17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perth Glory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perth Glory have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Perth Glory moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Nicholas Anderson, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Perth Glory
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Simon Kennedy has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aidan Knight has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bradley Cooper has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Shane Gordon has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brian Kaltak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Scott Wootton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The deal with Western Sydney Wanderers is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Mark Birighitti again, and this time the name on the line is Newcastle Jets. Perth Glory are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Scott Wootton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Perth Glory had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Wolverhampton, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Scott Wootton is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Trent Ostler is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Perth Glory has been clear about where Mark Birighitti stands, which is more than many ever get.
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perth Glory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brian Kaltak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Trent Ostler falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perth Glory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Charbel Shamoon is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Perth Glory can pretend not to have heard.
Brian Kaltak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Perth Glory are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
0‑1 to Central Coast Mariners, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Scott Wootton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicholas Anderson after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Wellington Phoenix the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Perth Glory will enjoy reviewing.
Brian Kaltak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Scott Wootton is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Joey Garuccio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Perth Glory needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Scott Wootton
Position 3, 20 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Auckland FC left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Scott Wootton falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Nicholas Anderson left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Brian Kaltak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lachlan Jackson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to Melbourne Victory, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Nicholas Anderson to a room that had heard them before.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Newcastle Jets in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Adelaide United will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Tom Lawrence takes the afternoon — 8.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tom Lawrence provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Brian Kaltak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A 3‑2 win over Adelaide United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Scott Wootton is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 7.15 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matthew Sutton, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Scott Wootton is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Nicholas Anderson left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Tom Lawrence
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Tom Lawrence has come out of that comparison in the side, and Perth Glory have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.