A-League Men: Perth Glory chief executive Anthony Radich says club was close to folding prior to takeover

Perth Glory chief executive Anthony Radich has revealed the club came perilously close to folding and they spent two years battling serious financial issues prior to owner Ross Pelligra’s takeover.

It comes as club football director Stan Lazaridis admitted he could have toned down his messaging around the club’s on-field hopes in pre-season, as the Glory face a battle to avoid the wooden spoon for the second season running.

The revelations emerged out of The West Australian’s special podcast, Anatomy of a Fall: The Perth Glory Story, which dived deep into the club’s plight over the past few seasons.

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Speaking exclusively to The West Sport Show, both Radich and Lazaridis expressed hope for the future despite the Glory’s rocky start to the season and backed in coach David Zdrilic as the coach reckons with a disastrous start to his tenure.

For Radich, who once volunteered for the club as a fan before eventually working for them, departing and then eventually returning to become their chief executive in 2022, the fact the Glory are still around is a something to be thankful for.

“I knew taking on the role, having been given the opportunity, it would be a challenging task — I would never have foreseen it would be as difficult as it has been or the challenges would be to the magnitude they have,” Radich said.

“I came into the club knowing it had come off COVID, that financially, it wasn’t in a great shape, but in all reality, when I look back after that first week, I was seriously contemplating whether to stick to the task.”

It only got worse for Radich over the ensuing two years, with the club’s displacement from HBF Park due to renovations ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup costing them even more money.

It precipitated long-time owner Tony Sage’s decision to hand back his club’s licence in July 2023, which led to the club being placed into receivership for six months — during which time an attempted takeover by a consortium fell through.

“The club was in a very precarious state, financially, a lot worse than I’d sort of imagined and that was pre what we’d then endure, with obviously being displaced from HBF Park, and then having having the owner walk away, and then having to endure the trials and tribulations of receivership and a failed ownership attempt,” Radich said.

“We were in our darkest hours for the club, and I don’t think I’d be a stretch too far to say that the club came very, very close to not being around, had it not been for myself and a good bunch of people and a good group of staff that were resilient through that period and held the club together through those times.”

Pelligra, who heads up a property development empire, took over the club in February 2024 and while he has provided Perth with plenty of financial stability off-field, results are yet to come on-field.

Perth’s 2-2 A-League Men’s draw with Newcastle Jets on Saturday has left them with the unenviable record of just two wins from their opening 15 league games under Zdrilic since his off-season hiring.

They have a goal difference of -26, are 13 points adrift of sixth-placed Melbourne Victory — who they play at HBF Park on Saturday — and only four points ahead of bottom side Brisbane Roar, who have two games in hand on the Glory.

In his first pre-season in his role, Lazaridis pumped up the side’s prospects, spoke of bringing ‘wow signings’ to the club and targeted a return to finals football for the first time since 2020.

But several signings, including foreigners Luis Canga and Cristian Caicedo (who have both already departed), Hiroaki Aoyama, Anas Hamzaoui and Nikola Mileusnic have failed to make an impact.

Lazaridis admitted he had probably been too hasty and he understood fans’ frustrations.

“I always look at the glass half-full. I’m not going to go and deliver a message that we’re going to struggle in the season, because I really believe in the group, I really believe we’ve got some good players,” he said.

“Looking back, in reflecting, could my messaging have been a bit better? Yeah, perhaps, I think I probably.

“I was excited, I was happy and I was back at the club I love, and I want to do well for the club, and I want the fans to be thinking we’re going to be pushing for things,” he said.

“But it’s a fair question. It’s fair from the fans to say that maybe I punched a little bit above my weight with what I was saying, but that’s me, and I want to see the best out of people.”