Perth Glory are preparing to serve their long-suffering fans a feast of soccer that could feature two English Premier League teams and former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler at Members Equity Stadium in July.

And Glory owner Tony Sage has predicted the bonanza of pre-season matches will convince fans of his determination to steer the A-League club towards a successful future.

Glory yesterday unveiled a new club crest — their second since the A-League emerged from the ruins of the National Soccer League in 2005 — and will have a new playing strip in time to host a pre-season friendly against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Sage, who has sole ownership of the club following the departure of John Spence and more recently Brett McKeon, is determined to prove the makeover reflects a new attitude at the club, rather than just a tweak.

The match against Wolves, who recently won promotion to the Premier League next season, is already secured, while Glory are believed to be close to sealing a game against Mark Schwarzer’s Fulham around the same time in July.

Sage also revealed yesterday the club had approached fledgling A-League outfit North Queensland Fury, who recently signed Fowler as their marquee player for next season, to take part in the feast of football. But they had yet to commit.

The West Australian understands part of the program could include a double-header featuring all four teams at Members Equity Stadium.

WA has not hosted two top-flight English teams in the same year since Nottingham Forest and West Ham United were beaten by the State team in the space of eight days at the WACA Ground in May 1995.

“If everything comes together as planned, the real soccer fans of this State will be in for a treat and I don’t think we’ll look back from that moment on,” Sage said.

“We are going to have two Premier League teams playing in Perth in the middle of the AFL season and you can’t get any bigger than that.”

If the plan comes together and the concept is successful, Glory will try to entice one of the big-four clubs — Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal — to Perth next year.

“It would cost a lot more but I want to make this an annual event for Perth,” Sage said.

“Once we are at that level, the fans will realise that I’m serious about this and they’ll buy their memberships and we’ll be very successful.”

But Sage, who has stumped up around $1 million to underwrite the project, warned that he would heed the message if fans failed to turn out.

“I need to know there’s that much support in Western Australia for this type of game and that there’s the support for football,” he said. “If we only get 10,000 to Members Equity Stadium it will prove to me that football won’t work in this State. But we’ve already had a lot of interest in the Wolves match — we’ve had about 200 emails from England and around 700 from within Australia — and I believe the fans will turn out.”

Glory coach David Mitchell is continuing his overseas search for new players and is believed to have secured Socceroos midfielder Jacob Burns and Derby County defender Andy Todd for next season.

The club is also hoping to make use of the A-League’s guest player provision next season, which kicks-off for Glory with successive away games against Adelaide United on August 7 and Wellington Phoenix (August 16) before their first home game against Newcastle Jets (August 23).

a few of us are thinking of going to adelaide for round 1 by plane.. anyone one know if you have to especially arrange away tickets for the game?

www.myspace.com/gloryfc can confirm that Andy Todd has agreed to see out his career at Perth Glory.


The 34 year old former Blackburn Rovers captain was a priority for coach Dave Mitchell to replace outgoing defenders Hayden Foxe and Dino Djulbic.

Or go to the GLory Website where they have the actual proper link.
or just copy it of the forum.
bit random there Marty.

bored marty?

Official or not, a quoting a MySpace channel... comeon... grow up, next CNN will be fucking Twitter-based. ](*,)

myspace is as gay as aids.

Big fan of new logo =d> Massive improvement on the last one.

Have to laugh at the survey on the website. 3 options for likeing it and 1 for it needing to time to grow on you.

Another bit of news, Perth Glory Official myspace sent this bulletin to all its friends.

they're good at that. Check this out:

http://gorydays.tumblr.com/page/4

This is the blog SausageMahoney wrote about the polls, its towards the bottom.

Perth will lose Super 14 outfit Western Force to another State unless the State Government honours a pledge to upgrade Members Equity Stadium, a report has found.

The West Australian has obtained a report by Melbourne company LEK Consulting which shows the Force are heading for a $2.8 million loss this year as fans continue to reject Subiaco Oval as a venue.

Total losses would mount to an unsustainable $17 million over the following four years if the Force stayed at Subiaco, the report said.

RugbyWA, Perth Glory and the West Australian Rugby League will this morning launch the report calling for the ground's upgrade.

Dunno if this has been posted but this is a really good interview with tony sage.
http://letstalkfootball.org/index.ph...=464&Itemid=48

Topics Covered
- Everton Friendly (Apparently Glory members will get free tickets!
- Lack of support for all soccer in general by WA govt
- How WA stands in contending for ACQs, WCQs and if WA is likely or not to be part of the eventual World Cup hosting
- Tony Sage as sole owner
- Possible Marquees and Australian internationals lined up
- How terrible the FFA handled Glory when it was owner and how Sage & Co have improved the club and its capacities
- Aims for next season
+ states that eugine could have signed 2 year deal with swiss club but chose the glory for family reasons. good on him id say. Interesting how he states that FFA owned clubs do not spend 100% of the salary cap and are not marketed.


Edited by .:bp:.: 24/4/2009 10:41:19 PM

Edited by .:bp:.: 24/4/2009 10:44:00 PM

Glory be - Perth in hunt for RecobaMichael Cockerill
April 25, 2009 - 12:03AM
ROBBIE FOWLER might not be the star attraction of next season's A-League after all - rejuvenated Perth Glory yesterday opened negotiations to make Uruguayan star Alvaro Recoba the biggest signing in their history.

The hugely gifted playmaker - well known to Australian fans from the World Cup play-offs of 2001 and 2005 - comes off contract with his Greek side, Panionios, in July, and his representatives have made it known he is keen to come to the A-League.

Perth's flamboyant owner, Tony Sage, who assumed control of the club last season after buying out his former partners, has made it clear he intends to drag the Glory back to the summit of the domestic game after four seasons of failure, and sees the signing of a high-profile marquee player as crucial to his ambitions. Sage will step up discussions with Recoba's management this weekend, with the player's wage demands likely to be about $1.2 million for a season.

Recoba, 33, would perhaps shade Fowler, who has joined North Queensland Fury, as the competition's biggest drawcard if the Glory were successful in their pursuit. The man known as "El Chino" spent a decade at Italian giants Inter Milan - with loan spells at Venezia and Torino - before moving to Greece last year, and earned 69 caps for Uruguay before retiring from international football after the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela.

Six of those caps came against Australia - starting with the 1997 Confederations Cup and ending with a friendly in Sydney almost two years ago - but despite being a huge influence in most of those games, Recoba never managed a goal against the Socceroos. Nonetheless, he is regarded as one of the few players able to rival David Beckham as a set-piece specialist, and possesses an exquisite left foot capable of opening up some of the world's best defences.

Recoba's interest in playing in Australia surfaced this week, and Perth was the first club out of the blocks. Four other clubs - Newcastle Jets, Central Coast Mariners, Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide United - are, at this stage, without a marquee player next season, but only Perth have the means to meet his wage demands.

Perth has also been talking to Brazil's former World Cup winner, Denilson, about a marquee contract, but, while that deal hasn't been ruled out, it seems Recoba has emerged as their preferred option.

Recoba's former Uruguayan teammate Richard Morales has also expressed an interest in the A-League. The nomadic 34-year-old striker, who scored twice against the Socceroos in Montevideo in 2001, has been out of football since terminating a short-term contract with Ecuadorean champions LDU Quito in February, citing his father's ill health. Morales previously spent two seasons playing alongside Sydney FC striker John Aloisi at Spanish club Osasuna.

Meanwhile, Socceroos utility Mile Sterjovski and former Sydney FC defender Ruben Zadkovich have been told they are surplus to requirements at English Championship strugglers Derby County. Sterjovski has been considering a move back to the A-League but is more likely to find a club in Asia - at least until after next year's World Cup. Zadkovich, 22, joined the Rams after last year's Beijing Olympics but has failed to make an impression at Pride Park. It is his second spell in England following stints with Queens Park Rangers and Notts County.

Sterjovski and Zadkovich have another year left on their contracts, but Derby face financial difficulties and want to offload up to 10 players from the first-team squad.

The State Government’s rejection of plans to upgrade Subiaco Oval or develop a new multi-purpose stadium in the near future has not tempered the desire of three of WA’s football codes for an upgrade of the rectangular Members Equity Stadium.

RugbyWA, Perth Glory FC and the WA Rugby League this morning made a joint call to the State Government to inject funds into the further redevelopment of the East Perth stadium into a top-class sporting facility.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Should the government step in to keep the Force in Perth? Click here

The West Australian today revealed that a report from Melbourne-based company LEK Consulting says Perth is in danger of losing Super 14 rugby franchise the Western Force if a suitable rectangular facility is not built.

The most viable option is a $73 million upgrade of Members Equity Stadium, a redevelopment that could save the Force and provide a massive boost to soccer and rugby league in WA.

“The upgrade is essential for the long-term viability of the Western Force, it’s as simple as that,” outgoing Force chief executive Greg Harris said.

The Gallop government’s promise of a $25 million upgrade was a key component of RugbyWA’s successful pitch which brought top-level rugby union to Perth instead of Melbourne five years ago, but a suitable upgrade is yet to eventuate.

Meanwhile, the Victorian government is aggressively pursuing further tenants for its 31,500-seat rectangular stadium, which is currently under construction. A-League champions Melbourne Victory and NRL club Melbourne Storm have already committed to the Olympic Park venue and there is room for a third football team.

Harris said it would cost the WA Government comparatively little to save the Western Force in the short term and provide three of WA’s football codes with the basis of a suitable long-term venue.

“We’re not asking for $1 billion, we’re asking for $70 million to ensure that you have a pathway for young footballers of three different codes in this State to be able to play at the highest level they possibly can.

“I don’t think that’s an unrealistic expectation, especially in relation to the $300 million which the Victorian State Government are currently spending on a rectangular stadium or the $165 million which the Queensland State Government have recently spent at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast.”

While the Force are desperate for a suitable rectangular facility to satisfy public calls for a decent view of the action, which is not provided at Subicao Oval, the upgrade would also assist soccer and rugby league.

Perth Glory currently spend around $20,000 per match to meet minimum A-League ground requirements, while WARL boss Bill Nosworthy says that a top-class facility would be a key attribute in his organisation’s bid to bring the NRL back to Perth in 2012.

The Force will lose around $2.8 million this year, while Perth Glory chief executive Scott Gooch said his club would lose $1.5 million. Glory’s losses will be absorbed by sole owner Tony Sage.