Property developer makes offer to buy struggling Perth Glory

A Melbourne property developer and owner of sporting teams including a football club in the Italian Serie C has emerged as a serious bidder for Perth Glory.

Ross Pelligra, whose family company Pelligra Group is behind significant commercial and industrial property developments in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, has submitted a non-binding offer to Glory’s receivers KordaMentha.

Ross Pelligra.Credit: Catania SSD

Under the proposed ownership structure, Pelligra would be joined on a board of management by former Socceroos Stan Lazaridis and Vince Grella, investment banker and former Football West chair Liam Twigger and hospitality consultant Michael Di Fulvio, among other WA business figures.

Pelligra’s experience in taking over ownership of Catania FC, where Grella is CEO and deputy chair, is central in the pitch to become the new owners of Glory.

Catania, in Sicily, was once a Serie A powerhouse but went bankrupt and had fallen to the lowest rung of Italian professional football.

The club was reconstituted from a tender process with Pelligra’s backing, and has since been promoted to Serie C in a story that has parallels with Glory’s plight. The Perth club was placed into the hands of receivers KordaMentha last month with the support of former owner Tony Sage after years of losses.

The deadline for bids for the stricken club was Thursday. Pelligra has met with WA state government officials to outline details of the bid, Nine News Perth confirmed.

Perth Glory have struggled for years.Credit: Getty Images

Central to the pitch is reconnecting the Glory to the WA soccer community and its state league clubs. Relations between Perth’s A-League club and WA soccer grassroots had deteriorated over years, hampering the Glory’s ability to attract crowds and financial support.

Exact financial details of the bid are not known but sources suggested there would be a nominal up-front component but with multi-year, multi-million dollar investment commitments to revive a club that is a potential A-League giant.

It was only four years ago that Glory attracted a sell-out 57,000 crowd to Optus Stadium for the 2019 A-League grand final.

The Pelligra links with an Italian club also raise the potential for the exchange of players, programs and technical expertise. Separately, the government has dangled the carrot of a $7 million support package for Glory over five years to the successful bidder.

On top of that, the government has also flagged the possibility of direct marketing and sponsorship support. A spokesman for the Australian Professional Leagues said the bid process had received a “very positive response” with multiple interested parties.

“We’ll have more to share shortly.” he said.

The WA government declined to comment.

This is not Pelligra’s first foray into potential A-League ownership. Earlier this year he pulled out as buyer of Adelaide United after a year of negotiations, and he also backed a failed bid from South Melbourne in the 2018 A-League expansion process.

In addition to Catania FC, Pelligra owns the Adelaide Giants baseball team, Adelaide Lightning women’s basketball team, and ice hockey teams in Adelaide and Canberra.

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