A-League Men: Perth Glory coach David Zdrilic confident tax issues will not impact squad, transfer plans

Perth Glory coach David Zdrilic is confident the club’s tax issues have not impacted the club’s already embattled playing squad, nor will it affect their plans for the January transfer window. It comes as club chief executive Anthony Radich believed club chairman Ross Pelligra would be able to quickly take care of the almost $1m bill hanging over the Glory’s head amid an Australian Tax Office-driven liquidation push. The Glory’s already horror season took another twist on Monday when it was revealed the ATO had launched a winding-up action against Perth Glory Football Pty Ltd — the A-League club’s holding company. On Wednesday, news broke the company allegedly failed to deal with a $946,879.55 demand made on September 17 and the tax office said the statutory payment was posted to the holding company’s registered office in suburban Victoria, next to the headquarters of Pelligra’s construction and property group. Radich told AAP he expected Pelligra would foot the bill ahead of the scheduled February court date. “Now that we’re fully aware of it and the status of it, the owner will look to clear that as soon as possible, that won’t be an issue,” he said. “That will now be squared away pretty quickly by Ross, well in advance of that court date. “It’s probably an immaterial amount for the business of the size that it is.” Zdrilic said he did not view it as a distraction and the players were focused on Saturday’s must-win game against a similarly-struggling Newcastle Jets at HBF Park. “From our side, it’s not something that we’re thinking about. We’ve been told it’s been dealt with, it’s going to be dealt with very quickly,” he said. “We’ve spoken at length about us rebuilding, and it’s clear there’s a lot on all levels that we are trying to do to get the club right. This thing is just something that happened, but it’s going to be dealt with very quickly.” Having previously spoken of plans to bring in fresh blood in the looming transfer window, Zdrilic said the football department had not been told the tax issue would impact them. “Again, this issue is not really something raised with us at all, other than it’s being taken care of, and it’s going to be taken care of quickly,” he said. “There’s absolutely no relevance to us in terms of the playing squad or anything that we’re doing.” During the Glory’s 2-0 loss to Melbourne Victory on Sunday — a match which extended their winless run to 17 A-League Men’s matches — pictures of out-of-favour players Luke Bodnar and Anas Hamzaoui on jet-skis emerged on Instagram. While it was unclear whether they were on the jet-skis during the match, Zdrilic said the matter had been addressed. “We addressed these issues internally, but from my side, there’s obviously a clear culture that we want to promote and that’s part of what we’re going through,” he said. Tomi Mrcela joined the Glory last week, and Zdrilic said he expected the veteran centre-back would be part of the squad to face the Jets this weekend.