The 2007–08 Perth Glory FC season was the club's 11th 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 3rd time. The Glory finished 7th in the 2007–08 A-League season, making them the worst

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n team in the

, for the second consecutive season. Given the team's promising pre-season performances, expectations at the club were to achieve a top 4 finish, or to at least significantly improve over the performance in the previous

season. After a poor start to the season, without a win after the first 11 games and Glory winless for 18 consecutive

matches, coach Ron Smith departed and assistant coach, David Mitchell took over for the rest of the season. After 2 wins from his first 4 games in charge, Mitchell was rewarded by having his contract extended till the end of the 2008-09 Season.Mitchell Rewarded By Glory
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Squad changes for 2007-08 season

Players

First team squad

Friendlies

Malaysian Tour

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 ...

began their pre-season with three preseason friendlies in Malaysia. Firstly the team defeated Selangor PKNS 3-0 with goals to

David Tarka David Tarka (born 11 February 1983 in Perth, Western Australia) is a retired Australian association footballer, who played two games for the national team. Club career Tarka was an Australian youth international and was an Australian schoolboy ...

Naum Sekulovski Naum Sekulovski (born 14 May 1982 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian football (soccer) player who plays for Preston Lions Preston Lions Football Club (formerly Preston Makedonia Soccer Club) is a soccer club from Presto ...

and Anthony Danze. Perth then moved on to sweep Perak FA 4-0 with a brace to both

Nikita Rukavytsya Nikita Vadymovych Rukavytsya ( ; uk, Микита Вадимович Рукавиця, translit=Mykyta Vadymovych Rukavytsya; born 22 June 1987) is a professional footballer who plays for Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Haifa. Born in Ukrai ...

and

Jamie Harnwell Jamie Richard Harnwell (born 21 July 1977 in Perth, Western Australia) is a retired Australian football (soccer) player and current coach of Perth NPL club Sorrento FC and the Western Australian state soccer team. He holds the record for most ...

. Finally, Perth defeated Penang FA 5-1 with another brace to Rukavytsya and goals to

Nick Rizzo Nicholas Anthony Rizzo (born 9 June 1979) is an Australian former Football (soccer), footballer. Rizzo began his career in England with Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, however, he made his professional debut for Crystal Palace F.C., Crystal Palace w ...

, Danze and

Mate Dragičević Mate Dragičević (born 19 November 1979) is a Croatian retired association football, football Striker (association football), striker. Club career He has enjoyed successful stints at several clubs, with Croats, Croatian giants Hajduk Split and ...

. Local Friendlies Following the tour of Malaysia, the Perth Glory squad was hit hard by injuries and illness, ahead of a planned series of games against

Football West State League The National Premier Leagues Western Australia is a regional Australian semi-professional soccer league comprising teams from Western Australia. The league name is often abbreviated to NPL Western Australia or NPL WA. As a subdivision of the Na ...

sides.

Nikolai Topor-Stanley Nikolai David Topor-Stanley (born 11 March 1985) is an Australian football (soccer) player who plays as a centre back. He has played for A-League clubs Sydney FC, Perth Glory, Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers. He has also played i ...

was granted leave due to personal issues, while

was forced to return to

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

as a result of

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

complications. With only twelve players to call on, Perth Glory succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to

Perth SC Perth Soccer Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in West Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1987 as the result of a merger between three local sides, though its pre-merger history is regarded to be that of Perth ...

, with Rukavytsya scoring early in the second half. Perth Glory postponed the remaining friendlies, citing the depletion of their playing stocks.

Pre-Season Cup

Perth Glory began their Pre-Season Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over Newcastle Jets.

scored in the second half. However, Perth's injury problems were compounded with Anthony Danze and

David Micevski David Micevski (born 25 February 1986) is an Australian footballer who has played for Stirling Lions. Club career He was identified by former Perth Glory technical manager, Mich d'Avray as one of the brightest young prospects in the WA State ...

the latest players to be put out of action. Perth Glory rushed to sign Mitchell Prentice ahead of the match in order to boost their playing stocks. The following week, Perth Glory drew 1-1 with Adelaide United.

scored in the 53rd minute after being played through by a

backheel. Cássio equalised in the 60th minute via a well-taken freekick.

Hayden Foxe Hayden Vernon Foxe (born 23 June 1977) is an Australian former professional soccer player who works as assistant coach with Western United. He played football as a centre-back at the top level in Germany, Japan, Belgium, England and Australia ...

and

made their debuts for the Glory, with Foxe substituted in the 73rd minute due to a minor knee complaint. In the third round Perth Glory staged a come-from-behind victory over

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

to win 2-1 in Darwin. Nikita Rukavytsya and Jamie Harnwell were the goalscorers. Perth Glory finished equal with Adelaide United on points and second in the group due to goal difference, despite winning the most games in the group. Perth Glory progressed to the pre-season grand final with a 2-3 away victory 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 ...

. Dragicevic opened the scoring for the Glory, with Nick Mrdja equalising before half-time. Goals to

Bertos BeRTOS is a real-time operating system designed for embedded systems. It is free and open-source software released under the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2) or later, with a special exception granting proprietary applications the ...

and Tarka in the second half sealed the victory for the Glory, with

Sasho Petrovski Sasho Petrovski ( mk, Сашо Петровски, ''Sašo Petrovski'') (born 5 March 1975) is an Australian football (soccer) player who plays for South Coast Wolves. Petrovski has two caps for the Australian national team. Petrovski was know ...

scoring a consolation goal deep in injury time. Once again forced to travel interstate, Perth Glory lost the pre-season cup grand final to Adelaide United. Perth led at half-time through a Leo Bertos strike, but second half goals to Cássio and

Bruce Djite Bruce José Djité (French pronunciation: ; born 25 March 1987) is an Australian executive and former association football (soccer) player. As a player, Djite is known for his speed, strength and good height with ball heading skills and pre ...

saw Adelaide take the pre-season cup.

2007-08 Hyundai A-League fixtures

Home-and-Away Season

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perth Glory Season 2007-08 2007-08 2007–08 A-League season by team