The Glory Story – 13th of Feb
It says a lot about the Perth Glory’s history in the A-League that the past week will go down as nothing more than “disappointing” from the clubs perspective. For a club which has prided itself on being a basket case since the A-League’s inception, the past week will do little more than stir up mutterings of “we’ve seen worse” at Glory HQ.
Perth started Round 16 knowing a win would grant them more breathing space at the top of the league. What followed was a 3-1 loss at home to Sydney, a loss that left supporters feeling underwhelmed and frustrated. In reality, the game was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests; the hosts had 55% of possession and 14 shots. However, they shot themselves in the foot with three entirely preventable goals: two silly penalties conceded by new signings Dragan Paljic and Denis Kramar which were duly dispatched by Marc Janko and a howler from Michael Thwaite which gifted Bernie Ibini-Isei a 3rd late in the game. This was not a game where Sydney rode into town, controlled the game from kick-off and waltzed out of nib Stadium with all three points. The Glory piled men forward but were unable to find a way through The Sky Blues’ miserly defence. Even when Kramar made amends and bundled home from close range to make it 2-1, the home side never truly looked like levelling the score. To make matters worse, Dino Djulbic was given his marching orders for engaging in fisticuffs with Sydney midfielder Jacques Faty and will miss the next match against Adelaide.
If this wasn’t bad enough, on Thursday afternoon the FFA announced they would be investigating allegations which first came to light in December that Perth had breached the salary cap over three consecutive seasons. The FFA have handed the Westerners a “show cause” notice and will investigate the Glory’s finances closer next week. Whilst it seems at this stage all the players are within the salary cap, the allegations accuse the club of not including player benefits and specific payments in the cap. If this is found to be true and these benefits and payments turn out to be enough to push Perth over the cap, the club could be sucker-punched with a deduction of points.
To make matters worse, the Glory also have to travel to Coopers Stadium to face their bogey team and FFA Cup conquerors Adelaide United. Perth are yet to beat the Reds in any of their three fixtures this season. They’ve also conceded 6 goals in the last 2 games, a blip on what has otherwise been a very strong season defensively. Adelaide have so often flattered to deceive this season: for all their silky smooth, Barcelona-esque football, they have lost games they should have won against the weaker teams in the league on multiple occasions. With both teams coming off losses, I don’t think it will be Adelaide winning 4 from 4 so far against Perth this season. 1-1 draw.
On the injury front, Mitch Nichols is still sidelined with a hamstring injury, whilst Chris Harold will also miss out another week due to the ankle injury he sustained against Melbourne Victory a few weeks ago. In some bright news for the Glory, midfield general Rostyn Griffiths has served his one game suspension and will be welcomed back into the starting line-up with open arms.
In other news, Football West hatched an ambitious plan this week by announcing they wanted to bring England out to play the Socceroos for the official opening of Perth Stadium upon its completion in 2018. It’s a brilliant idea, however, the AFL have announced they would rather see a Western Derby between the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers open the stadium. On the surface, it’s a no-brainer which is the bigger event; Australia vs England is a massive rivalry, you’re bringing in a world-class team and it would appeal to a much larger global audience. However, the AFL contributed money towards the construction of the stadium; they have a much larger stake in this than football and it’s only fair they have a say in what the opening match is. Football West didn’t put funds towards the project, because a) they don’t exactly have the money for that sort of stuff and b) Perth Glory are not going to the primary tenants of the building, unlike the two AFL teams. To all the round-ball fans incensed at the AFL wanting a Western Derby, imagine how outraged you would feel if Football West had contributed the money instead of the AFL, and the latter announced they wanted to use the stadium first. It’s only fair the AFL open the stadium, as they put money towards the project.
Written by Ben Smith – @BenSmith94
Image : http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com
Google+
