The 2005–06 Perth Glory FC season was the club's 9th season since its establishment in 1996. The club competed in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

for the 1st time.

Review

In 2005, it was announced that former

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

star Steve McMahon would be appointed as coach. The new season saw a complete overhaul of the playing squad, with

Simon Colosimo Simon Colosimo (born 8 January 1979) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a centre back and defensive midfielder. He spent two years playing in Europe with spells in the Premier League with Manchester City and in the Belgian Fir ...

and former

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

striker

Brian Deane Brian Christopher Deane (born 7 February 1968) is an English football coach and former player. His most recent managerial position was as the manager of the Norwegian side Sarpsborg 08. During his playing career, he played as forward from 1985 ...

as key signings. Other notable signings included future young stars Nick Ward and

Billy Celeski Blagoja "Billy" Celeski (born 14 July 1985) is a retired Macedonian-born Australian footballer. He last played as a midfielder for Ventforet Kofu in the J1 League in 2016. Club career Celeski signed for Perth Glory for the 2005–06 A-League ...

. Early results in friendlies against local opposition were not great, but Perth became the first team to defeat

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

, winning 1–0 in the semi-final of the 2005–06 Pre-season Cup before losing in the final 0–1 to the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

. Perth's woeful recruiting strategy was soon evident with the early departure of star import

after seven games. Another McMahon recruit,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

junior international

Neil Teggart Neil Teggart (born 16 September 1984 in Downpatrick) is a Northern Irish footballer. He was a Northern Ireland under-21 international, picking up two caps. Career He had been a very promising prospect, coming through the youth system at Sunder ...

, quit the club prior to the start of the regular season. Deane was replaced by Damian Mori, a former

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

striker. Originally on a three-game temporary contract, after some impressive performances Mori stayed for the rest of the season and finished with seven goals. However, the club continued to be dogged by problems which would only be later revealed to the public. Steve McMahon was subject to constant media criticism over his coaching style and was accused of nepotism by signing his son,

Steve McMahon Jr Stephen Joseph McMahon (born 31 July 1984) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. Career McMahon started his career at Blackpool making his debut in 2002 whilst his father Steve McMahon was manager. In 2004 Blackpool won the ...

, who was of questionable talent. Rumours also surfaced that players were planning to stage a revolt against the coach. On 7 December, the club reported that the parties had "amicably" chosen to go separate ways. On 9 December 2005, the club announced that assistant coach

Alan Vest Alan Vest (born 5 September 1939) is an English-born New Zealand former football player and manager from Barnsley, England. He currently resides in Perth, Australia. Biography Vest had a notable playing career, scoring on his full international ...

would move into the head coach role for the remainder of the season, with striker Damian Mori taking on a dual role as player-coach after being named as his assistant.Vest and Mori to take Glory forwards
www.perthglory.com.au, 9 December 2005. Retrieved 27 August 2006 The coach's departure was merely a symptom of deeper troubles. Poor performances saw Perth miss out on qualification for the finals for the first time since 1998. Dwindling support from chairman

Nick Tana Nick Tana is the former chairman of the Australian association football club Perth Glory. He had been the chairman and the majority shareholder of Perth Glory from the club's inception in 1995 until 2006. Tana is the former owner of fast food ch ...

, as he looked to sell his 75% stake in the club, seemed to underpin a general decline in club fortunes. After the Round 20 match against

hinted that the current player group were incapable of achieving anything better and stated that "cliques" had been formed undermining club harmony. To cap off a bad season, Western QBE announced they were withdrawing as major sponsor after being associated with the club for 8 years.

Players

First team squad

Matches

2005–06 A-League fixtures

Ladder

Awards

Perth Glory Most Glorious Player

2005/06

– Bobby Despotovski

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perth Glory Season 2005-06 2005-06 2005–06 A-League season by team