Hyundai A-League fan Paul Masters says Perth Glory need to sack their coach to get their season back on track.
Excuses can always be found for losses or a failure to deliver what is expected.
They can be accurate or they can be way off the mark but most of the time when it comes to snatching a loss from the jaws of victory and doing so repeatedly it indicates there is something very wrong at whatever club it is happening at.
Right now in the A-League it-s happening to Perth Glory. The one club who should have been successful above all others when the League came into play from the wreckage of the old NSL are failing.
They-re failing on the pitch by losing games and they-re failing off the pitch with dwindling attendances (At their lowest since 2007), a CEO who seems about as stable as the ground in poor old Christchurch and a coach who has one of the worst records in A-League history in Ian Ferguson, but CEO Tony Sage stands by him.
The question remains why?
On the field the Glory have far from the worst squad in the A-League and should be amongst the contenders, but instead they find themselves in ninth place on the ladder at the halfway mark of the season with only Gold Coast sitting behind them.
Sometimes they play some great attacking football and have as capable a strike-force as any team in the A-league.
The triumvirate of the burly Billy Mehmet, All-Whites star Shane Smeltz and Mile Sterjovski should be able to provide them with enough goals to be competitive but as a team in the 2011/12 season they have only found the back of the net 15 times to be equal worst in the A-League with John Kosmina-s resurgent Reds outfit.
While Smeltz has been missing of late the injury is hardly one to have the impact on the side that the losses of Thomas Broich and Henrique have had on the Brisbane Roar, no matter what Tony Sage may have to say about the injuries of his players not getting just column space.
And if that-s what Sage is most concerned about…. Column space then the West Australian club probably has bigger problems than they think.
Let-s get this story straight – a CEO who has in the past threatened to remove his backing and walk out on the club, has now decided that his biggest concern, which he vented in a game-day magazine is that journalists haven-t focused on his club-s injury woes, but on their increasingly frustrated and angry fans, and the fact they have endured a start to the season which has seen them lose seven games, while winning just four.
The fans should be angry. The Glory, once the pride of football in this country are now an afterthought and despite recent luck being against them… questionable straight red cards to Josh Mitchell and Billy Mehmet in back-to-back games they are floundering.
What Sage should be concerned about is the culture of losing at the club and specifically the culture of losing under manager Ian Ferguson, clearly something isn-t working.
Here-s an idea: sack the coach.
Adelaide United have already given Rini Coolen the bullet and it-s paid dividends with the club looking better under John Kosmina. The Victory have just sacked Mehmet Durakovic and maybe, just maybe, the Glory should follow suit.
After all Durakovic got a result for the Victory 63 per cent of the time whereas Ferguson has got the Glory a result just 42 per cent of the time and his teams have only achieved glory on the pitch 17 per cent of the time since he has been in charge.
They don-t get wins, the fans are unhappy and despite having a midfield which includes quality players they can-t seem to service a star trio of strikers well enough for them to score goals.
The CEO needs to give fans a reason to get behind him and it will start when he sacks Ferguson and delivers them a new coach to guide them to their own glory.
Until then their fans will never be satisfied.
This is a fan-written article by Paul Masters for Have Your Say. If you want to vent your spleen or sing the praises, email your 600-word article to haveyoursay@goalmouth.com.au
