Sydney FC signing Hayden Foxe insists he holds no hard feelings towards former club Perth as he prepares to take on the Glory in his first match for the Sky Blues on Sunday.
Despite not playing since October 2008, former Qantas Socceroo and Premier League defender Foxe was offered a six-week injury replacement contract at Sydney to cover for Sebastian Ryall.
Ironically, with another former Glory man in Simon Colosimo suspended for this encounter, Foxe could make his Hyundai A-League comeback against Perth, the team that let him go after two injury-plagued seasons.
A big-name signing for the Glory going into 2007-08, a knee injury restricted him to just six matches of that campaign, while serious foot and hamstring injuries saw him only play twice the following year.
One of those matches happened to be a shock 2-1 win for the then last-placed Glory over Sydney in a game where Foxe starred at centre half and it may just have been that effort which convinced current Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka he was worth a shot.
But Foxe himself isn’t looking to prove anything to Glory coach Dave Mitchell, insisting he has no hard feelings towards the Perth side.
“I would have made the same decision,” Foxe declared on Saturday after his first training session with Sydney.
“Someone comes in to work only a couple of days a week for the year and you’ve got someone who can come in and work everyday for you, that’s a no-brainer.”
“What makes it hard is that if I could have come in as a pay as you play, it still takes up the cap, so it’s very difficult to make that kind of decision (keep on an injured player).”
“(But) that’s the way it is. I had a good time (with the Glory). Unfortunately football wise it wasn’t so good for me with injuries, but fantastic place Perth, we settled here very easily, the club, the people that work at the club, it’s a good bunch of boys and so it’ll be good to catch up with the lot of them tomorrow.”
Foxe was forced to have surgery on his problem hamstring, the 32-year-old saying he only returned to full training in Perth, where he currently lives, during December.
But from the look of his positioning and distribution at training, Foxe appears ready to slot back into a senior team.
“I’ve been training now for three weeks,” he said. “In football, it doesn’t take long. When you’re out for a while, your sharpness probably takes a bit of time to get back, but it’s like riding a bike.”
Foxe said he wasn’t looking too far ahead, saying in his situation aiming to earn a contract with an Australian club next season was secondary to just ensuring he emerged from this six-week stint unscathed.
If Foxe plays, though, he’ll come up against his former Australian team-mate, Glory marquee man Mile Sterjovski in what’s a vital encounter for both teams.
“Hayden’s a great player you know,” Sterjovski said.
“He has a lot of experience but I think the advantage for us is that he hasn’t played in a while. But I’m sure he’s going to be up for the game playing against Perth Glory, his old club, so you know it’s going to be an interesting match.”
Sydney has won four of its last five games to sit atop the Hyundai A-League table but has lost in-form striker Alex Brosque to a groin injury.
The Glory, though, have been struck by an illness which has affected defenders Naum Sekulovski and Jimmy Downey. Midfielders Wayne Srhoj (knee) and Victor Sikora (thigh) are unavailable but striker Branko Jelic has recovered from an ankle complaint.
