Glory look for fixture bonanza (AKA another reason to upgrade MES)
Perth Glory owner Tony Sage hopes the announcement of glamour friendly fixtures with English Premier League clubs Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham will put pressure on the State government to finance an upgrade of Members Equity Stadium.
In a big day for the A-League club, Sage and Glory coach Dave Mitchell also announced the signing of former Socceroos midfielder Jacob Burns on a three-year contract and a two-year sponsorship deal with Sydney-based company Financial and Energy Exchange worth more than $500,000.
Glory will play Wolves, who have recently been promoted to the EPL from the second-tier Championship, on July 10 and Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer’s Fulham on July 15 at Members Equity Stadium.
The Fulham game will be the first part of a double-header, with Wolves to play A-League expansion club North Queensland Fury, featuring Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler, in Perth on the same night.
Glory will then play the Fury at a regional centre, most likely Rockingham, Mandurah or Carnarvon, on July 18.
Sage hopes to make the glamour friendlies an annual appointment on Glory’s calendar but wants to be able to host big-name clubs at an upgraded Members Equity Stadium.
Glory has joined forces with RugbyWA and the WA Rugby League in recent months to push for an upgrade of the State’s premier rectangular stadium worth $73million.
“We were a bit embarrassed after seeing Fulham’s training facilities and their change rooms that we’re going to have to host them in a sub-standard venue like Members Equity Stadium, but we’ve warned them in advance about that,” Sage said.
“It will be a sell-out crowd here. We want to have it here, we want to have it on a rectangular pitch even if we get thirty or forty-thousand people that want tickets, we still want to hold it here at Members Equity Stadium.
“I think the fans deserve to have a rectangular stadium.”
Sage will underwrite the friendly matches himself, a commitment worth more than $1million, but wants to see government support in the future.
The club has already received more than 400 emails from Wolves fans interested in visiting Perth.
“We’ve over the last ten years or even longer been the poor cousin of every other football code in this state, so it’s about time they do invest,” Sage said.
“It’s going to be a huge drawcard. I think just on the amount of emails that we can dump on their desk to see how many people are interested in coming to Perth just to see Wolves, now that we’ve announced Fulham, and on the same night, I think that will be a big boost to the local economy.
“If an organisation like EventsCorp can’t help, well, it doesn’t say much for the future support of football in this State does it?”
Mitchell said that Burns will arrive in Perth in three or four weeks and will be available for the pre-season fixtures, while Fulham and North Queensland have confirmed that Schwarzer and Fowler will play in Perth.
Details on ticket sales for all four of the matches will be released through the club’s website – www.perthglory.com.au - soon.
Stuffed the link again: http://www.thewest.com.au/default.as...ntentID=139687
‘Embarrassing’ stadium set for temporary upgrade
The “embarrassing” facilities at Members Equity Stadium will undergo a temporary transformation in July for the visit of English Premier League clubs Wolverhampton and Fulham to accommodate a greater number of fans and corporate clients.
Perth Glory owner Tony Sage made his blunt assessment of WA’s premier rectangular stadium this morning and is continuing his combined push with Rugby WA and WA Rugby League for a $73 million upgrade of the stadium.
Peter Bauchop, the chief executive of venue manager Allia, said the capacity of Members Equity Stadium will be increased to around 20,700 – up from 18,156 – for Glory’s glamour pre-season fixtures against the two EPL clubs with the addition of temporary facilities at either end of the ground.
Corporate marquees, similar to those erected around the greens at The Vines for the Johnnie Walker Classic golf tournament, will be put in place either side of The Shed at the northern end of the ground, while additional seating will be added to the stand at the southern end.
Allia will also investigate ways to temporarily upgrade the changing room facilities under the main stand on the western side of the ground. The relocation of ice baths, new carpet and a change of the seating configuration in the dressing rooms are all on the cards.
“They’re using facilities that were built in 1956, I understand the change rooms are,” Bauchop said.
“We can guarantee they’ll be clean but they’re not going to be state-of-the-art unfortunately. We’ll definitely work with all the stakeholders to do the best with what we’ve got. We’re just going to keep pushing to do the best with that.”
Bauchop said that the three rectangular football codes and Allia are united in their views on a permanent upgrade for Members Equity Stadium, which they want the State government to pay for, and believes that the July friendly fixtures will help their bid.
“I think anything that shows the stadium in its full use, whereby we need higher level facilities, will assist,” Bauchop said.
“But I’d say there’s already a fair bit of interest at the moment with the planned move for Super 14 here in 2010.
“I definitely believe we’re all united. The owners and the users definitely all want the same thing because it’s all going to give us positive outcomes, there’s no downside about upgrading this stadium.”
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.as...ntentID=139748
