Football Season Guide

Perth Glory

In


Sam Sutton (def), transfer from Wellington Phoenix. Scott Wootton (def), transfer from Wellington Phoenix. Mark Birighitti (gk), transfer from Perth Soccer Club. Brian Kaltak (def), transfer from Central Coast Mariners. Arion Sulemani (att), transfer from Melbourne City. Callum Timmins (mid), free transfer. Jaiden Kucharski (att), transfer from Western United. Charbel Shamoon (def), transfer from Western United. Rhys Bozinovski (mid), transfer from Western United. Joel Anasmo (mid), loan expired.

Out


Patrick Wood (sp) (att), loan expired. Anas Hamzaoui (sp) (def), contract expired. Jaylan Pearman (r) (att), transfer to Queens Park Rangers, Riley Warland (sp) (def), contract expired. Lachlan Barr (sp) (def), contract expired. Tass Mourdoukoutas (sp) (def), contract expired. Takuya Okamoto (sp) (def), contract expired. Yuto Misao (sp) (def), contract expired. Hiroaki Aoyama (sp) (mid), contract expired. Oliver Sail (r) (gk), transfer to Auckland FC.

Finished rock bottom last season, winning what is rapidly becoming their traditional "prize - the dreaded "Wooden Spoon" award. As always, change was required at the club, and they got it. Quite whether it transpires to be good or bad - well, the jury is still out. Pre-season, they cut loose some deadwood. I daresay they'd have liked to keep hold of Wood in attack but it wasn't really on the horizon. Pearman was always going to leave; too good for this level. Sail blew hot and cold; the fans never quite took to him because of his mistakes but he's a good GK underneath all of the pressure. Still, the club has acted well to sort out their areas of concern. In goal, veteran GK Birighitti has come out of retirement as an option, although it may be that Cook stays ahead of him - he did well when called upon last season. Predominantly, the club has profited from other clubs struggling financially, namely the Mariners and Western United. Their defence - at least on paper - now looks amazing with Sutton, Wootton, and Kaltak in it. Timmins and Bozinovski arrived to beef up their CM area (a problem area in recent years), and Sulemani was a great signing in attack too - he should make a good impact from the bench. Arguably their best signing was Kucharski though, who is too good for this level now - he showed that last season. He and Taggart should forge a lethal partnership this season. With the quality they've added tot the squad, and the fact that they've kept hold of the likes of Taggart, finishing bottom this season would be a big surprise. There are some fears that Amos won't renew his contract as he's not played for a while but if he does then Glory should be set for a good campaign. There really aren't any obvious weaknesses now other than that they've got to have an integration period for their newcomers.

Target


Club aim - 6-8 Realistic aim - 5-7