Perth Glory Football Club announced that Socceroos defender Michael Thwaite has signed a new, two-year deal that will take him through to the end of the 2015-16 Hyundai A-League Season.
Perth Glory Football Club announced that Socceroos defender Michael Thwaite has signed a new, two-year deal that will take him through to the end of the 2015-16 Hyundai A-League Season.
He joins Danny Vukovic, Scott Jamieson, Brandon O-Neill and Sidnei Sciola Moraes, who have all recently signed contract extensions and committed their immediate futures to the club, reinforcing the strong foundations being setup by Perth Glory.
Born in Brisbane, the highly sought after 190cm defender had numerous offers from other clubs, but said the decision to sign on for an additional two years at Perth was an easy one.
“I consider myself very lucky to sign another two years at probably the most traditional clubs in the A-League, so it-s an honour to extend my stay here.“
The 30-year-old central defender has enjoyed a standout 2013-14 season so far. He missed the opening two games of the season but has not missed a match since then, playing 90 minutes in the past nine games, underlying his importance to the team.
“We-ve got a lot more to achieve this year. I have great faith in this playing group and believe we should be aiming to finish the season as a top four side.”
Thwaite-s leadership has been crucial to the team this year. He has been Captain for three games this season, leads Perth Glory in clearances and intercepts, and also has a goal to his name.
“We do have a lot of young players coming through and it-s vital that I help nurture those players coming through. I really do get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing the next generation develop their A-League careers at Perth Glory and it-s something the club wants to keep on supporting in the coming years.”
Thwaite-s signature is further demonstration Perth Glory are heading in the right direction with the classy defender still hoping to catch the eye of new Socceroos Head Coach, Ange Postecoglou, ahead of Brazil 2014 and says there are plenty of positives around the club.
“It-s pretty much business as usual for myself. My family obviously enjoys the Perth lifestyle which is a big part of any footballers- career, but on the pitch it-s business as usual.”
“Sometimes when problems occur you think a bit narrow minded. You think the whole world revolves around you but in reality life-s going on around you and I guess we have to dismiss that tunnel vision view and start opening our minds to the positives that are happening.”
“We have a lot of young players, a lot of good Australian international players coming through, we have an average crowd of 10-000 this year and I don-t think that has ever been done before in the A-League (for Perth Glory).”
“This is a heritage club. This is probably the most traditional club in the A-League and we should be proud of that.”
Prior to joining the Glory, Thwaite enjoyed a five year stint in Europe playing for National Bururesti (Romania), Wisla Krakow (Poland) and SK Brann (Norway).
