Disgruntled: Glory veteran Jacob Burns was nonplussed when left on the bench for last weekend's match in favour of Edwards' son, Ryan. Credit:Getty Images Edwards was sacked on Tuesday night after the anger of senior players over a number of decisions taken by the coach – a former Socceroo and Perth player – came to a head. Not the least of those was the coach’s decision to sign his two boys, Ryan and Cameron. The former, aged 20, is on a season long-loan from English championship side Reading. He was a member of Australia’s under-20 team at the under-20 World Cup. Edwards snr had been part of the national team coaching staff for two years before he took the Glory job following the sacking of Ian Ferguson and his assistant Stuart Munro in February. Cameron Edwards is 18 months older than his sibling. Like Ryan, he too went to Reading – when they were in the English Premier League – but he was released by the club in May last year. Cameron went to Melbourne Heart and spent last season with the Victorian club’s youth team, but did not play any first-team games. He, too, was signed by his father a couple of months after Edwards senior took over at the Glory.

Now there is nothing intrinsically wrong with a father signing his son. But the player has to be worth his place. Nobody complained when Jason Culina (subsequently a regular with PSV Eindhoven and a Socceroos stalwart for six years) was a teenage prodigy helping Sydney United to National Soccer League success under the coaching of his father, Branko. There will always be issues of perception; unless the player is a standout. And, on what we have seen so far, neither of the Edwards lads are standouts, although anyone who represents their country at junior level and gets signed up by a then-Premier League club clearly has something going for them. But unless they come to the club at which their father is the boss and immediately make a difference, the finger is likely to get pointed – particularly if results have not been good or there is disquiet among the senior players. Edwards snr is a calm, well-spoken man who has also forged a career outside football, having won election to the City of Cockburn Council in Perth between 2002 and 2006. Unusually for a footballer, he also has a degree, having completed an MBA at Perth’s Edith Cowan University. He is widely regarded as thoughtful and analytical, so it is hard to believe he would not have anticipated the sort of problems caused by signing his two boys. Certainly the decline of his relationship with club captain and Jacob Burns, which was shot to pieces after the Glory stalwart was left on the bench for the Victory match in favour of Edwards’s sons, was a significant contributing factor in his sacking.

Loading Burns is a tough, combative, no-nonsense individual who calls a spade a spade. He has a great playing pedigree. He spent three years at Leeds when the club was challenging for the Premier League title and made 11 appearances for the national side. Now 35, Burns’ future is behind him, but he and his senior colleagues still feel he can make a major contribution and lend leadership and drive to a team which is being rebuilt – he is, after all, a player who was awarded the Marston Medal for best afield in a grand final only 20 months ago. Burns and Edwards fell out spectacularly. According to witnesses, Burns was shouting to anyone who would listen on Friday night – as he trooped away an unused substitute after Glory’s loss – that ‘‘the only way I will get a game in this team is if I change my name to Edwards’’. Edwards may have learnt a valuable lesson: that, unless you are successful or your sons are key players, signing them can be more trouble than it’s worth.