A-League Men: Perth Glory owner Ross Pelligra and director Vince Grella speak after disappointing season

A little over a year ago, Ross Pelligra revealed Socceroos great Vince Grella was the driving force behind his decision to purchase Perth Glory. Grella has no obvious links to Perth; his National Soccer League resume featured stops at Canberra Cosmos and Carlton prior to a career-making move to Italy, where he played more than 170 Serie A games. So why did the two-time World Cup midfielder, who also serves as chief executive of the Pelligra-owned Serie C side Catania, tell the chairman Glory were ripe for a rebirth? “I strongly believe in the region for rough diamonds,” Grella, a Glory director, told The West Australian. “There’s a lot of young talent in Western Australia. Considering geographically the way Perth is situated, there’s a strong following in the football club.” It is a following which has been tested in the first year of Pelligra’s reign, the start of the ‘new era’ more rough than diamond-like. Glory are in danger of a second consecutive A-League Men’s wooden spoon, having won just thrice, lost 16 and scored only 20 goals for 14 points from 24 games. Long-suffering Glory fans have been subjected to 11 games where Perth have shipped at least three goals, with rookie head coach David Zdrilic firmly in the firing line. The women’s team have been competitive in their first season under Stephen Peters, and the ladder position does not tell the whole story of their year, but have missed finals for the sixth straight season. Pelligra, for his part, told The West he was always prepared to be patient in his first season, with the club still paying salaries to past players who preceded his takeover. The owner has publicly-backed both Zdrilic and director of football Stan Lazaridis, who also bore the brunt of fans’ frustrations due to misfiring signings, to continue into next season. Pelligra has attended a handful of games in his first season, with business interests and the Glory’s sister club, Catania keeping him overseas, and pushed back at accusations of him being an absentee owner. “As a chairman, you always cop it on the knuckles, given the fact that it’s all on my watch,” he said. “It’s been a year of rebuild, we’ve taken on a business that had contracts and agreements and cultures in place that we had to work through and make change; change takes time. “If I’m not at a game, I’m either watching it in the air somewhere or in front of a TV. I haven’t missed a game and I can tell you now, it’s been heartbreaking. “There’s times where I nearly broke the chair in front of me in first class because I just couldn’t handle what was going on the field.” Last week marked Grella’s first visit to WA since Pelligra bought the club, but his role with Glory over the past 15 months has been one of an advisor to this point. “If I’m going to put my name to something or be involved in something, I need to be able to dedicate the time it deserves,” Grella said. “I speak reasonably often with (vice-director) Jason Bontempo and Stan Lazaridis. If you don’t see with your own eyes and you’re not able to live certain difficulties they face, your comments can sometimes be a little bit superficial and a little bit across the top of the water without dipping your foot right in there. “It’s not fair on me to pass judgment without knowing; this (week) has opened my eyes on a lot of the things that they mentioned to me during the season.” Grella said he would work with Bontempo to map out a framework to guide the club’s on and off-field’s goals. Catania have a seven-year plan and Glory are likely to implement something similar. “Definitely in Perth, we should have the same; it helps you map out where you’re going, and it gives you a chance every season to measure performance and make sure you’re on the right track to build in the club to where it should be,” he said. During his playing days, Grella was known for bringing a block of Parmesan cheese into Socceroos camps; he bore no similar gifts this week, publicly warning there would be no room for similar failures next season, as he and Pelligra met with senior staff to map out next season. “I don’t have the answers because the team are going to work out what we need and then put it forward to me. This is not about budget. It’s about getting the right skillset that’s going to work,” Pelligra said. “It’s also making sure the club and the players represent what Perth Glory values are, which is the most important thing. We don’t want to build a team that doesn’t represent Perth, because then there’s no legacy for the kids.” One area Grella and Pelligra are firmly-aligned is the need for a permanent headquarters and Glory will wave goodbye to their ill-fitting Fremantle base and move to Mirrabooka in the off-season. For the past few years, Glory’s administration has been housed at Fremantle Oval, but their men’s and women’s have had to drive 10 minutes to training grounds in neighbouring Beaconsfield and Spearwood. The Mirrabooka base is something of a halfway home, a temporary headquarters which will allow the club to house all operations under one roof, with a view to build a permanent, state-of-the-art facility down the line. “We can work and spend time we need on the field to get ready for the games, work on where the players need help on certain technical one-on-ones,” Pelligra said. “It’s going to be much better, because now we’re all at eye level, eyeballing what has to be done. “The investment I’ll be making the future will be much bigger and stronger, because I want to give the players the right infrastructure for support when it comes to training, so then there’s no excuses on the field.” As for rumours of another ex-Socceroo in Mark Bresciano, who sits on Catania’s board, being part of the club? “Mark’s position is a little bit of a question mark. He has some professional obligations that tie up a lot of his time,” Grella said. “He doesn’t get involved in anything that he can’t have a solid presence and impact. If in the very soon future, he’s able to free up the time he will need to be able to have the impact he wants to have in the football club, then it’s something he will discuss with the chairman.”