Dear Members and fans,
I’m excited and honoured to connect with you for the first time as the new owner of Perth Glory Football Club.
I wanted to make sure I reached out to you first because I truly believe the essence of football clubs are their Members, fan groups, volunteers and the broader communities in which they play.
Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll share my vision for Perth Glory with you. Essentially, we want to:
- Re-connect – Members and fans are crucial to the success of this club and we need to better engage with you and the broader WA football community.
- Be Sustainable – We need to build a club for generations to come. One that will produce future Matildas and Socceroos and one which will leave a positive legacy for Western Australia.
- Be Successful – If you don’t aim to be successful then you’re not in it for the right reasons. Success comes in many forms and while we’ll aim for success on the pitch, we must be successful off it too.
Sport is a great passion of mine and with a proud Italian heritage, it’s probably no surprise that I love football. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to have invested in other sporting clubs in Australia and Italy. I’ve seen how integral sporting clubs can be to communities because they often have a powerful, unifying impact.
Many people have already asked me why Perth Glory and why now?
I distinctly remember watching Perth Glory on TV when I was a child back in Melbourne and thinking that football had arrived in this country when I saw a packed Perth Oval every home game. Glory played an exciting and attacking brand of football that had everyone in Perth and greater WA captivated. That’s the energy we know exists here and that’s the energy, passion and pride we must rediscover.
I want to help return the club to its Glory days. We want it to be the envy of every other A-League club, just like it was when it was first founded. I know we’ve got a strong football community here in Perth and it’s time to reunite that community towards a common goal.
To start that journey, I’ll be meeting with WA state government and local governments, members of the Perth football community, Glory Members and fan groups over the next few months to help further inform the strategy and future direction of the club.
I’ve learned a lot from previous experiences with other sporting clubs. But every team is different, every city is different and it’s important we listen, learn and collect local feedback and inputs along the way.
One of our key priorities will be to establish a future permanent home for Perth Glory with state-of-the-art training and administration facilities.
I would also like to acknowledge the previous owners of the club, Nick Tana and Tony Sage for their unwavering commitment over the years.
Perth Glory has a rich history, an iconic brand and a powerful fan base. I’m confident we can create the right foundations to return Glory to being one of the biggest and most successful football clubs in the country. I encourage you to get out on the weekend and support our teams as we embark on this new era for the club. I will be at HBF Park on Saturday night to see our Men’s team and I can’t wait to see you all there.
Kind Regards,
Ross Pelligra.
Chairman, Perth Glory Football Club
#ONEGlory
