Tony Popovic breaks silence on offensive Sydney derby banner

Tony Popovic has broken his silence on the offensive Sydney derby banner.

Wanderers coach Tony Popovic says the game must ‘move on’ from the banner episode.

Tony Popovic has broken his ­silence on the offensive Sydney derby banner, welcoming as ­“fantastic” the responses from Western Sydney and Football Federation Australia and emphasising anti-social behaviour must be eradicated.

The Wanderers on Thursday were fined $20,000 over the sign held aloft by active fans depicting Sydney FC manager Graham ­Arnold engaging in a sex act.

FFA’s decision not to dock the A-League club competition points followed the Wanderers’ belated yet hardline pledge to ban 14 members of its own active supporter group, the Red and Black Bloc, along with its threat to shut down its entire area indefinitely.

“That’s dealt with now, we’ve really got to move on from it,” ­Popovic said yesterday. “The FFA has made a stance, the club has made a stance.

“We’ve got our values at our football club; we’ve got fantastic fans and I think it’s made pretty clear there’s no room for anti-­social behaviour in football, or in sport, or anywhere in general.” ­Popovic admitted to being frustrated the incident stole the headlines away from their drought-breaking Sydney derby triumph.

But while he prickled when pressed over the fans’ history of ­indiscretions, he stressed it was vital to stamp out poor behaviour.

“It’s important that we stamp that out, that’s what we’re trying to do,” he said. “But it’s not just our club trying to do that. In any code of sport, any walk of life in society, that’s a challenge we all have.

“That’s the challenge presented for us, for the league, and we’re doing the very best we can to stamp that out. I think there’s been a fantastic stance by the club and FFA this week, and we’ve got to move on from that.”

The Wanderers face the Glory in Perth tonight, with a win lifting the sixth-placed Wanderers within one point of Kenny Lowe’s side in fifth. The Wanderers then fly straight to China to face Shanghai SIPG in the Asian Champions League on Tuesday.

Some of the squad will then fly back to Sydney to recover for next weekend’s Adelaide game while others will sit out the Perth trip and travel to China direct from Sydney.

Perth coach Kenny Lowe has vowed to stick firm with his team’s attacking mentality tonight, but he’ll be ready to unleash if his players concede any more “crap” goals.

The Glory have scored 38 goals this season, ranking them third in the competition in that department. But their 37 goals conceded is the equal-second worst record in the league.

Lowe knows his team’s attacking style means they are more prone to getting scored against. But he says numerous goals conceded by his team this season have arisen from simple errors.

“What we need to do is stop conceding crap goals,” Lowe said.

The Glory’s attacking game plan has pleased fans this season, with the club surpassing 8500 members — a new A-League ­record for the club. Perth are averaging crowds in excess of 10,700 for home matches, and Lowe is pleased he has been able to give them plenty of goals to cheer about.

AAP