Tony Sage, the owner of Perth Glory, believed the club could have climbed out of the bottom of the A-League ladder and made a bid for a finals position.
While they were “not happy” with only three victories and three draws in 13 games, Sage said he had faith in second-year coach Richard Garcia.
Sage predicted a $5 million loss in the COVID-plagued season, which has seen little of marquee signing Daniel Sturridge, who has spent three spells in COVID isolation and is currently injured.
“I’m not happy to be in this situation, but I understand why we’re in this situation,” Sage explained. “We are where we are because we have been unable to train successfully.”
“Give Richie two weeks with the squad like this and we’ll see a change. The way other teams are going fifth and six should be easy to take.”
This was said about 2 weeks ago and now Tony Sage has gone on and sacked the head coach – Richard Garcia.
The sacking:
Following a disastrous run of losses for the A-League Men team, Perth Glory has fired coach Richard Garcia and his assistant Steven McGarry.
The announcement came 15 hours after Glory suffered a 4-1 home loss to the Brisbane Roar, extending the club’s winless streak to seven games and leaving them at the bottom of the table.
Ruben Zadkovich, a former Sydney FC, Newcastle Jets, and Glory midfielder, will take over as coach for the rest of the season, with Chris Coyne as his assistant.
The Glory’s 4-1 loss to the Brisbane Roar on Saturday was Garcia’s final game as head coach, and it was the Glory’s eighth game without a win in a row.
The club is bottom of the A-League rankings after a challenging season in which they were forced to play the majority of their games outside of Western Australia due to pandemic limitations in their home state.
Following the easing of those restrictions, Glory has played their past four matches at Perth Oval, but they have failed to win in front of their home fans, drawing twice and losing twice.
Garcia’s stint at Glory was significantly impacted by COVID-19 issues, which compelled the team to spend the majority of their time interstate.
Garcia’s cards were marked by the team’s recent run of bad results upon their return home, with Glory picking up just one point in four consecutive home matches.
Comments from Tony Sage
”I would like to sincerely thank Richard and Steven for the huge level of dedication that they have shown during their two years at the helm,” club owner and chairman Tony Sage said in a statement.
”COVID-19 has had a huge impact upon the club on and off the field which cannot be over-stated and its legacy is still being felt.
”Ultimately, however, this is a results business, and unfortunately, claiming one point from our last four home games is an unacceptable return.”
