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FFA boss David Gallop expects Perth Glory to be the big A-League improvers, as he looks forward to football battles being played out on the field rather than the boardroom.
Much of the off-season was dominated by disputes over the governance of the game, with even the sport’s global body FIFA taking an interest in the domestic squabble.
Even at Monday’s A-League launch, Gallop couldn’t resist making a reference to the recent off-field disputes, while foreshadowing the resumption of on-field rivalries later this week.
“We’re going to be talking about tussles, we’re going to be talking about battles for possession, and we’re not talking about the boardroom,” Gallop quipped.
‘We’re talking about on the pitch, it”s great to be able to do that.”
Gallop noted the clubs which finished outside the finals last season had bolstered their rosters for the coming campaign.
Of those that didn”t make the top six in 2017-18, Gallop felt eighth-placed Perth were the one most likely to make an impact this season.
Glory’s major recruiting coup was signing former Western Sydney Wanderers mentor Tony Popovic as their new coach.
After leaking 50 or more goals in each of the last two seasons, Glory have fortified their defence.
The club signed a trio of 2014 Socceroos World Cup squad defenders in Ivan Franjic, Jason Davidson and Matthew Spiranovic.
While they lost Adam Taggart, their leading scorer last season, Perth have also added to their creative and attacking stocks.
Former Wanderers Brendon Santalab and Chris Ikonomidis and ex- Adelaide, Central Coast and Sydney player Fabio Ferreira have all headed to Perth.
‘You would say that Perth are a club that have gone into the recruitment market strongly,” Gallop told AAP.
“Poppa (Popovic) has experience in the A-League and has had success in the A-League so they would be looking to have a much improved season.”
Gallop is optimistic the FFA’s sometimes testy relationship with active supporter groups will also improve.
“We’ve dome a lot of work with clubs and with active supporter groups , venue management, the police to make sure that we are striking the right balance around what we want to see,” Gallop said.
“Which is that unique atmosphere at games, but also in a family friendly environment.”
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