Stajcic Out, Zdrilic In: A New Era for Perth Glory
Well, it’s been coming.
There has been an impression among Perth Glory fans for a while now that change was afoot at the club — not just with the playing roster but off the park as well.
A few days after the Glory’s demoralising home defeat to Western United in the back-end of April, the Far Post Perth took to their social media channels to announce that Head Coach Alen Stajcic was set to depart at season’s end, where the former Matildas’ mentor would be replaced by a presently employed A-League coach.
Now everyone at the time, including myself, thought John Aloisi.
It would’ve been a massively disappointing move if the club were, in fact, wanting to replace Stajcic with someone whose record as a coach is questionable at best, and particularly from a stylistic view, was no guarantee to evolve this team to the next level.
The way the season finished was terrible, there’s no two ways about it; apart from the elation of the win at home against Brisbane, the Glory didn’t win a single game for the rest of the season. Some of the results the team had were particularly grim, including an 8–0 defeat at the hands of Melbourne City and a 7–1 thumping against Sydney FC.
Following the end of the season, there was a feeling among most, evidenced or not by fact, that Alen Stajcic was far from a lock to be the Glory’s head coach under the new Ross Pelligra regime.
There was no official confirmation from the club to knock down the statement from the Far Post Perth, only Stajcic stating that he knew nothing of any indication that he wouldn’t be at the helm next season, nor was there any statement swatting away any lurking rumours.
Several things come to mind when reflecting on Alen’s situation.
I feel for him in the sense that from my perspective, looking at the outside-in, this new ownership model didn’t fully back him, and we, as fans, were left in the dark about his future. Also, I feel he probably deserved a chance to give it a go next season and see what he could do with hopefully better players, given how dreadful the hand was that he was given when he took the job in August last year.
On the other hand, I can empathise with Ross Pelligra. Let the new owner put in place the team and structure he believes will take this club to the next level. He, in all honesty, did not appoint Alen Stajcic, and I think even Alen would’ve assumed that there was no guarantee that whoever the new owner would be, would still keep his services for the incoming season.
Ultimately, I think that although the situation could have been better handled, I am not overly disappointed that the club has decided to seek another coach.
I’ve said it here, on Twitter, radio, or the Shed End Podcast: Alen’s failure to demonstrate some form of adaptability and flexibility with the squad ultimately did contribute to some of our worst performances throughout the season.
Stajcic is a very pragmatic coach who, at times, is stubborn in my view, often persisting with specific tactics or player personnel or roles that were clearly ineffective, and we usually paid the price for it.
In particular, our defensive shape was, at times, diabolically poor. I recently did an article on this platform reviewing the commonalities in the goals we conceded, and I was very disheartened to see that either no solutions were present or those we did have for the goals conceded simply didn’t work in future games.
In saying that though, I do feel that Alen can, if given time and good resources, can build a club from the ground up. His time at the Central Coast was pivotal — look at where they were when he first came in, and look at where they are now. He played a big part in setting the foundations there.
So with one door closing, with Stajcic being confirmed by popular fan group RBTV (Red and Black TV) as the new Western Sydney Wanderers manager, another opens, and for the Perth Glory and certainly for Ross Pelligra, they’ll be hoping that David Zdrilic is the one to take this team to a whole new level next season.
In the general fan’s eye, he may be an unknown quantity to some extent as a coach, so let me outline his resume briefly.
The 30-time Socceroo has enjoyed an illustrious career both as a player and coach. His journey took him across Germany and the UK before he returned to Australia, joining Sydney FC and securing the championship in the inaugural season of the new competition.
As a coach, he diligently climbed the ranks, making significant impacts at various NPL clubs in NSW, including Sydney United. He led Maccabi Hakoah to the semi-finals and achieved similar success with Sydney United, guiding them deep into the finals.
After a brief hiatus to focus on his media career and further his coaching education through study tours at top European clubs such as Bayern Munich, Hajduk Split, and Dinamo Zagreb, Zdrilic returned to the coaching realm with Sydney FC.
He worked with their NPL2, NYL, and under-20 teams. His success in these roles earned him a move to RB Leipzig in 2017 as the assistant coach of the U17 team. Following a successful year, he was promoted to the U19 team, the direct feeder to Leipzig’s first team in the Bundesliga.
During his tenure at Leipzig, Zdrilic had the invaluable opportunity to learn from the legendary coach Ralf Rangnick, whose influence shaped renowned managers like Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, and Julian Nagelsmann.
Reflecting on this experience, Zdrilic stated:
“Going to Leipzig and learning the philosophy now as a coach (after learning it as a player) was the best thing I could have done. It is like going to Harvard for football coaching. I was able to absorb more than ten years of top-level coaching in just under three years. The philosophy resonates with me and fits perfectly with me. It was the way I played the game, and it is now the way I coach the game.”
Rangnick’s influence is clear, and Glory fans should expect to see his distinctive style of football with Zdrilic in charge. This approach, marked by high-intensity pressing and fast-paced attacking play, will be central to Zdrilic’s style of play as the head coach of the Glory. As he explained in an interview a few years ago:
“It is all about being aggressive when pressing and implementing a high-intensity game plan which in turn means no matter who you are playing against, you always have a chance. We encourage an attitude where you press, you win the ball, and you go.
“If you execute this philosophy correctly, you have a chance against anybody. The bigger and better teams are always going to be strong playing out, but there will always be chances to score, which is why this philosophy is successful. If you look at the top managers who are implementing this system, they all have some sort of success.”
This success was seen with Sydney FC this season, where particularly under Ufuk Talay, this high pressing and relentless attack was on show, which saw the Sky Blues propel from being quite mediocre to start the season to end the season in a red-hot, rampant fashion.
In their 4–1 rout of the Western Sydney Wanderers, then-head coach Marko Rudan acknowledged David Zdrilic’s influence, stating, “This is his doing,” particularly referring to Sydney’s effective high-pressure tactics.
From here on, the rational thought process revolves around assessing David Zdrilic’s potential as a head coach. While his accomplishments as an assistant coach are impressive, the question remains: can he succeed as the main man in charge? There’s no doubt that Zdrilic boasts a strong resume and skillset, but it will be intriguing to see how he transitions from being the right-hand man to leading the team.
Personally, I believe Zdrilic has the capacity to be a successful coach. His potential is undeniable. The fact that many Melbourne Victory supporters preferred Zdrilic over other candidates like Patrick Kisnorbo or Mark Milligan, and the disappointment among Sydney FC fans at his departure, suggests that with proper support, we might witness something special out west.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that Zdrilic will implement his philosophy effectively as a head coach or restore the Glory to its former NSL heights. Nonetheless, that has to be the goal. Since those glory days, the club has been a shadow of its former self, showing glimpses of potential only to falter in critical moments.
Time will tell how things unfold, but one thing is clear: the new regime under Ross Pelligra is fully underway.
