Prepare for Glory!
Despite their status as reigning champions of the NSL, Perth Glory have been struggling since the very start of the A-League. Something has been not quite right, something festering and eating away at the very soul of this once-proud club. The fans, having been denied top-flight football action for over a year, were excitedly looking forward to the A-League kicking off; it didn’t live up to their hopes and expectations.
That first season was characterised by tensions in the squad, apparent lack of spending by the owner Nick Tana (who subsequently walked away the following season) and a mixture of nepotism, favourtism and poor coaching style from Steve McMahon. When Tana handed back his licence to the FFA, the club was a pale shadow of its former self and the fans were already starting to feel it was no longer their club.
FFA Control
The FFA era was one of minimal life support; they did just enough to keep the club (barely) alive. Lack of spending, lack of vision and an inept leadership allowed the rot to continue to spread. The low point of the FFA era waa the infamous rebranding of Perth Glory’s 10th anniversary as a “celebration of football in WA”. Political correctness had struck again and the fans knew that the A-League Glory was not the club they had loved so completely; this was Perth Glory in name alone.
The Three Wise Monkeys
The FFA eventually offloaded the club to 3 local businessmen, Tony Sage, Brett McKeon and John Spence. Fans were understandably excited, they believed that their “white knights” had arrived and a new era was about to commence. The thin veneer started to wear thin very quickly, Spence and McKeon abandoned ship, and the club continued to lurch from coach to coach. The apparent lack of football culture continued to permeate the club from the very top, permeating the entire club; one can only surmise as to the effect on player and coach morale. As for the fans – well they were slowly slipping away, faced with increased costs of membership/tickets and a growing feeling that their club was gone.
Attacks on the fans by admin staff AND the owner did further damage – it became an expected part of the football calendar for Tony Sage to threaten to walk away if the fans didn’t turn out. He started to look a lot like the boy who cried wolf, and his lack of football credentials become increasingly obvious, even to those diehards who were convinced that a new coach would fix the problems.
Sage Finally Going?
Sage has now been quoted in the West Australian (Dec 19th 2011) as planning to hand back his licence. Not only that, he has taken the opportunity to put the boot into supporters of the game in WA. He claims that an A-League team in Perth is not viable, and appears to be laying the blame solely with the fans for not turning up.
The reality is that the fans are still there and most of them desperately want their club back. They long for the days where they can go and watch a Glory game and feel they are with their family once more. The problem is that these fans are football-savvy and have had a gutful of owner ego, corporate mentality, foot-stamping and lack of club culture. They are also fed up with endless meetings with club staff where countless great ideas and suggestions have fallen on the ears of arrogant individuals with a “we know best” mentality.
I for one hope that Sage finally holds true to his word and leaves the club while there is the faintest glimmer of hope for a revival.
The Way Forward
The FFA have already said that they aren’t prepared to prop up any more clubs financially, and that’s fine with me because a second era of FFA control will only make things worse. The FFA have also said previously that they are committed to having an A-League club in Perth, so that gives me hope that they will at least attempt to find a post-Sage solution.
So what form might that solution take?
I refuse to believe that Perth has a complete lack of genuine, football-loving millionaires. It is statistically unlikely. Furthermore, anyone stepping up to “save” this club will inherit the BEST Glory squad that has existed in the A-League era, perhaps of all time. The initial results this season showed what they are capable of – the subsequent rapid decline into the old habit of losing is, I believe, a product of the toxic environment that exists at the club.
My personal preference would be for the FFA to seek out a consortium of football-loving millionaires – people with a little bit of cash to burn, are not looking to use ownership as a personal PR vehicle and understand that football is about passion NOT commerce (i.e. no more CEOs talking about “cost neutrality”)
There still remains the issue of “re-engagement” however; disenfranchised and disillusioned fans that need to be convinced to come back. I believe partial fan ownership could be a catalyst here.
The consortium of cashed-up individuals mentioned above would presumably form a company (a not-for-profit would be ideal) and that organisation would become the licence holder. I suggest that a portion of that company could be subject to a limited share offer, allowing fans to become “owners” of the club. Most fans I know, and it’s not just with Perth Glory that this holds true, would treasure even just 1 solitary share; to them they would own a piece of the club. It would simply be THEIR club at a fundamental level.
To ignore the potential for this level of connection and involvement would surely be a demonstration of a complete lack of understanding of fan-based passion.
There ARE other issues to consider – for one things, ticket and membership prices need to be at more realistic levels. Drop them back to 2005 prices for now. Through the fan ownership model, many fans will be supporting the club financially anyway, with the added benefit of “re-engagement”.
Supporter Involvement
Another area that a new ownership can look for improvements is the potential to tap into active supporter involvement. While the FFA do exert a high degree of control over web sites, matchday programs etc. the club need to find creative ways to involve fans, particularly those with media experience.
Fan groups and individual fans have produced fanzines, painted banners, organised radio talk shows, held pre-match functions at local pubs and even held a highly successful end of season function when ordinary fans got priced out of the official “ball”.
The potential is there – it just needs a bit of lateral thinking by the club to tap into it!
Perth Glory, Rebooted and Reinvigorated
By following a radically different path, engaging fans in various ways (and at the most fundamental levels) Perth Glory can, I believe, experience something of a renaissance. Football culture needs to flow from the top down, it needs to permeate the entire club. The fans are ready for this, it is the club that needs to be healed.
Footballers respond to that type of environment, it is a game of intense passion. Players need to have a club they believe in, a player who plays for the love of their club is a force to be reckoned with. Once the fans see that their team are once more playing “for the shirt” they WILL respond.
Over to you FFA – this is your chance to cure the rot at the heart of Perth Glory.
