CEO - Shane Richardson

[Tom Shines]

If the HBG was good enough to pull off this coup without getting fleeced you can bet your bottom dollar Richardson was carefully vetted verified and tempered for ideas before he and they signed off.

Lets face it they pulled it off without alienating anyone or screwing themselves in the process . No mean feat with all the gyrations and moving parts.

We now have a football operations manager/CEO to fix us on field with perhaps some fresh faces on the board for new ideas and directions tempered by the HBG backstop.

In all round good hands.

Now to win some games.

Ive heard Richo might have been a little reluctant to take the job …hence the six months only “and let’s see what happens”…my own speculation is that he is doing the NRL a favour….

 

[TIGERS]

If the HBG was good enough to pull off this coup without getting fleeced you can bet your bottom dollar Richardson was carefully vetted verified and tempered for ideas before he and they signed off.

Lets face it they pulled it off without alienating anyone or screwing themselves in the process . No mean feat with all the gyrations and moving parts.

We now have a football operations manager/CEO to fix us on field with perhaps some fresh faces on the board for new ideas and directions tempered by the HBG backstop.

In all round good hands.

Now to win some games.

In all round good hands - for now.

 

[Flippedy]

I know I’m an old codger but Lidcombe will always be the home of my old team, not Campbelltown. I was never comfortable with the Magpies moving to Campbelltown even though I knew it was done for the club to survive - fat lot of good it did in the end.

Campbelltown is Southwest Sydney, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the heritage of Western Suburbs, which was firmly rooted in the Burwood, Strathfield, Homebush and Lidcombe areas. It’s a damn shame we had to be the ones to make the move while all the other inner west teams were able to stay in their heritage areas.

I know it’s the future and what not but I couldn’t care less if we played out of Campbelltown or not. If Leichhardt is too outdated, I’d rather Homebush was our one and only home ground tbh. It’s closer to the heart and heritage of both clubs. For me that’s important, but probably not so much for others or the younger generation of fans.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Ive heard Richo might have been a little reluctant to take the job …hence the six months only “and let’s see what happens”…my own speculation is that he is doing the NRL a favour….

Anythings possible.

But if he signed on to work with a rookie coach for a bottom of the table side only for 6 months that would be a surprise and very disappointing.

Nothing to gain for him.

 

[Tom Shines]

Anythings possible.

But if he signed on to work with a rookie coach for a bottom of the table side only for 6 months that would be a surprise and very disappointing.

Nothing to gain for him.

Hope you are right and he stays longer ..

 

[Magpie_Magic]

I know I’m an old codger but Lidcombe will always be the home of my old team, not Campbelltown. I was never comfortable with the Magpies moving to Campbelltown even though I knew it was done for the club to survive - fat lot of good it did in the end.

Campbelltown is Southwest Sydney, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the heritage of Western Suburbs, which was firmly rooted in the Burwood, Strathfield, Homebush and Lidcombe areas. It’s a damn shame we had to be the ones to make the move while all the other inner west teams were able to stay in their heritage areas.

I know it’s the future and what not but I couldn’t care less if we played out of Campbelltown or not. If Leichhardt is too outdated, I’d rather Homebush was our one and only home ground tbh. It’s closer to the heart and heritage of both clubs. For me that’s important, but probably not so much for others or the younger generation of fans.

Liverpool was ours as per agreement with Wayde back in 86 also.

We were axed 3 times in 5 years without the move hence the wooden spoons. A tough gig. Super league 10 years later.
 

Can’t give anything away anymore.

Keep it all.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

It's funny how your feelings change.... Well. Mine personally anyway, I always try and change with the times adapt etc.

I used to think back in 99 I'd never accept a JV... took ma a few years to come around to it but I was a very pro magpie/WT fan Wests this and Wests that were always very important

Nowadays I couldn't care less if there's no magpie on the sleeve, if reggies are called WTs instead of magpies... We need to grow and move forward .. We can leave our history in the b/ground but it's history, not prominent... We're big boys now we gotta stand on our own

Some. Oldies won't accept this ever... One day though there'll be none left

Similar to me. My connection with the Magpies diminishes more and more each year. Not sure what the Fanatics are up to these days, but I remember around 2012-13ish they were still claiming it was only a matter of time before the Magpies were coming back. Those guys were like Rugby League’s version of QAnon. I remember one dude even admitting his marriage ended over his obsession with trying to bring them back. I think that’s the point I tried to step back from the Wests v Balmain stuff. I really didn’t want to go down that road of living 30 years in the past. There was even a FB page dedicated to Wests v Balmain sledging. I read through it one day and only got as far as some lunatic posting something along the lines of “At least Balmain never had a player dumb enough to have a seizure and drown in the ocean”. I was done after that. So the Magpies I don’t care about these days. I’m still a staunch believer we should be more heavily entrenched in the South West though.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Similar to me. My connection with the Magpies diminishes more and more each year. Not sure what the Fanatics are up to these days, but I remember around 2012-13ish they were still claiming it was only a matter of time before the Magpies were coming back. Those guys were like Rugby League’s version of QAnon. I remember one dude even admitting his marriage ended over his obsession with trying to bring them back. I think that’s the point I tried to step back from the Wests v Balmain stuff. I really didn’t want to go down that road of living 30 years in the past. There was even a FB page dedicated to Wests v Balmain sledging. I read through it one day and only got as far as some lunatic posting something along the lines of “At least Balmain never had a player dumb enough to have a seizure and drown in the ocean”. I was done after that. So the Magpies I don’t care about these days. I’m still a staunch believer we should be more heavily entrenched in the South West though.

Didn't know that about social media. I suppose us Magpies fans endured too much change.......and it was too much for some. Probably explains why I sometimes get attacked here from guys running 5 or 6 accounts.

Luckily this is my only social media account and I nearly recently culled it.

 

[Tom Shines]

Didn't know that about social media.

Luckily this is my only social media account and I nearly recently culled it.

don’t get on Twitter (X)

 

[WesternSuburbsBoy]

Similar to me. My connection with the Magpies diminishes more and more each year. Not sure what the Fanatics are up to these days, but I remember around 2012-13ish they were still claiming it was only a matter of time before the Magpies were coming back. Those guys were like Rugby League’s version of QAnon. I remember one dude even admitting his marriage ended over his obsession with trying to bring them back. I think that’s the point I tried to step back from the Wests v Balmain stuff. I really didn’t want to go down that road of living 30 years in the past. There was even a FB page dedicated to Wests v Balmain sledging. I read through it one day and only got as far as some lunatic posting something along the lines of “At least Balmain never had a player dumb enough to have a seizure and drown in the ocean”. I was done after that. So the Magpies I don’t care about these days. I’m still a staunch believer we should be more heavily entrenched in the South West though.

For me as a young fan who was born after the merger happened I believe the future of the club lies in the Campbelltown/Macarthur area. I really like how Richo spoke about how the area has been neglected by the club & one of the things he will do as CEO is pay more attention to that area. As much as I disliked him as CEO one thing I will give Pascoe credit for was his efforts in securing a Centre of Excellence out in Campbelltown specifically for pathways & juniors.

If we can set up the right development programmes & actively encourage players from out those ways to play Rugby League we can make sure that players from out those ways grow up wanting to play for the Wests Tigers just how anyone in the St Marys area is now growing up wanting to play for Penrith. This is the way forward for the club imo & this is how we become successful.

 

[TIGERS]

I know I’m an old codger but Lidcombe will always be the home of my old team, not Campbelltown. I was never comfortable with the Magpies moving to Campbelltown even though I knew it was done for the club to survive - fat lot of good it did in the end.

Campbelltown is Southwest Sydney, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the heritage of Western Suburbs, which was firmly rooted in the Burwood, Strathfield, Homebush and Lidcombe areas. It’s a damn shame we had to be the ones to make the move while all the other inner west teams were able to stay in their heritage areas.

I know it’s the future and what not but I couldn’t care less if we played out of Campbelltown or not. If Leichhardt is too outdated, I’d rather Homebush was our one and only home ground tbh. It’s closer to the heart and heritage of both clubs. For me that’s important, but probably not so much for others or the younger generation of fans.

I grew up in Campbelltown. I now live in Berlin. - Already met 3 local wests tigers fans here. One runs a burger shop and the other is a quite famous DJ now. I was in a nightclub (berlin nightclub - use your imagination) a few weeks ago with him talking about ruse tavern and 2005, very surreal place to talk about the tigers. I've also spent 8 years of my life living in Leichhardt and Newtown.

I was lucky enough to see loads of games between 1991 and 1999 and for a lot of those the Magpies were great!. The pick of the bunch was in 1996 when we beat Norths and Jason Taylor was playing. Incredible. When I was in Primary School, tommy would come to the school fete and sign posters for us kids non stop. This was the coach of NSW at the time. Nothing about that compares to what happened with Wests Tigers afterwards however. That was incredible. Campbelltown is awesome when done right.

Rugby League is a working class game and it doesn't get any more working class than Campbelltown. Honestly, it would be a great thing and offer so many wonderful experiences to battler families and their kids, to get to see a competitive team in their own backyard week in week out. Magpie, Tiger, whatever. Im for it.

Its about the experience of believing in your team and getting to have those memorable moments - and how those moments make you feel, and how you remember them. Rather than "What is Wests? What is Balmain"?? . Those things are just cultural artefacts.

 

[liltiger]

Similar to me. My connection with the Magpies diminishes more and more each year. Not sure what the Fanatics are up to these days, but I remember around 2012-13ish they were still claiming it was only a matter of time before the Magpies were coming back. Those guys were like Rugby League’s version of QAnon. I remember one dude even admitting his marriage ended over his obsession with trying to bring them back. I think that’s the point I tried to step back from the Wests v Balmain stuff. I really didn’t want to go down that road of living 30 years in the past. There was even a FB page dedicated to Wests v Balmain sledging. I read through it one day and only got as far as some lunatic posting something along the lines of “At least Balmain never had a player dumb enough to have a seizure and drown in the ocean”. I was done after that. So the Magpies I don’t care about these days. I’m still a staunch believer we should be more heavily entrenched in the South West though.

Good post as a former Balmain supporter my view is simple really there is no more Wests or Balmain only Wests Tigers. 100 percent the future is at Campbelltown. Doesn't mean that the areas closer to Sydney aren't important or a part of our make up but Campbelltown is our future. That's the growth area it's where a huge chunk of our juniors will come from. It's time to move on, let go of the past what people are holding on to is nostalgia that no longer exists. I love Leichardt only because of the memories I have with my old man there watching the Tigers. It makes no diffrence where we play it's the nostalgia and memories people miss not the actual place.

 

[jadtiger]

I know I’m an old codger but Lidcombe will always be the home of my old team, not Campbelltown. I was never comfortable with the Magpies moving to Campbelltown even though I knew it was done for the club to survive - fat lot of good it did in the end.

Campbelltown is Southwest Sydney, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the heritage of Western Suburbs, which was firmly rooted in the Burwood, Strathfield, Homebush and Lidcombe areas. It’s a damn shame we had to be the ones to make the move while all the other inner west teams were able to stay in their heritage areas.

I know it’s the future and what not but I couldn’t care less if we played out of Campbelltown or not. If Leichhardt is too outdated, I’d rather Homebush was our one and only home ground tbh. It’s closer to the heart and heritage of both clubs. For me that’s important, but probably not so much for others or the younger generation of fans.

I know another ex magpie supporter who feels similar to the way you do i come from the Balmain side of the equation and would be more than happy to accept Homebush as our one ground as it really does embrace all our heritage and is far more central to our supporters.

 

[LeichhardtTiger]

Anythings possible.

But if he signed on to work with a rookie coach for a bottom of the table side only for 6 months that would be a surprise and very disappointing.

Nothing to gain for him.

Yep, what's weird is that 6 months into 2024 is June 30th. Nowhere near the end of the season so are we setting ourselves up for further upheaval mid-season if he departs? I mean our season may well be over by then anyway. It's one thing to have Junior pathways but surely a Leadership pathway is in order?

 

[Kaito]

I grew up in Campbelltown. I now live in Berlin. - Already met 3 local wests tigers fans here. One runs a burger shop and the other is a quite famous DJ now. I was in a nightclub (berlin nightclub - use your imagination) a few weeks ago with him talking about ruse tavern and 2005, very surreal place to talk about the tigers. I've also spent 8 years of my life living in Leichhardt and Newtown.

I was lucky enough to see loads of games between 1991 and 1999 and for a lot of those the Magpies were great!. The pick of the bunch was in 1996 when we beat Norths and Jason Taylor was playing. Incredible. When I was in Primary School, tommy would come to the school fete and sign posters for us kids non stop. This was the coach of NSW at the time. Nothing about that compares to what happened with Wests Tigers afterwards however. That was incredible. Campbelltown is awesome when done right.

Rugby League is a working class game and it doesn't get any more working class than Campbelltown. Honestly, it would be a great thing and offer so many wonderful experiences to battler families and their kids, to get to see a competitive team in their own backyard week in week out. Magpie, Tiger, whatever. Im for it.

Its about the experience of believing in your team and getting to have those memorable moments - and how those moments make you feel, and how you remember them. Rather than "What is Wests? What is Balmain"?? . Those things are just cultural artefacts.

They let your ass in to Berghain?! Hehe.
Agree that Ctown is the future moving
forward, but we can't forget the inner-west
and that corridor either. A lot of rusted on
Balmain boys & girls who've continued to
show up and are better off economically

 

[Todd Packer]

I know another ex magpie supporter who feels similar to the way you do i come from the Balmain side of the equation and would be more than happy to accept Homebush as our one ground as it really does embrace all our heritage and is far more central to our supporters.

The problem with Homebush is that the state government could decide to tear it down any day depending which way the wind is blowing, then we have another 4 years homeless.

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Ive heard Richo might have been a little reluctant to take the job …hence the six months only “and let’s see what happens”…my own speculation is that he is doing the NRL a favour….

Well that makes the mind boggle Shinesy!

Could this be a disguised way for the NRL to guide our club into the future and really entrench in the South West/Macarthur to ward off soccer & AFL?!

Do you know where Richo lives? Was he in Brisbane prior to this appointment (with his ties to the Brisbane Tigers/Firehawks bid)??

 

[Todd Packer]

Well that makes the mind boggle Shinesy!

Could this be a disguised way for the NRL to guide our club into the future and really entrench in the South West/Macarthur to ward off soccer & AFL?!

Do you know where Richo lives? Was he in Brisbane prior to this appointment (with his ties to the Brisbane Tigers/Firehawks bid)??

He made it pretty clear in his press conference that his strongest football ties are to Brisbane Easts.
If they get a slot in the comp. you can bet on him returning

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

He made it pretty clear in his press conference that his strongest football ties are to Brisbane Easts.
If they get a slot in the comp. you can bet on him returning

Well that won't be for a while you wouldn't think! Happy to have him until then.

 

[supercoach]

The bottom line with our club is, any move to the south west is doomed to fail if they can’t develop a winning NRL team. People will very quickly drop off the bandwagon if we continue to win half a dozen games a year.

We need to develop a strong team than move our focus fully on the South west. At present half the south west probably support Penrith or Parramatta because they have had some recent success. Not saying we wipe the South West till we have a strong team, more we keep going like we are now, or at least till we have a competitive team