Mitchell faces the chop says Glory owner

Days after David Mitchell issued his players with an ultimatum, Glory co-owner Tony Sage warned the Perth coach he will be out of a job at the end of the season should the A-League club not catapult back into top-four contention.

Sage has angrily denied reports that West Australian great Stan Lazaridis, who was axed by Mitchell at the end of last season, was offered a director of football role at the club.

Mitchell, whose current contract expires at the end of the season, took over from predecessor Ron Smith after round 11 last season and guided the club to four wins and two draws from their final 10 games of the campaign.

But Mitchell has failed to carry that momentum into this season with Perth floundering on the bottom of the table with just a single win and a draw to show from seven rounds of football.

Sage said when Mitchell signed his one-year contract at the end of last season, it was agreed that a top-four finish would be a bare minimum for the coach to be re-signed beyond this campaign.

“Mitch’s contract, when we signed it, his commitment, his view, his belief was that we would make the top four this year,” Sage said.

“In the contract and what we’ve said, that’s the aim.

“He’s got a one-year contract and verbally he said that his performance was going to be based on making the four this year, and the board concur.”

However, Sage dismissed talk that Mitchell could be replaced before season’s end.

“In the history of Perth Glory, going back four or five years, you’ve had four coaches,” Sage said.

“Why should a coach suffer the indignity of being sacked when it is obviously a core group of players that aren’t performing to their ability?

“They’ve managed to sack two or three coaches before my reign and last year was an aberration because we didn’t want Ron (Smith) at the beginning, we were told by the FFA that we had to keep him until that 12-game period had finished.”

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