Perth Glory owner Ross Pelligra and director Vince Grella promise extra support for coach David Zdrilic

Perth Glory chairman Ross Pelligra says the club’s underperforming football department will have a beefed-up support system and added resources after his public backing of coach David Zdrilic. It came as Socceroos great Vince Grella, who serves as a club director, warned there needed to be drastic improvements in performance next season. Pelligra and Grella attended training on Wednesday, just days after Pelligra gave his public backing to Zdrilic amid the club staring down the prospect of a second consecutive wooden spoon. For Grella, who serves as chief executive of Serie C side Catania FC — also owned by Pelligra — it was his first visit since Glory were purchased by the property development magnate. Fans have criticised Zdrilic for poor performances throughout the season, which has seen Perth win just three of 25 games, while director of football Stan Lazaridis was lambasted by supporters after several pre-season signings under-performed or failed to hit the mark at all. However, Pelligra backed the pair to continue in their roles and said they would strengthen both on and off-field to support them, while also acknowledging the board was satisfied with Zdrilic’s over-arching vision for the club. “We’re going to make some technical changes around strengthening up the team on-field and off-field, and we’re going to make sure we go into next season being a different team,” he said. “I believe in what David’s doing, and so does Vince and the board. We’re going to support him. There’s been heaps of social media hits at me, sack the coach; no, we’re going to give him the right time. “You can’t expect a person to come into a job and be a champion from day one. “The advice and technical support, that we’re looking to build around him and he’s shown us his plan, myself and Vince and the vice chairman (Jason Bontempo) as well. “We’ve seen it and other board members, we’re pretty satisfied with what he wants to put forward.” Neither Pelligra nor Grella offered specifics as to what those changes would look like in terms of immediate rectification of on-field results, although both were happy with the progress made at their new headquarters in Mirrabooka. While Grella also supported Zdrilic, he also delivered a warning that there would be few excuses moving forward if results failed to materialise. “The on-field performance of the team this year has been very under-par and not acceptable; not just for the result, but also the way we saw them play and and wear the jersey, something that won’t be acceptable anymore at the club,” he said. “From the start of the pre-season of the new season, we will not accept this type of performance and attitude. “Everybody is on a little bit of borrowed time, they will have to perform and produce, otherwise they will be no longer involved in the club. “We’re going to give faith to the coach. We believe we haven’t given him all of the tools for him to do his job this year, but when he receives the tools, then he will be accountable for producing consistency on the field.” Grella, who has served as a consultant to Pelligra and the club for the past year, pledged to provide support and guidance to the club to ensure on-field success. “I’m going to try, together with the chairman, to set up some structures and some good practice to be able to manage and measure performance and make sure that everybody’s doing their bloody job — because if you don’t do your job, you’re going to be out of the club,” he said. “We don’t ever want to finish bottom again, ever. While my name is attached to this football club, I never want to see Perth Glory anywhere near the bottom. “We have to do everything in our power to make sure the team performs better, and we give them all of the knowledge and support they need so they’ll be accountable for that result.” Meanwhile, the A-League Men will introduce a hard salary cap of $3m for the 2026-27 season with just one marquee spot outside of the cap. The current ‘soft cap is set at $2.55m and features mechanisms to support scholarship, designated and loyalty contracts to certain players who meet the threshold. But the league will trial a $3.5m cap next season, before the cap will drop by $500,000 with a hard ceiling the following year. Australian Professional Leagues chair Stephen Conroy said clubs’ profit margins and losses were unsustainable at their current rates and believed the cap would alleviate league-wide fiscal pressures.