Perth Glory season 2005-06
Encyclopedia
Perth Glory 2005–06 History
In 2005, it was announced that former LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
star Steve McMahon
Steve McMahon
Stephen Joseph McMahon is an English former football midfielder who most notably played for Liverpool in the late 1980s...
would be appointed as coach. The new season saw a complete overhaul of the playing squad, with Simon Colosimo
Simon Colosimo
Simon Colosimo is an Australian football player who plays as a central defender for Melbourne Heart. He has represented the Australia national team on over twenty-five occasions.-Club career:...
and former Sunderland
Sunderland A.F.C.
Sunderland Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear who currently play in the Premier League...
and Leeds striker Brian Deane
Brian Deane
Brian Christopher Deane is an English former footballer.Signed for £40,000 from Doncaster Rovers in the close season of 1988, Deane first played and scored for Sheffield United in an 8–1 victory against Skegness Town...
as key signings. Other notable signings included future young stars Nick Ward and Billy Celeski
Billy Celeski
Blagoja 'Billy' Celeski , is an Australian football player. He currently plays for Melbourne Victory as a central midfielder. His cousin is Perth Glory player Naum Sekulovski.-Club career:...
.
Early results in friendlies against local opposition were not great, but Perth became the first team to defeat Sydney FC
Sydney FC
Sydney FC is a professional football club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football competition, the A-League...
, winning 1–0 in the semi-final of the 2005–06 Pre-season Cup before losing in the final 0–1 to the Central Coast Mariners
Central Coast Mariners FC
Central Coast Mariners Football Club is a professional football club based on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. They participate in the A-League and are one of three teams from the state of New South Wales playing in the competition...
. Perth's woeful recruiting strategy was soon evident with the early departure of star import Brian Deane
Brian Deane
Brian Christopher Deane is an English former footballer.Signed for £40,000 from Doncaster Rovers in the close season of 1988, Deane first played and scored for Sheffield United in an 8–1 victory against Skegness Town...
after seven games. Another McMahon recruit, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
junior international Neil Teggart
Neil Teggart
Neil Teggart is a Northern Irish footballer, currently playing for Portadown, in the IFA Premiership. He was a Northern Ireland under 21 international, picking up 2 caps....
, quit the club prior to the start of the regular season. Deane was replaced by Damian Mori
Damian Mori
Damian Mori is an Australian football player who is the top scorer for the Socceroos...
, a former Perth Glory
Perth Glory FC
Perth Glory Football Club is a professional football club in Perth, Western Australia, Australia, competing in Australia's top football competition the A-League. Perth Glory is one of only three clubs to survive from the now defunct National Soccer League...
striker. Originally on a three-game temporary contract, after some impressive performances Mori stayed for the rest of the season and finished with seven goals.
However, the club continued to be dogged by problems which would only be later revealed to the public. Steve McMahon
Steve McMahon
Stephen Joseph McMahon is an English former football midfielder who most notably played for Liverpool in the late 1980s...
was subject to constant media criticism over his coaching style and was accused of nepotism by signing his son, Steve McMahon Jr
Steve McMahon Jr
Stephen Joseph "Steve" McMahon, Jr. is an English footballer.-Biography:McMahon is the son of Steve McMahon, the former Liverpool player and former manager of Perth Glory and Blackpool....
, who was of questionable talent. Rumours also surfaced that players were planning to stage a revolt against the coach. On December 7, the club reported that the parties had "amicably" chosen to go separate ways. On December 9, 2005, the club announced that assistant coach Alan Vest
Alan Vest
Alan Vest is a New Zealand football manager who also represented New Zealand as a player in the 1970s.-Biography:Vest had a notable playing career, scoring on his full international debut for the All Whites in a 4-1 win over New Caledonia on 17 September 1972 and ended his international playing...
would move into the head coach role for the remainder of the season, with striker Damian Mori
Damian Mori
Damian Mori is an Australian football player who is the top scorer for the Socceroos...
taking on a dual role as player-coach after being named as his assistant.
The coach's departure was merely a symptom of deeper troubles. Poor performances saw Perth miss out on qualification for the finals for the first time since 1998. Dwindling support from chairman Nick Tana
Nick Tana
Nick Tana is the former chairman of the Australian football club Perth Glory. He had been the chairman and the majority shareholder of Perth Glory from the club’s inception in 1995 until 2006....
, as he looked to sell his 75% stake in the club, seemed to underpin a general decline in club fortunes. After the Round 20 match against Sydney FC
Sydney FC
Sydney FC is a professional football club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football competition, the A-League...
, Alan Vest
Alan Vest
Alan Vest is a New Zealand football manager who also represented New Zealand as a player in the 1970s.-Biography:Vest had a notable playing career, scoring on his full international debut for the All Whites in a 4-1 win over New Caledonia on 17 September 1972 and ended his international playing...
hinted that the current player group were incapable of achieving anything better and stated that "cliques" had been formed undermining club harmony. To cap off a bad season, Western QBE
QBE Insurance
QBE Insurance Group Limited is an Australian based general insurance provider, providing insurance services mainly to the Asia Pacific region, but also America and Europe . It has offices in 45 countries...
announced they were withdrawing as major sponsor after being associated with the club for 8 years.
First team squad
2005-06 Hyundai A-League fixtures
Ladder
Perth Glory Most Glorious Player
2005/06 Hyundai A-League – Bobby DespotovskiBobby Despotovski
Slobodan "Bobby" Despotovski is an Australian football player of Serbian origin.-Biography:Only nine months after his birth his family moved to Yugoslavia because his mother, Valentina, was home-sick...