Glory disunity as Edwards labeled nepotistic

It appeared to be a pretty standard evening of Hyundai A-League football. The full-time whistle went to give Melbourne Victory a routine, if uninspiring win over the traveling Perth Glory. The events that followed however will have a huge impact and affect on the away club, in particular coach Alistair Edwards.

After hearing the victorious manager Kevin Muscat praise his team for their performance in win, the gathered press pack were waiting for Edwards to perform his mandatory obligations and attend the press conference.

As time went on it became evident that Edwards was not going to show.

While their performance didn’t set the world alight, it didn’t appear that there was a massive reason for Edwards to risk the wrath of the FFA and receive a fine.

Little did we know that events taking place underneath the grandstand at AAMI Park just two rooms down from the press conference room were fiery to say the least.

Rumours surfaced out of the Perth Glory change room that senior players were incensed at coach Edwards for his perceived favouritism towards his two sons, Ryan and Cameron, both members of the Glory squad who featured in this match.

It is believed those senior players were regular captain Jacob Burns and stand-in skipper for this match Michael Thwaite.

As the players came off the pitch, Thwaite is thought to have said “that’s a fucking disgrace!” solely directed at Edwards.

An even greater choice of words came from Burns who 0 allegedly - said that he should “change his name to Edwards” to get back into the Perth starting eleven.

Burns was a surprising omission from the Glory’s starting squad, being selected on the bench for his return from suspension.

The skipper didn’t make it onto the pitch at all during the match, staying on the bench as a surprisingly unused sub.

The disagreement - to put it politely - continued into the dressing room as a screaming match allegedly then took place within the Perth camp.

The incident in the dressing room is thought to be the reason why Edwards did not appear for his presser. 

As time ticked on and deadlines drew closer not even the threat from the official match commissioner of a fine could get Edwards out of the changing rooms to face the media. By this stage the press pack wanted to ask no questions about the game but instead what exactly happened after the match.

One journalist did manage to speak to a player of the squad who said that “a serious team meeting” took place in the rooms after the game. Asked whether it was a good or bad meeting, the player simply answered, “it wasn’t great.”

Nepotism is a serious allegation and even more serious when it comes from senior players from within the playing squad. 

Both Cameron and Ryan have featured regularly for the Glory side coached by their old man this season. Ryan played the full 90 against Victory while Cameron came off the bench in the 65th minute.

If players were upset before the match at the Edwards clan, it certainly would have reached fever pitch in the second half as Ryan missed a fantastic opportunity to level the game. The ball fell invitingly to him inside the box after some neat play down the right flank but the number four could only send his shot high over the bar.

The miss all but ended the contest, with Victory's Gui Finkler putting the nail in Perth's coffin ten minutes later, knocking in a second.

How the three Edwards boys, in particular papa Edwards, and the rest of the Perth playing squad come back from this incident remains to be seen. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Perth hierarchy deal with the unrest. A positive outcome will be critical in keeping Perth’s season alive, but any more negativity will derail an otherwise healthy Perth season start.