Perth coach Dave Mitchell believes Ian Ferguson’s appointment as an assistant coach at the Glory this season will help the club push even further up the table after its heartbreaking end to the past campaign.
The Glory lost their first Hyundai A-League final match in a dramatic penalty shoot-out against Wellington in February, but Mitchell believes former North Queensland coach and Rangers legend Ferguson can help take Perth on to bigger and better things next season.
“I just think if we want to compete with your Melbournes and Sydneys and be at the right end of the table, we had to boost the coaching staff,” Mitchell said on Wednesday.
“We’re going to bolster it and there’s certain situations where we can manipulate what we’re going to do, where Kenny can work on the defence and we can get Fergie working on the attack and I can work in between and put it all together.”
“So there’s going to be a real good blend.”
“He was a cult hero at Rangers, he won nine championships so he’s a big name in Scottish football.”
“He’s very passionate, he understands the game, he’s got some great contacts as well … so he’s a good friend of mine, a good coach and like I say, great to have him on board.”
Despite the Glory needing a striker to replace the departed Daniel McBreen, Mitchell all but ruled out asking Ferguson to see if North Queensland skipper Robbie Fowler was interested in heading west.
“He’s (Fowler) a big name and all that,” conceded Mitchell.
“I’ll talk to Fergie about him and what was his character like … and I think certainly from Perth’s point of view, it would be great to have him.”
“But that’s something that we’re not thinking of now. We just want to get Fergie on board and there’s other targets we’re looking at, at the minute,” he said.
