Your thoughts on the the Stan Lazaridis drug ban?
I don't agree with the ruling and now that I'm no longer employed and subject to actions taken by various organisations, I'd like to say that what happened. The whole situation with his case and how it's been handled has made life a nightmare. Stan's case dragged on for five months.
It took its toll on Stan. However, I'm glad he's now over it. But my job recruiting people was made more difficult. When you're dealing with marquee status, salary cap issues, you don't know whether someone's in or out and who you can recruit, really was a nightmare situation.
And even now that he's been vindicated he can't train with the team. It is discriminatory in the extreme. There are discrimination laws and how someone can't even be allowed to train with a team.
But if you're an individual sportsman you can do what you want. As a team sportsman, he's not allowed anywhere near official training. He felt total frustration.
The whole business of sanctions need reviews. I believe WADA [World Anti-Doping Authority] is having a review – it's long overdue.

Your frustration on this issue goes back to the Socceroos I believe?
Yeah. I'll tell you a story. The night we qualified for the World Cup in 2005, I went down to the dressing room and everyone was of course celebrating. And when it was just about over, Mark Viduka walked in with a bit of a surprised look on his face. So I said, “where you been Dukes?” And he said, “I've been sat in the drug room giving a urine sample.”
And I just thought that showed no compassion for a player who's just qualified for a World Cup – something he'd dreamt about all his life – yet that night he'd missed out on all the celebrations for what? Sitting in an empty room to give a urine sample.
I don't think any of the testers couldn't be bothered whether he wanted to celebrate with the team or not. Dukes just shook his head in disbelief. That's just an example of these people.
I felt for Mark that night – it was a tragedy to a young guy giving his all to his country. It puts things in perspective in terms of where people are coming from.
It's like they are above the law. I just think what they do and how they do needs a serious look.

Going back to your exit from Perth, plenty of people have given you a hard time over your lack of results. Fair enough?
I don't get upset about what's been said. Some of the nonsense that's been written about me since I got the sack just makes me laugh. It makes me realise just how many people just don't know what it takes to coach at this level.
The frustrating thing is you can see the enormous improvement in all respects, but if you don't win in ten weeks, it's all over red rover.

Did the side improve over your 16 months in charge?
The people who understand football could see the massive difference between this season and last season. We haven't been outplayed by everyone. We've had chances but just failed to put the ball in the back of the net. And everyone knows in football, when you're battling for results, it's Murphy's Law that things go wrong.
Teams knew this year we could hold possession much better. Ultimately though, if you can't put the ball in the net...

Was the criticism justified?
It was a little frustrating and annoying that some people take the opportunity to ridicule you that probably never coached a team in their life or have an insight into what it takes to be a coach at this level trying to put the boot into you when things have finally gone wrong and you get the sack.

Has your reputation in coaching circles been tarnished by your time at Glory?
It's probably taken a bit of a bashing from people who don't know or who don't understand. People just go by the results. Some people who understand in the game it won't make any difference because of the improvement we've made on the park.

Did the players lose confidence in you?
No, I don't think so. I don't think [captain] Simon Colosimo lost confidence in me. Sometimes comments can be misconstrued. I never felt that was the case. The week after my axing I've had phone calls from players sorry to see me go. I think that's a reflection.

What happened against Phoenix on that fateful night?
I think against Wellington, we needed more experience. I think the pressure got to the players. And I think the performance showed.
I wanted to recruit players who had a bit of a future. I look back now and maybe I should've recruited some more experienced players. But that's hindsight.

What did you learn from your time at Glory?
What you've got to learn from this if you do make a mistake in terms of your recruitment, it's very hard to make any amendments to your squad because of the salary cap. It's not like other clubs around the world where they sign players without salary restrictions.
That's the point I want to say, don't sign someone if you're not sure. Be absolutely sure because if you make a mistake, you can't rectify that during the season. You can only wait till next year because of the salary.
David Mitchell said he wanted to take a more “hard-nosed” approach to the side when he took over from you two weeks ago. Do you know what he meant by that?
To be honest, I don't really know what he means by that. What is a hard-nosed approach? Our defensive record, by and large, has been good except for a couple of games. Out of ten or 12 games, I think New Zealand was the only game where we lost by more than one goal. I'm not quite sure.

Your recruitment policy did come under fire. If you could turn back time, would you change anything?
In the main, no. I think with recruitment policy, one thing I wouldn't do again is sign somebody from overseas without having seen more of them playing either overseas or having them here in the country. Put it this way, if you couldn't do either, my advice would be 'don't sign anyone' .

So I guess you're speaking about Mate Dragicevic?
Yes. He was probably my one mistake if you like. But again, when you see minimal time with someone, unfortunately, if he'd scored in a few games earlier in the season and we'd won a couple, I'd still be coaching the team and he'd still be playing for us.
All that teams needs is a couple of good finishers. If I was in charge now, I'd be actively seeking players right now – overseas most likely. It's hard to do that while you're coaching here. It's fraught with disaster bringing in players from overseas.

Overall, how do you assess your much critiqued recruitment policy?
I still stand by most of the players I signed. And I wanted to play football. It's easy for the cynics to criticise. The difference this year from last year was that we could withstand pressure and keep the ball. Rather than just lumping the ball forward and losing possession more often than not – which makes you feel like you're fighting the tide.
We played so much better than last year – more than our fair share of dominating but couldn't put the ball in the net. And you can't underestimate the value of experience – that's why the loss of Hayden Foxe as well as David Tarka at the start of the season was massive.
But then the likes of Dino Djulblic came in. I had no intention of playing him regularly when I signed him but he came in and has done a very, very good job. As has Jamie Coyne's performances. We've been pretty solid defensively.

Tell me your thoughts on Perth Glory as a club.
The 6-7,000 hardcore fanbase and the supporters in the Shed, are terrific. This is just my opinion but I think the club needs to change its name. And I tell you why. Because all I've heard here – and I've been here a year – is that everyone keeps comparing the side to the old days. And no other A-League club has to deal with these comparisons.
The reality is, the old NSL days will never happen again because the ground rules have changed. In the old days, you didn't have a salary cap. If you wanted a striker, you went out and bought him.
Perth Glory sometimes had a budget three or four times bigger than other clubs and you can buy success and that's pretty much what the club used to do.