Tony Sage: to hand in PG licence at season end

[midfielder]

Massive story from the west...

He has the shits with the way the fans treat him and his family .... wow

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/227071,tony-sage-im-quitting-perth-glory-claim.aspx

By Staff Writer
Dec 19 2011 11:00

PERTH Glory owner Tony Sage says he will quit the club at the end of the season after coming under fire from stayaway fans.

Sage told local newspaper The West Australian after this weekend's game that he would betaking legal advice and handing back his licence to the FFA at the end of the season.

“I’m disappointed, upset, angry,” Sage told the newspaper. “I’ve never been abused that much since day one. It sort of makes up your mind.

"This will be my last season in charge of Perth Glory. I just can’t sit there and cop abuse and my family cop abuse.

“No one is really interested in coming to Perth Glory games and the fans don’t want me to be in control. That was made very clear to me last night by a lot of people.”

Sage's exit announcement comes in the wake of yet another dismal loss for Glory at the weekend with Ian Ferguson's side crashing to defeat against Melbourne Heart.

After a bright start to the season with Glory's revamped, expensive line-up that promised big things, Perth have now recorded six losses from their first 11 games and are plummeting down the ladder.

The run of poor results heralds yet another disappointing season for the former titans of Australian football who were the original model for A-League clubs in the transition from the NSL to the new competition.

But although Glory enjoyed great success and huge crowds in the NSL, Perth's A-League experience has been a very different story.

Despite investing in quality playing squads, the club has repeatedly been let down by poor coaching or management, starting with Steve McMahon and continuing with Ron Smith and Dave Mitchell.

At the weekend, fans were again baying for current coach Ferguson's head as yet another season looks to be derailed even before the halfway mark.

But instead of following Adelaide United's lead at the weekend and taking action aqainst an under-performing coach, Sage appears to have decided to wash his hands of the whole club.

The mining magnate bought a third share of the club from the FFA in 2007 and took sole charge in 2009.

But despite pouring money into the club, he was yet to see any reward, and the dire results are again driving fans away from the club.

However Sage insisted it was not a financial decision to walk out on the club.

“Financially, I could do many things,” he told The West Australian.

“I could get partners in, but it’s not about that. It will never be viable in Perth if the fans don’t want it. At the moment, the fans don’t want it.

“It’s very obvious A-League football in Perth is not warranted.”

If Sage does intend to quit at the end of the season - and it proves to be a more serious threat than a disappointed and exasperated reaction to another lossand the fans backlash - it will at least give the FFA time to find a new owner to take over.

However the FFA have vowed not to support clubs as they have in the past which could throw Glory's future in doubt.

And the uncertainty could further undermine and unsettle players, creating even more problems for them on the field.

But Sage insisted nothing would be changing in the club's management and insisted under-fire Ferguson still had the full backing of the dressing room and him.

“They are all behind him 100 per cent,” said Sage. “There’s not one dissenting voice. I know my locker room really well.”

 

[ExiledMariner]

Appointing McMahon was an absolute disaster, Ron Smith was the only person who wanted the job and Dave Mitchell was just there at the time but was kept on longer then he should have been.

West Aussies can be as fickle and fair weather as the fans in Brisbane. The FFA will step in despite any claims to the contrary, Perth are crucial for the TV deal.

 

[dibo]

McMahon was Nick Tana's work, not Sage.

TBF - in the first year, I don't think anyone had any idea what the standard was going to be.

Getting a couple of names (McMahon and Deane) and hoping for the best was not much different in terms of conception to our strategy of getting as many potentially reliable offcuts as we could and hoping to get under the radar with a rock-solid team unit. It worked for Sydney too, and how many here can tell me they had any idea who the f**k Pierre Littbarski was before 2005?

Imagine an alternative season 1 of the A-League - we go shithouse and Glory sneak into the finals, as they very nearly did when they finished 2pts behind the scum in 5th with a much better goal difference.

We might not exist any more (hell, there's still time for that...) and they might still be the powerhouse that they were in the NSL days.

 

[ExiledMariner]

Yeah, I know McMahon wasn't a Sage appointment. Getting McMahon and watching him repeat what he did at Blackpool by including his son on the teamsheet even though he was less skilled them most pub players was madness. But I guess its comparable to playing Jamie McMaster because he used to play at Leeds.

Can I imagine another alternative that sees the scum dissapear?

 

[midfielder]

If PG fans did abuse him and his family and have done this over a few weeks … then they deserve all they get…. Perth have a top squad and a coach on notice to make the finals or be fired….

Talk about bite the hand that feeds you …

The tough love approach taken by many in Footballs media and some of the more die hard fans... makes me shake my head at times ... but if true he and his family was abused by fans ... for the love of Mary he is your backer going to games and paying the bills ... so he appointed maybe the wrong coach but that same coach was on notice or be fired...

 

[timmers]

If Sage is still keen to be involved in Australian football, I know of a club that could use his dollars.

 

[Jerem]

by some of the noises hes made,
id be quite keen to see him jump coast

 

[Wombat]

I'd even buy him a beer.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Pathetic. I despise this kind of self righteous fan entitlement behaviour. Always have. Always will. There's no excuse for it.
Power lies in belief and positivity. As the Mariners model and team attests too.

 

[Muppet]

Here's a man who wants to spend his money on a football club yet has no idea on how to do so. Such a shame. I don't think that it relates to the fans hatred for Sage as opposed to his poor choices in coaching staff. To go from Mitchell to Ferguson was always going to end in tears. Lets hope he sticks around, sees the light and gets a decent coach.