Taking a wrecking ball to the club! (Recent Media Reports)

[BAGNF05]

the board can get rid of him should they choose.. so they really “run” the place in one sense of the word

I think that would signal the end of the club and probably my support too.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

We can't be repping "One Jungle" as the club slogan with all this in fighting & back stabbing.

Common Ground needs to be the focus and that's simply the brand and achieving ongoing success.

I cannot see how the toxic culture we continually see at board level can be ignored any longer.

Time for anyone who doesn't want to be a part of the brand to step down 🙂

It was a media beat up.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

100,000 fans will hit streets in protest if Tigers kicked out of merger, says Balmain legend
By Christian Nicolussi
December 14, 2024 — 3.42pm

Balmain legend Ben Elias says 100,000 fans will hit the streets in protest, as South Sydney supporters did at the turn of the century, if the club’s majority owner attempts to replace the Wests Tigers joint venture with Wests Magpies.

This masthead on Friday reported on the latest drama playing out behind the scenes at the Holman Barnes Group, the majority owner of Wests Tigers, and how at least one director held grave fears for the future of the Tigers-Magpies merger.

Former HBG chairman-turned-director Tony Andreacchio, one of three members currently suspended, wrote to several members via text message: “Their [HBG] misguided ambition is to see the Western Suburbs Magpies replace the Wests Tigers in the NRL competition.”

Elias was stunned talk of a divorce continued to surface after nearly 25 years of marriage between Balmain and Wests, rating the chances of Wests Magpies returning to the NRL about as good as “the Balmain Tigers coming back”.

“And the suggestion that this group now wants the return of the Wests Magpies instead of the continuation of the Wests Tigers as an NRL entity is simply outrageous,” Elias said. “It demonstrates a complete disrespect to our passionate fans, our players and the NRL.

“If this mob wants the Wests Magpies to return, and that is their brief for the future, you can expect 100,000 fans to take to the streets and protest, just like South Sydney fans did when their team was kicked out of the competition [in 1999].

“The article in the Herald explained that the HBG is controlled by 18 debenture holders. In turn, the HBG controls the Wests Tigers.

“The debenture system at the HBG is archaic. It lacks both democracy and lacks merit. It means that our great fans and supporters have no voice with respect to the running of our great club. The debenture system must be scrapped.

“Our great club deserves the best possible stewardship. Unfortunately, we are a far cry from that. And regrettably, it impacts our on-field performance.

“It’s just farcical. I also can’t see the ARL Commission and [chairman] Peter V’landys allowing this to happen.”

Fellow Balmain legend Garry Jack, said: “We’re in this together, and if you look back through history, Wests weren’t that strong at the turn of the century. They were on their knees. We were a stronger club at the time, but we formed an allegiance and became the Wests Tigers. They should not forget the past. I’m offended when I hear talk of a push to have the Wests Magpies replace Wests Tigers.”

The HBG board is separate to the Wests Tigers board, but any decisions will have a direct impact on the NRL club.

The Tigers and the other 16 clubs recently signed licence agreements with the NRL, which will expire in 2034. Even if Wests Magpies wanted to return, they would first need to convince the ARLC why they should revoke the Wests Tigers licence.

HBG chair Julie Romero could not be contacted on Friday, but said via a prepared statement on Saturday: “The Holman Barnes Group slogan is ‘be true to the review’, and we mean it. Our commitment is to the West Tigers and ensuring the Wests Tigers is positioned for success. Seeing reports suggesting anything other than our total commitment to the club is disappointing.

“We will not be moving away from Wests Tigers and to claim that is fiction. The group is disappointed to see damaging inaccuracies reported.”

In the same statement, it said the HBG’s formal investigation into the alleged misconduct of three individuals who held directorships on the boards, including Andreacchio, Dave Gilbert and Rick Wayde, was almost complete. The investigation was conducted by a third party. Included in some of the “trivial claims” levelled against the trio was that an official’s wife had been called “darl”, and telling another she was in the wrong corporate box at a game.

Andreacchio would not comment on Friday about the text message he had sent, but did say: “All I will say is that my only concern is the best interests of the Wests Tigers. Some on the board couldn’t cope with losing their blazers as part of the review. If I was a passionate Wests Tigers fan, of which I am, I would be very worried about the future of the merger.”

Elias must have got the 100k numbers from the Pascoe school of business.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Yep ! But the problem is , if the board itself is inept and corrupt and needs replacing then there’s very few avenues that can be taken to replace them . Everyone else has someone above them , to hold them accountable . There’s simple nothing like that with the debenture set up at HBG.
Even most boards have to be accountable to the shareholders .
When this ticket got voted in at start of the year , anyone with brain knew this was coming . And the fact that Burgess couldn’t hack being removed from the tigers board after the revue , and then proceeded to politic to get back on , is vile .
He’s a 60-70 year old man. Simply for that reason alone , he shoulldnt be allowed on . I don’t understand how a key figure on a board , that needed an external review to have thier processes corrected and moved into the 21st century , can find his way back onto that board after his removal .
It’s disgusting . And hilariously liquor and gaming are now after them for thier incompetence.
How can the ARLC not hold the current HBG board with a no confidence vote .
Everything they’re doing is not in the best interest of the ARLC.

60 to 70 year old huh.

That should disqualify Richardson then.

 

[batboy]

So, if you can't decide if you were respected or not 🤔 how can we have confidence in you to make the right and important decisions on behalf of all Wests Tigers supporters.

Should we leave it with the likes of you?
- Who's clearly not a Wests Tigers supporter.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Romero’s put out a statement indicating she’s going to back the review. that’s that. if she backflips her regime won’t survive.

long live Wests Tigers. god bless my Balmain brothers and sisters.

Say's it all really.

The gaslighting in here lol.

But God bless your honesty jrtiger.

This surely is the post of the year.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Did they really spell the name of the club wrong in their own press release?

Says it all about their professionalism.

They are trying to appease @Bellend .

He always refers to the West Tigers that way. 😀

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Not really ? lol just some troll on this forum who’s clearly a massive loser has all those and more covered … how sad to come on a wests tigers forum and gloat and death ride for the return of a club that was soo bad it had to merge with anyone to survive .
I hope it comes back .you and your 2 friends can all hold hands and skip your way into the ground . While the rest of us move on with our lives. As you know that club disappeared 25 years ago !!!!
it’s like lying in bed pining for your high school girl friend whilst you’re thinking about what your going to do for your 50th birthday in a few years . It’s lame …

Sounds like you......and your mate @The Fresh Oil . 😉

Been a while since you bought him out.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

There is a lot of misinformation and confusion on this site about what is going on here. The facts are pretty straightforward. The HBG under the Chairmanship of Andreacchio and with the support of Gilbert and Wayde initiated the review which resulted in the dissolution of the former WT Board and the removal of Hagipantelis as Chair and Pascoe as CEO. Note that this cost these 3 directors their own positions at Wests Tigers but they were happy to support this for the good of the Club). The new CEO, Shane Richardson was appointed and O'Farrell was appointed as Chair. The Review also required the rapid appointment of a high quality Board of independent directors. Then fairly soon after this there I believe that there was a coup at the HBG Board and Romero was appointed Chair and Burgess Deputy. While Romero made statements that she supported implementation of the Review's recommendations, the fact that it has taken all year to appoint the 'high quality independent directors' and it still hasnt happened, does not give you much confidence that she and Burgess are supportive of such quality independent Board appointments. (In fact, I understand that the previous executive search firm put forward several high quality names many months ago, but the process was constantly delayed and deferred. And just recently they started again from scratch on a search process). Andreacchio's comments about 'people who are upset about losing their blazers' is a clear reference to other board members. There have also been some suggestions that Chairman Fedora may somehow be involved in this whole situation behind the scenes in order to get revenge and that Romero and Burgess may be beholden to him - however so far there is no evidence to support this. The whole 'investigation' into misbehaviour by Andreachhio, Wayde and Gilbert appears to clearly be a sham designed to have them removed from the HBG Board, so that the HBG Board can introduce other people who align with certain directors' interests - and that would almost certainly be highly detrimental to the Club's future. The structure of the ownership of the Club is broken - the whole debenture situation is ridiculous, archaic and actually from a legal standpoint highly questionable. The Constitution obviously needs to be rewritten to bring it, and the ownership structure of the Club, into line with 21st century business practices and proper governance.

The losers are the members and fans. We finally have a CEO who is highly professional, works incredibly hard, is highly respected in the NRL community and has achieved more in less than 12 months than previous administrators achieved in 12 years. We have the highest quality Chairman in the NRL. We need to appoint genuinely high quality independent directors with business acumen and intelligence. We are finally getting the recruitment right in terms of talent, structure and terms of the contracts. We are finally attracting very high quality sponsors and treating them with respect. We are finally doing something about capturing our vast junior areas and developing them. And we are finally engaging professionally with the south-west Sydney corridor. All in 12 months!! These are remarkable achievements. In summary, we are no longer a 'basket case' (which is how many very senior NRL officials referred to the club under previous administrations). We are finally earning respect. We finally have an administration and Club set-up that quality players wish to join. We finally have something to look forward to. We finally have hope!

And yet the clear suggestion is that some directors appear to want to tear it all down simply because their egos are bruised. Seriously?!! If these people care about this Club, as they claim to do, they themselves would step aside, let Barry O'Farrell and a professional executive search firm finalise the appointments of high quality genuinely independent directors and let the Club finally move forward.

For the sake of the long-suffering members, the fans, the players and the Club.

Baz was virtually confirmed by Richardson outside the process.

He must have little to do with the confirmation of other directors.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

All new board members must have had no previous involvement with HBG or any of their board members.
They must be independent or else their position is tainted from the offset

That would disqualify Barry then.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

It's amazing how many of the older generation are actually all for the joint venture splitting. What they don't realise is most of the supporters will work if it happens.

Bout time some bludgers got a job.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

What on earth are you talking about?

Both Wests and Balmain fans had their hearts ripped out once before and 90% plus don't want that disaster to happen again.

The fans that refused to support the merger have already left. The others accepted it. In fact, I'd say most Balmain fans were pretty happy about being able to hold onto the Tigers name. It's the Magpies that were shafted in that regard.

Most realise there is an entire generation of Wests Tigers supporters that don't know anything about the foundation clubs.

There is no agenda by any fan to see a return to either club. I would say the biggest argument here is whether the home ground should be at Leichhardt or Campbelltown. There's a bit of nostalgia in that discussion, but the current crop of fans have their opinions on this too.

Most of us crave an organisation free from the old agendas so we can move on and move forward.

Not good if fans have been shafted right?

And this is about how the Wests Tigers are seen right?

 

[hammertime]

Baz was virtually confirmed by Richardson outside the process.

He must have little to do with the confirmation of other directors.

The CEO has no power to confirm a chairman or any director

 

[hammertime]

That would disqualify Richardson then.

Richardson is not on the board

 

[Magpie_Magic]

RBS -
Staged crisis? Like in exploitation? Of who? Could you please elaborate on that. Are you saying that this is not real? Then what is its purpose. Dont rush to answer. Just would appreciate your expansion. I never thought of it this way. Like it is staged. But it would make total sense. And non sense. Are the Wests Tigers powerbrokers stoking public fear to keep us fans separated in the background and divided in order to justify their private infighting? Like they are saying - look im right- just go to the forum - look at em all - fighting amongst one another- Balmain and Wests!!!! As a board member its all about the fans. The powerbrokers said. John Howard Syndrome? Again. The fans took the bait. What folly we are. No wonder we have no say. It seems we are no better than them.


In 2001 during the infamous “Children Overboard” affair, Australian Prime Minister John Howard alleged that asylum seekers were throwing their children into the sea in order to be rescued by Australian authorities. A subsequent Senate inquiry found that no children were put at risk in this way. Nevertheless, the actions of Howard have gone down in Australian history and attracted significant criticism as being a manufactured, preelection immigration crisis, stoking public fears about the character of those who sought asylum in Australia (Marr & Wilkinson, 2004). In essence, the argument is that political party interest and electoral calculation was put before principles of civility, fairness, and responsibility. ( Remind you of anyone?)

Many crisis are staged.

Both the feeble fantastic furphys ,the fantasies about bringing back Wests or Balmain are just attempts to shape the new board.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Eggs have to be broken to make an omelet

I prefer them sunny side up. 😀😀😀

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

Baz was virtually confirmed by Richardson outside the process.

He must have little to do with the confirmation of other directors.

Interested to hear your stance on how the Wests Tigers board & governance should be set up @Magpie_Magic?

From my perspective, the club needs to stick solid with having the review recommendations implemented with as much independence on the board as possible - a modern, skill-diverse board who can leave the past behind & move forward to become the best club we can be.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Why is Burgess not being called out on here? You you only have to have a whiff of some previous affiliation to Balmain to be labelled a sympathiser - whatever that means- with not one ounce of power to change anything and yet here we have a Director accused of talking about bringing the Magpies back.

He should've but the HBG press release is enough.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Of course he is, He was in the Masters Apprentices at the death - Didn't you know?
And his brother was in AC/DC for a bit....
AND he's an uneducated Magpies Fossil,

What's not to like?

What evidence do you have about Burgess?

Remember the vitriol on here went the late Mike Bailey was appointed.

Did you like Marina Go?

 

[batboy]

What evidence do you have about Burgess?

Remember the vitriol on here went the late Mike Bailey was appointed.

Did you like Marina Go?

Evidence that he's not educated?