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Perth Glory booted out of A-League finals

Perth Glory chief executive Jason Brewer has hinted the A-League club will fight for its innocence after they were stripped of their spot in the finals over salary cap breaches.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) found the Glory were in excess of the $2.55 million salary cap by $400,000.

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Aside from being ineligible to take part in the finals, the Glory will be fined $269,000 for breaches across the past three seasons.

The Glory were placed second on the ladder heading into this weekend’s round 25 and they will be recorded as finishing seventh following the conclusion of the regular season.

Perth have seven days to appeal the decision, and Brewer gave a strong indication the club would fight against the ruling.

“This season, our player payments, paid under the salary cap, are forecast to be below that salary cap threshold of $2.55 million,” Brewer said.

“All the payments this club makes, to its coaches, players, administrative staff, are all made through the club’s accounts here.

“[They are] made by our finance department, recorded in our ledger, and those amounts are all audited at the end of the year by an independent auditor. Those accounts are subsequently submitted to the FFA for their review.

“We go into the next games on the basis that for all Perth Glory fans out there, our players are playing for points.”

The FFA determined the Glory failed to disclose payments to at least six players, with the fine broken up into $26,000 (2012/13), $43,000 (2013/14) and $200,000 (2014/15).

The breaches included not disclosing payments outside the standard player contract, payments to a player’s family member, a third party sponsorship, accommodation benefits and provision of motor vehicles.

FFA chief executive David Gallop, who in 2010 oversaw the penalties handed down to Melbourne Storm for NRL salary cap breaches, expressed his disappointed at the Glory’s behaviour.

“In making this announcement, I find myself in a position that I’d hoped to never be in again,” he told a media conference.

“The finals series is just weeks away and the race for the premier’s plate and the top six places should be the focus.

“As football’s governing body, the FFA has an obligation to fans, clubs, sponsors and broadcasters to make sure that every contest is fair and square and under the rules and regulations of the A-League.

“FFA is determined that we cannot have a club deliberately, significantly and persistently breaching obligations playing for the championship.”

Gallop said the club’s senior administration should be in the firing line, however Brewer refused to be drawn on whether he would relinquish his role.

“We will do our utmost to reply in full to the FFA’s determination this afternoon, and over the course of the next seven days we will be exploring every avenue open to us to discuss with them as to how we can close this matter out and move forward in the best interest of this club, its members, sponsors, and all the fans out there,” Brewer said.

The Glory have seven business days to lodge an appeal to an independent FFA disciplinary committee.

They were due to host Sydney FC in Perth on Friday evening.

ABC/AAP

 

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