Andy Keogh’s return to Perth has posed questions, but his re-signing is a step in the right direction.
It was a move touted for some time, but last Friday, it finally came to fruition. Andy Keogh officially returned to Perth Glory, penning a deal which will see him at the club til 2018. We know his story last year; the Irishman netted 17 times in 32 appearances to fuel Perth’s rise to the top of the table, before it came to light the club had breached the salary cap in signing his contract. After the club had been disqualified from the finals race for paying Keogh $500,000 over the cap, the 29 year-old departed in the offseason, heading to Ratchaburi in Thailand.
At his unveiling last Friday, Keogh stressed his love for Perth, saying he loved his time at the club while admitting he had left his family in Perth and it was always his intention to return. However, since the club’s announcement they had re-signed him for the next two years, it has posed some questions for fans.
First of all, when Keogh officially joins in January, he will be unable to play because all Perth’s visa spots are filled. Diego Castro, Guyon Fernandez, Nebojsa Marinkovic, Gyorgy Sandor and Sidnei currently occupy the five import spots on the Perth Glory team. So why did the club sign a player who may not be available until June?
For Perth Glory CEO Peter Filopoulos, the answer was simple: the club was desperate to bring him back and knowing he had other offers on the table, knew they had to act fast to prevent losing him to another club.
“Once we became aware that Andy’s playing stint at Thai Premier League Club with Ratchaburi had come to an end, we immediately made contact to get him back at the club and re-join his family in sunny Perth. We did not want to wait till the end of the season and risk losing him to another club,” Filopoulos said at Keogh’s unveiling.
Of course, there is the chance the club decides it wants to unleash Keogh now. The Glory sit in ninth spot, with just two wins and nine goals to their name and their season is not exactly flourishing. While bringing back Keogh may not mean they would make the finals, it could give the fans and the rest of the squad a kick-start, raising optimism for next season. But in order to play Keogh, they would have to cut one of their other imports. And who would they release?
Fernandez looms as the most likely candidate. Underwhelming in the limited playing time he has enjoyed, the Dutch-born Curacaoan striker has only scored once in an injury-hit time in Perth. With Castro and Sandor looking like quality signings and Marinkovic and Sidnei having had more impact this season, the bookies’ favourite to make way would probably be Fernandez. But even if the club does buy out his contract to bring in Keogh, they would have to fit those costs PLUS Keogh’s new contract inside the salary cap.
And even if they did release Fernandez, wouldn’t they be where they are now, depth wise? Trading Fernandez for Keogh seems like a great move on the surface, but at the end of the day, it would still leave Perth with just one out-and-out striker. Richard Garcia, Chris Harold and Sidnei have all led the line without Fernandez this season and despite all working hard, none of them are out-and-out strikers and it has shown in front of goal.
If anything, Fernandez may benefit playing alongside Keogh. Having a class striker to work off and play with could take the burden off him up front and relieve some of the pressure which was on his shoulders at the start of the year.
There is also those who would argue it is unwise to bring back Keogh, given he was at the centre of the salary cap scandal. Why bring back a player who was the face of the club’s darkest day? Should Keogh be welcomed back, given the manner of his departure? When asked at the Keogh press conference, Filopoulos responded firmly.
“Something we’ve got to get our heads around here in Perth is we’ve drawn a line in the sand from that (salary cap breach). We’ve moved forward. We’re not looking back. We’re not going to be dragged back into that conversation again and I can’t make that clearer as CEO of this football club,” he said.
It is clear Filopoulos has no intention of re-visiting the past indiscretions which destroyed last season. It was also refreshing to hear someone from the club talk about their vision for the future and it seems Keogh will play a big part in it.
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While it may seem weird to build a squad around a veteran striker, the fact Perth snapped him up for the next couple of seasons, as opposed to a shorter deal, shows they have started planning for the future. Securing a quality striker in his prime is a signal from the club it has a clear goal of how it would like to rebuild. What its method is, we do not know yet, but it should become clearer over time.
Also, it is worth noting this: if the Glory had passed on signing Keogh, a proven player at A-League level who was interested in playing for them, they would have been criticised for it. And it is a sure bet another club, either inside or outside Australia, would have swooped.
So yes, there are still some questions surrounding Keogh in terms of the exact date of his return and whether they should have signed him after last season. But the club has shown it is ready to move forward, ironically by signing a player who was part of its past. For all the off-field drama which surrounded his departure, the one thing Keogh will definitely bring is quality. And that is something Perth Glory have lacked this season.
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