The Perth Glory have announced a football feast in July, the club confirming pre-season practice matches against English Premiership clubs Fulham and Wolverhampton along with Robbie Fowler’s North Queensland Fury.
Newly promoted Wolverhampton will do a 10-day pre-season camp in Perth ahead of its return to England’s top tier, the club scheduled to play the Glory on Friday July 10 at Members Equity Stadium.
Wolves will also play in a massive pre-season double header at Members Equity on Wednesday July 15 when they take on the Fury in the North Queensland club’s first ever hit-out.
The double header will start with the Fury playing Wolves in what will be former-Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler’s first appearance for the North Queenslanders.
The Glory will then play a Fulham side featuring Socceroos’ goal keeper Mark Schwarzer in one of three Australian matches for the Cottagers after games against Gold Coast United and Melbourne Victory.
The Glory will then finish the week by playing North Queensland on Saturday July 18 at a regional location expected to be either Mandurah or possibly Carnarvon in Western Australia’s north.
“It’s a big day for us at Glory,” declared owner Tony Sage on Monday.
“To announce we’re hosting two English Premier League teams on the same night outside of England.”
“It’s a huge coup for the Perth Glory (and) obviously it’s a big day for football in this state.”
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson believes the trip will be an excellent preparation for a season which could see the Cottagers competing in the newly named Europa Cup (previously the UEFA Cup).
“I am very pleased that we can announce our early pre-season plans and, although this season is yet to end, I am looking forward to our trip to Australia,” Hodgson said.
“We have an opportunity to play three teams of quality who I am sure will want to put on good performances against us, which of course is what one hopes will assist the team in both their personal preparations, but also of course collectively.”
The Glory were rumoured to be playing Everton in the pre-season friendlies but Sage said negotiations fell down as the Toffees could not agree to a match until after the current Premiership season finished.
But, as Perth coach Dave Mitchell previously played under Wolves’ boss Mick McCarthy, the Glory were able to convince the club that Perth would be an excellent base for a pre-season camp, Mitchell also getting Fulham over the line during a successful trip to Europe over the last month.
“Wolves, they’re going to be here for 10 days,” Mitchell said, saying the club will arrive in Australia on July 4.
“I know Mick personally and I said, ‘look it’s a great place to come, you don’t want to be flying all over the place, just base yourself here’.”
“It’s a wonderful city, we’ve got wonderful facilities that what we still can improve in the future, but it’s great for the city and great for the tourism of Perth.”
Mining magnate Sage has underwritten all the matches although he is hopeful the Western Australian government will lend some support as the fixtures will be a huge boost for WA tourism during winter.
“We’ve had 400 emails from Wolves fans in England that want to come out,” Sage said.
Meanwhile, Perth Glory has significantly bolstered it-s off field strength with the addition of Financial and Energy Exchange (FEX) on a two year Platinum level sponsorship deal.
FEX, a purpose-built Australasian equity market that trades clean-technology stocks and carbon and environmental commodities, is an ideal fit for Perth Glory who, under the direction and ownership of Mr Tony Sage, has their sights firmly on becoming a major force in the Asian region.
“There is a wonderful synergy between Perth Glory and FEX,” Mr Sage said.
“We-re very happy that such a progressive organisation has put their support behind our club and recognises that we are on a similar path to success. This is a key sponsorship acquisition for Perth Glory and will see FEX joining a host of loyal and dedicated industry leaders at our club including long time major sponsor QBE Insurance.
“While current economic conditions have added additional challenges in securing sponsorship and corporate support across every sport, we-re confident in our brand and the ability of Perth Glory to deliver real benefits to our partners and the agreement with FEX reiterates that fact,” said Mr Sage.
The FEX logo will appear on the front of the Perth Glory shorts and will also receive various other branding opportunities including recognition on the club-s media backdrop and signage at matches, all of which are shown live and exclusive on Fox Sports throughout Australia and feature regularly in Asia and Europe.
FEX Chief Executive Officer Mr Brian Price said he is confident the new partnership will be the start of a long and mutually beneficial relationship between two ambitious and innovative organisations.
“Perth Glory is an iconic brand within the Hyundai A-League,” said Mr Price.
“We are an Australian company with a global focus and we support Australian sport which has global participation and is therefore appropriate for our developing brand. Football unarguably is the world game and the concept of sports diplomacy has a role in business.
“We believe that the partnership with Perth Glory promotes our commitment to Australian sport and in addition ensures at the very least we will always have something in common with our clients – we can talk about football,” Mr Price added.
