Richard Garcia has done an admirable job fighting fires on all fronts as the coach, however his time has come to an end with the Glory’s owner.
Tony Sage has cited a run of one point from four home games as the reason for the coaching change.
Garcia will leave the glory with a dreadful winning percentage of sub-30, but he has become a cult favourite of fans for his outbursts at press conferences in relation to east coast bias.
The glory coaching position was always going to be a poisoned chalice, due to the state’s COVID lockdown laws. Had those laws not been in place, how different the fortune of Perth may have been with Andrew Nabbout and Nathaniel Atkinson, who left without ever kicking a ball due to the lockdown mandate.
Lockdown issues aside, serious questions need to be asked of the club’s recruitment strategy for this season.
The signing of Daniel Sturridge, on a seven-figure deal, looked excellent value for money on paper – but he has a body made of glass and has spent more time on the pine than on the pitch.
Daniel Sturridge (Photo by Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)
Adrián Sardinero has been played out of his natural position and looked like yet another overpaid visa player.
Brandon O’Neill is a proven midfielder, but his season is over due a devastating injury.
Jack Clisby may not be spectacular but he possesses work-man like quality – perhaps the best of the recruits.
Brad Jones is 40 years old, Nick Fitzgerald is onto his sixth A-League club, while the likes of Pacifique Niyongabire, Mitch Oxborrow, Aaron Calver, Antonee Burke-Gilroy and Darko Stanojevic all try hard but lack the end product required
The new coach until the end of the season is a name familiar to the club as well as a league fans, Ruben Zadkovich.
Zadkovich served his apprenticeship with Broadmeadow in the NSW NPL, before joining the Glory coaching group in 2020 and will have the almost impossible task of trying to salvage something from this season.
The club are rock bottom and a whopping ten points off sixth place, however they have 11 games left with the majority of matches at home – a finals place is not mathematically out of the equation yet, but Zadkovich’s first dilemma is trying to find goal scorers.
Bruno Fornaroli is carrying this burden on his own, scoring more than half the teams goals this term – opposition sides know If you keep Bruno quiet, the rest will struggle.
Should the club continue to show no signs of improvement, Zadkovich will need to look at playing more local Western Australians who can be building blocks.
Josh Rawlins has been a standout in defence, he’s the best teenage right back in Australia and a move to Europe beckons.
Callum Timmins is finally living up to the potential he had as a junior at Birmingham City and is a mainstay in the centre of the park
Joshua Anamoso was a reliable scorer at NPL level and has x-factor about him that will trouble teams coming on as an impact sub. Daniel Stynes and Giordano Collo both are technically very good, but have divided fans with their inconsistency.
Then there is Cameron Cook
One of the best young goalkeepers in Australia, Cook was highly regarded in South Australia but released due to the sheer amount of generational goalkeeping talent Adelaide United has.
He has played for the Glory five times this season and has shown his full repertoire of saves with hands and feet, but – like any young goalkeeper – has also made some shocking errors.
For the future of the Glory, they are far better served starting Cook than the two others 40-year-old glovemen on the books.
With one of the highest ticket prices in the league and an owner actively looking to sell the club, the days of glory for Perth supporters could be years away.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I dont know what to make of Zadkovich , the tall no 9 Ansemu? looks promising, but Zadkovich picked the worst possible starting line up to go with him. The irony is the no 9 has to go wide to set up the goal for his inadequate teammates . Wellington Phoenix were gifted a send off because the Wellington player trod on Maliks boot before the camera really came into view. It should have been a foul against the Wellington player not a send off for Malik. After the send off for the first time this season Perth had a fast mobile line up even though they were reduced to 10 men they didnt do that badly against Phoenix with 10 men. Perth have got to ditch Fitzgerald, Sardenero, Keogh and Fornaroli. They could really do something with this new no 9. If they keep Fornaroli for next season then they will be just going for the wooden spoon again.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Keep reading The Roar - there is never any bias or mistakes made that impact negatively on Sydney!
GARRY
Guest
Now that PG Grand Final was a perfect example of a bias AGAINST Sydney ..if you believe in conspiracy theories. I was at the game & everyone around me agreed Sydney's disallowed goal shouldved been allowed but no drama occurred because we won on pens anyway.
GARRY
Guest
Prove it with actual stats... not hearsay and innuendo. Sure NSW & Vic. have advantages due to their size and hence better playing squads but bias?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Melbourne Victory were certainly the team that was ultra dodgy and favoured by refs when Muscat was around. Every grand final they won multiple dodgy decisions went their way. However since Muscat left it seems Adelaide have taken over as the dodgy team though City are the new contenders this season. Veart a player known for his thuggery, diving and antics with Isaias as the marquee actor. Its a south coast conspiracy not east coast.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I thought Keogh did go, but suddenly was brought back on the scene again...I recall wondering what part he had to play?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Fornaroli needs to be moved on next season, Keogh needed to go 2 seasons ago.
Franko
Guest
Yes, if only they'd kept Daggers or Ikonimidis.... Still, a lack of young striking talent is not uncommon in the ALeague. Suggest they move Keogh on, take 1/4 of Sturridge's salary and get themselves a handy import to support Bruno's swansong.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
castros agent used the adelaide interest (which was concrete) to try and leverage a larger payday for his client. perth called the agents bluff, who i dont think expected adelaide to not complete that deal. like i said, adelaide had 2 bites at castro - once in pre season and once more in january, just couldnt agree to the financial side of it.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
they just havent got good young striking depth coming through the club unfortunately anamoso is incredibly talented, but im not certain he can become a regular goal scorer at this level - the same goes for bramwell & ostler keogh and fornaroli will both be entering there mid to late 30's next season, they need to sort out the attack
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Kenny Lowe said on Sunday night's call on P+ that they had a choice of Sturridge or Castro, but didn't have the budget for both, chose Sturridge.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
when his time is finally up in the glory, he needs to write a book. some of the things hes said, done and see while in charge of perth would make a great read
Franko
Guest
To me Daniel Stynes shows plenty of promise, worth persisting with. Bringing back O'Neill was a good signing, no doubt he'll come good next year and Fornaroli - Keogh has been a pretty consistent pairing, though Keogh must be just about done now. If they can re-purpose that Sturridge money next year, who knows. Zadkovich was highly regarded in the NPL.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Its easy to succeed in the A-league if your a sensible coach, Garcia in what is a rotten barrel of fish who coach in the A-league is the slime at the bottom. The team selection was a lot better earlier in the season. What has really brought Perth down to the very bottom is mid season hiring of wooden spoon specialist Nick Fitzgerald combined with Sardenero's return. I was amazed by Sardenero's first appearance, he was literally walking around doing nothing and the coach talked about how he was trying to get other players up to speed. Then he gradually built up fitness and to his credit he actually put in a decent shift while not really offering anything in attack. However his return has been back to the initial state, and with undertaker Nick Fitzgerald, known for his ability to bury coaches careers , Garcia sent his team out to press with these two doing nothing and others got drawn forward into doing the pressing for them. Then the wreath on the coffin came from Malik as a center back if you remember how many Adelaide conceeded when he was at that position, his tendency to rush out of the line set up the third goal, and the fourth goal he stood and watched when Lachman was turned inside out.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
pre season they were predicted to finish in the 6 with sturridge the golden boot winner by many 'experts' im not sure how many people came to that conclusion, especially when they the weakest midfield in the comp (even weaker now without o'neil) i see the logic in what sage was thinking with the sturridge signing - but he could've brought in 4-5 solid a league players that would've dramatically improved the overall squad rather than dumping all the money on sturridge. it would've been interesting to see how the club would've faired without the lockdown laws as they would've had nabbout, atkinson and castro still (no sturridge) the castro saga also hurt the club, adelaide united will take some blame for this. Castros agent had offered him to adelaide on 2 occasions in the off season and the club was trying to get its finances in order to do a deal (perth had offered him even less money as he was getting very long in the tooth) I broke the potential castro to adelaide move on here first, then weeks late many well known journalists and websites started running it. Adelaide just couldn't get the deal done in the end
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i think it fairly obvious the big east coast teams have had more than there fair share(let alone unfair) decisions go there way over the course of the past 17 years. you've even had nsw/vic based coaches of the smaller a league sides also mention it over the past 2 seasons
Coastyboi
Guest
Tony Sage strikes me as a maverick at times. Maybe a tad unhinged too. I understand his anger at the WA government.
Grem
Roar Rookie
An interesting article Andy. It's always good to read these articles that analyse our football, teams and management. I have been hoping for a few years to see Glory dominating the competition and winning the Grand Final. Under Popovic they came close and have fallen away since. There seem to be some similarities to The Wanderer's situation. I have a lot of appreciation for Tony Sage and what he's done for Perth so hopefully they can get the right coaches to build the team as you wrote and provide the structure for another go at a grand final. Is there a coach for Perth that you think would be a good fit?
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Is it fair to compare PG with Wellington insofar as the interruption to the season is concerned or will we argue that Wellington have more experience in that area and therefore developed coping strategies that have helped them through this difficult time? I honestly cannot recall where the pre season predictions were placing PG on the ladder but there were plenty of us who looked at their playing roster and were not convinced that DS was going to be the answer even if Perth is home to many anglophiles that may have been attracted by his CV. It appears that the club’s owner isn’t prepared to wear any excuses on the coaching front although just what is expected or will count as acceptable between now and the season’s end is anyone’s guess. The sad irony though is that despite the prolonged isolation, ultimately all the policy provided was more time to prepare, something that was not afforded to PG who just had to get on with things however they could.
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Richard Garcia’s accusations of “East Coast Bias”. Has he been inspired by your articles, Andy?