New appointments ignite Glory revival

The revival of Perth Glory took another strong step forward today with the announcement of a new Head Coach and Chief Executive Officer for the revitalised club.

Ron Smith, a key member of the team behind the Socceroos’ recent remarkable World Cup achievements, has joined new CEO Michelle Phillips – who most recently held the position of CEO at Football West – to lead Glory’s resurgence as a Football power in Australia.

In announcing the appointments this morning in Perth, FFA Head of Operations Matt Carroll anticipated a compelling blend of Football and business capability being delivered by the Phillips-Smith combination.

“Every successful sports organisation can point to an effective on-field and back-office management team. With Ron and Michelle, we believe we have the opportunity to bring a pretty unique and exciting mix of expertise – in corporate and commercial capability, grass-roots local Football knowledge, talent identification and elite player development – to bear on the revival and repositioning of this club.

“We promised that we would lay the right foundations to build a model club here in Western Australia, and I believe that these appointments will significantly enhance that opportunity,” Carroll said.

New Perth Glory Head Coach Ron Smith believes his arrival will trigger a huge lift in spirit as the club's on and off-field structure continues to take shape. Smith said he wanted to bring attacking football to the Western Australian club.

"I've always liked my teams to be well organised in defence but to play attacking football. Nobody wants to see a defensive team that pinches an occasional goal on a counter attack," said Smith, who officially takes charge today.

After filling the role of National Technical Manager for the past two seasons, including playing an integral role in the Qantas Socceroos World Cup campaign, Smith will immediately look to bring some fresh players into the squad. Smith has a proven track-record in finding and developing some of Australia's best young players through his 10-year tenure as Head Coach at the Australian Institute of Sport.

During his term at the AIS, he oversaw the development of many future Qantas Socceroos, mentoring players such as Mark Viduka, Lucas Neill, John Aloisi, Craig Moore and Josip Skoko, and recruiting others who represented Australia at the recent FIFA World Cup, such as Brett Emerton, Mile Sterjovski, Vince Grella. Smith has already earmarked some exciting young players that he will invite to the club.

"I'd like to bring in a few players next week and trial them, with a view to possibly offering them contracts,” he said.

Despite coming in during the Pre-Season Cup competition Smith believes the team will challenge for the Hyundai A-League title.

“In the Australian National Team environment we have become used to having limited periods of time to prepare teams, so this will be no different.

"In the past, Perth Glory has always been one of the strongest clubs, but the A-League has levelled the playing field and we will need to step up,” he said.

Meanwhile, newly appointed CEO Michelle Phillips has identified the creation of a new culture and building much stronger links between Perth Glory and the Western Australian Football community as key areas for focus in the new Perth Glory.

“I hope that my experience in the business and commercial sector, as well as good understanding of the Western Australian grass-roots football environment, will be valuable assets for Perth Glory going into this vital Hyundai A-League 2006-07 season,” said Phillips.

Ms Phillips most recently held the position of Chief Executive Officer at Football West and successfully oversaw the restructure of grass-roots football in Western Australia, unifying the five associations that previously governed the sport over the past 18 months.

Prior to that appointment, Michelle also held positions as a business and commercial executive for a number of international organizations, including Sport England, NTL, Coopers & Lybrand and Arthur Andersen.

Ron Smith will assume coaching from today and Michelle Phillips will take up her role in August. Other management appointments will be announced shortly.