IT was late April 2014 and Perth Glory had just come off a disastrous season where they finished eighth, two points off bottom.
Glory had taken a public bashing after their “worldwide search” for a coach ended with the reappointment of the local who recorded nine losses in 17 games.
Kenny Lowe had begun overhauling the squad in the January (2014) transfer window and was determined to make his last few signings count.
There was no shortage of names offered up by agents, owner Tony Sage and chief executive Jason Brewer, who enjoy the wheeling-dealing aspect attached to negotiations.
Lowe dealt with names, Brewer with the numbers.
Youssouf Hersi, Diogo Ferreira and Dino Djulbic were signed, while Danny Vukovic returned to the club after a failed loan stint in Japan.
But negotiations were well advanced with a far bigger catch.
With over 250 games in England’s top two divisions and 30 Republic of Ireland caps, striker Andy Keogh was offered to A-League clubs at marquee rates but his preference was Perth, where some of his family had already relocated.
After some haggling a two-year, $700,000 deal was struck with Glory.
The Sunday Times understands this deal put Glory at the brink of the $2.55m salary cap and Glory officials, including Brewer, were aware of this.
In coming months, Glory signed Ruben Zadkovich, Mitch Nichols and Richard Garcia.
Glory was well below last season’s $4m wage bill, but at $3.5m they didn’t have any genuine marquee wages like William Gallas, who was believed to be on $800,000 last season.
With the first quarterly salary cap report due in October, Glory officials were scrambling to legitimately fit the impressive 22-man squad in.
Keogh’s season salary was submitted as $160,000 to FFA, while the balance of his $350,000 for this season was paid via third-party rental and car deals.
The Herald Sun understands that there were payments made to two separate Keogh family members, including one of $50,000 — none of these were disclosed to FFA.
It’s believed that this is why Glory chose Serb Nebo Marinkovic as their marquee, despite his salary being less than $250,000.
It’s believed that the payment methods were not disclosed to Keogh until after his family had arrived in Perth and that he was unaware of any illegalities.
At least six players received payments that weren’t disclosed to FFA. Like Keogh, it’s believed that these players were unaware of the looming cap breaches.
Glory had a chance to rectify the situation when the first show-cause notice was issued in December, with the January transfer window looming.
It appeared Brewer remained confident that FFA would not uncover his various payment methods.
Despite the fact Glory claimed they were co-operating with FFA, it’s understood the reason forensic investigators were engaged was because of the club’s lack of co-operation.
Glory’s arrogance and disregard for A-League rules and lack of empathy for the graveness of the situation has been highlighted throughout.
Brewer was prepared to go even further, as they opened negotiations with more players, including Nikita Rukavytsya, who ended up signing with Western Sydney as an Australian marquee.
In the end, even FFA was gobsmacked at the raft of secret, systematic and undisclosed payments after the investigators sifted through thousands of emails and documents.
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Originally Posted by Hunter403
