talks come after a 4-0 capitulation to a rampant Melbourne Victory on the weekend.
It's a move that could just be a circuit breaker if Wellington Phoenix are a gauge. Wellington owner Terry Serepisos recently met with the Phoenix player group to outline his commitment and backing. It did the trick with Phoenix beating Sydney 2-1 and enjoying a comeback 2-2 draw in Newcastle on Monday.
Former Glory legend Bobby Despotovski hopes Sage's clear the air meeting has a similar effect on the perennial under-achievers of A-League football.
He said: "Like Tony [Sage] said in the paper here, after the game in Melbourne, there are only two or three guys who can hold their heads up and say I gave 100 per cent. The rest appear that they don't want to play for the club," he tells au.fourfourtwo.com.
"It seemed like it's not hurting them. Like Tony Sage says, 'play for the shirt'. It seemed like no-one was upset after the Melbourne game."
"If you don't play for the shirt, where are you going to go next year?"
Despotovoski, a former A-League player of the year in season one with 104 goals to his name in A-League/NSL over a decade, recalls a similar scenario when the club first began in the 1996/7 season.
"Back then, club owner Nick Tana addressed the players after we lost our first ever two games in 1996. And we understood quite perfectly that it was not that we lost the game. You can lose, everyone can. It's the way you lose, if nobody gives 100%.
"But they [the Glory owners] have to come out in the media after this meeting and issue a statement saying this is resolved, or we've sacked three players or we buy some new players, or whatever."
Despotovski, 37, added that he felt the media in Perth "were no longer interested in the club anymore".
"It seems that no-one knows who the current players are. In the NSL days, I'd be out at four shopping centres almost every day of the week."
He added: "They [the media] are either interested when the club is the benchmark, as we were a few years ago, or when there is something crap happening.
"But the crowds will come back to a certain degree when the side starts to win games. It's a sleeping giant, can we wake it up again? Can we replicate what we used to do in the old NSL?"
It's a move that could just be a circuit breaker if Wellington Phoenix are a gauge. Wellington owner Terry Serepisos recently met with the Phoenix player group to outline his commitment and backing. It did the trick with Phoenix beating Sydney 2-1 and enjoying a comeback 2-2 draw in Newcastle on Monday.
Former Glory legend Bobby Despotovski hopes Sage's clear the air meeting has a similar effect on the perennial under-achievers of A-League football.
He said: "Like Tony [Sage] said in the paper here, after the game in Melbourne, there are only two or three guys who can hold their heads up and say I gave 100 per cent. The rest appear that they don't want to play for the club," he tells au.fourfourtwo.com.
"It seemed like it's not hurting them. Like Tony Sage says, 'play for the shirt'. It seemed like no-one was upset after the Melbourne game."
"If you don't play for the shirt, where are you going to go next year?"
Despotovoski, a former A-League player of the year in season one with 104 goals to his name in A-League/NSL over a decade, recalls a similar scenario when the club first began in the 1996/7 season.
"Back then, club owner Nick Tana addressed the players after we lost our first ever two games in 1996. And we understood quite perfectly that it was not that we lost the game. You can lose, everyone can. It's the way you lose, if nobody gives 100%.
"But they [the Glory owners] have to come out in the media after this meeting and issue a statement saying this is resolved, or we've sacked three players or we buy some new players, or whatever."
Despotovski, 37, added that he felt the media in Perth "were no longer interested in the club anymore".
"It seems that no-one knows who the current players are. In the NSL days, I'd be out at four shopping centres almost every day of the week."
He added: "They [the media] are either interested when the club is the benchmark, as we were a few years ago, or when there is something crap happening.
"But the crowds will come back to a certain degree when the side starts to win games. It's a sleeping giant, can we wake it up again? Can we replicate what we used to do in the old NSL?"
Related Articles
Fresh talent flock to ambitious A-League outfit's pro pathway
Why A-League 20/21 is crucial for Olyroos’ medal hopes
