Perth Glory boss Kenny Lowe has revealed he’s still in the market for three more players before the start of the new Hyundai A-League season which he hopes will result in a “Utopia” for Perth this season.
It’s been an off-season of change for Glory with the likes of Marquee striker Andy Keogh, Danny Vukovic, Scott Jamieson, Youssouf Hersi, Jamie Maclaren, Rostyn Griffiths and Danny Da Silva all heading for the exit door.
In their place have come imports Gyorgy Sandor, Guyon Fernandez and Diego Castro, plus veteran ‘keeper Ante Covic, Antony Golec and Marc Warren.
It means season 11 is very much a fresh start for Glory, eager to move on from what was a roller-coaster 2014/15 campaign.
“There’s a really good vibe at the club, people are enjoying themselves and obviously we have to translate that to results and performances,” Lowe told www.a-league.com.au.
“I think we’re in a good place. It’s a bit of a rebuild again unfortunately after what happened last year but that’s the nature of football.
“We want to evolve the club…we want to make it a proper football club.
“But the big thing for me is I want people to come to work and enjoy themselves, if we can get people to do that and then on top of that win games as well, that’s Utopia.”
Probably the biggest challenge facing Lowe is how to replace the goals of departed Irishman Keogh and young gun Maclaren, who’s moved across to Brisbane Roar.
Between them the pair contributed to 21 (Keogh 12, Maclaren nine) of Glory’s 45 goals last season.
“Obviously Guyon has come in and he’s exciting, scores goals and has played at a good level,” Lowe said of new attacker Fernandez.
“Hopefully he’ll come in and score some goals. And we’ve still got three players left to bring in.
“We’re looking to bring a young attacking [Maclaren]-type player into the group as well.
“We’re looking at Aussies across the country, in Perth and also abroad. We’ll just have to see where we go on that front.”
Asked about the club’s new imports and the impact they can have on the competition, Lowe was gushing in his praise.
“Sandor has captained his club, he’s won championships, he’s captained his country,” he said of the Hungarian.
“He’s a lovely guy and a good footballer and is a nice influence around the club. He’s going to be of real value for us.
“Guyon you know about and then obviously Diego, the Spanish boy, he’s played 10-15 years at the highest level you possibly can.
“It’s going to be exciting if we can get them all to gel. And they seem to be. There’s a good vibe, the boys that have been here have taken care of the new boys that have come in…it’s really good.
“We seem to have done well [in the past with imports]. Nebo’s [Marinkovic] had an impact, Keogh had an impact, Sidnei [Sciola] has had an impact.
“Hopefully if the new boys can do what those boys that are here have done, we’ll be in a good place.”
Lowe is hopeful of having all three of his new imports available for the club’s Westfield FFA Cup quarter-final against Western Sydney Wanderers FC on Tuesday, September 29.
