Glory’s Tony Popovic has no time for sentiment against Wanderers

Tony Popovic took the Wanderers to some great times but now he wants to knock them over for three points.

Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic: ‘We want the people to expect the club to be among the top four but there is no time limit on success.’ Picture: AAP

As their inaugural coach, Tony Popovic took Western Sydney Wanderers to dizzy heights and ruled Wanderland like it was his kingdom.

There are plenty who will tell you Popovic was the heart and soul of the Red and Blacks, building a team from scratch and taking them to some remarkable success, including a Premiers Plate in their debut season, three grand finals and an Asian Champions League title during his five seasons at the club.

Few envisaged the Wanderers without Popovic at the helm.

But football and sentiment don’t mix, especially when ambition beats strong in the heart of a player or coach.

And like players, coaches move on, seeking bigger and better things. There is a job to do and Popovic is no different, who finds himself at Perth Glory after a short and unsuccessful stint in Turkey.

It is why he will barely allow himself to think about the past, or the what-ifs, when he sits on the sidelines tomorrow at NIB Stadium in the opening round of the A-League season.

It was going to happen sooner or later, but as fate would have it, Popovic faces the Wanderers first up in what is going to be an early indication of where Glory are at.

His job is to turn around the fortunes of the West Australians — a club that have promised so much in the past but delivered little in the previous 13 seasons of the national competition.

That is something he was more comfortable discussing yesterday rather than the old connection with the Wanderers.

“The Wanderers will always be a special club for me,” Popovic said succinctly. “But they won’t be special during game.

“I just want the three points, then I will speak to friends (still at the Wanderers) after that.”

As professional as always, Popovic then quickly moved on to the job at hand.

“The club has been starved of success and I want to change that,” he said.

“We don’t want hope any more. We want the expectation at the club to be as high as possible.

“We want the people to expect the club to be among the top four but there is no time limit on success.

“If you want to challenge with the best then you have to improve in every aspect. It takes time to build a club that is consistently battling for honours.

“We are on the right track and everyone is on board trying to make the club better.

“What we have done in the four months (of the pre-season) has pleased me, but there is still a lot of work to do.”

And what does he expect from his former team?

“I expect a tough game,” he admitted.

“I haven’t seen much of them, just a few games from the (FFA) cup.

“They have a new manager and are working their way to getting to understand what he wants and how he wants them to play.

“I know a few players that are still there and I know the quality in that dressing room.”

Popovic will be without injured key attackers Diego Castro, Chris Harold and Brendon Santalab, leaving the question as to where Perth’s goals will come from.

Popovic didn’t seem fazed, expressing confidence in “the collective” to get the job done.

“It needs to be a collective effort. It is something we have worked hard on in the pre-season when we had (striker) Andy Keogh out for a long time.

“We have tried to find ways to create chances and if we create those chances then I believe we have got the players that can score the goals.”

The Wanderers, who have had a mixed pre-season, will go into the game with their own problems.

German import Patrick Ziegler is still sidelined with a knee problem and veteran Mark Bridge will be out for at least another eight weeks with the recurrence of a calf problem.