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

[Jux]

Highly unlikely that the debenture system is ever removed from the HBG.

If it’s in the clubs constitution, then members can change it (if required % is attained).

 

[PrattenParkMagpie]

I agree with Innsaneink in that your post was very divisive.
I don't understand how someone that claims to be from the Magpies side of the JV can be so encouraging and strong in solidarity, not of WTs, but of your Balmain 'brothers and sisters'.

Scolding someone over a divisive comment with a divisive comment, seriously flawed.

"Solidarity" and "Balmain 'brothers and sisters'", sounds like a 70's militant union leader on his soapbox.

 

[hammertime]

No they don't automatically come with a board seat. However a certain number ( can't remember how many ) of board seats at HBG have to come from the current debenture holders and are only voted in by the pool of debenture holders.

I meant when you said that they are commonly used in clubs. Wondering if the HBG setup with a capped exclusive group of 20, privy to 5 board seats is normal.

It basically gives directorship of public clubs to a privy few with the financial means. Doesn't pass the sniff test to me.

If it's not illegal, it should be.

 

[hammertime]

That was the recommendation from the Crawford/ Barnier review last year. 7 seat Wests Tigers Board with 4 independents and 1 seat each for the ownership group.

This is what we are still waiting to be implemented.

Maybe 9 with +1 HBG seat and +1 independant would be more palatable and/or for them to be able to remove the board with a unanimous vote at HBG level.

 

[Big Red]

I have actually told you previously that I'm a long term lurker.
Most normal people don't enjoy the abuse that comes with involvement.

Normal people don’t get abused, it’s a well run forum for normal people.

Thanks for the details RBS 👍
I very honestly 110% did not know what happened to cochise even though Canberratiger thinks I should.
I very honestly pondered if he had been sacked because of his bad attitude and unsuitability as a mod or whether it was due to the serious health issues I had been told he had.

I think you might need to take a break mate. Posts like this are not in the spirit of the forum.

 

[hammertime]

In this reply to @Magpie_Magic, you said Burgess and Romero are a faction within the board with controlling power.
Can you or anybody give me a reasonable, realistic and fair reason why Wests Magpies shouldn't have controlling power, as they own 90% of WTs.

I think the question I'd ask back is, do we want to win?

If HBG was setup such that there was accountability in the directors, then i think that would be fine. The challenge we have is that we have a group of 20 debenture holders, capped, who are a limited pool of capability, and while may be well intentioned, have little acumen to run WT, and have demonstrated instability over decades.

The challenge is the word "ownership". Do these people own WT? The answer is no. All clubs are supposed to act in the best interests of the community and the current structure doesn't provide those optimal outcomes of a well run football club.

HBG should keep all veto power. They own it (which will not change) and need to pull it back from the cliff if needed. But for them to grow their asset and provide positives for their community, they need to step back and find the best talent for the board, much like we try to do for the field.

 

[BZN]

Names / symbols mean something to some people- as a person with bonds / memory of the Magpies and their symbol - the Magpie. Ive got no desire for the symbol to be at the NRL level but I'd like the Magpie to be at the KOE level. My preference.

People may recall I recently posted a suggestion we go further with the Outlaw / Bushranger theme / symbol to get over the symbolism of previous clubs- Tiger and Magpie. Im sorry but I feel at present if we get rid of the Magpie at KOE and its all Tiger, Ive lost something. Im not pressing, or wanting Magpie at NRL but whats wrong with giving a dog a bone with the Magpie at KOE level? If we loose the Magpie at KOE level I'd be really thinking about a new symbol- as I said I like the Bushranger. Anyway, just my 2 cents worth.

AND back to the thread point, yes something has to be done about the Board and hold their feet to the fire until these 3 independents are announced and in place.

View attachment 18462

I like your thinking mf. A name change could solve a lot of problems. I'd go along with that.

 

[BZN]

Pretty sure there are exactly zero folks here who want to see a return to Balmain Tigers.

Why do Balmain Tigers (or Western Suburbs Magpies) even still exist as entities? Completely unnecessary.

PB...the Balmain people don't need to return to Tigers. They have that name covered already in Wests Tigers, but how many people do you know that follow a reserve grade side and how many people do you know that put up the Wests chant when the Tigers are playing.
Wests Magpies have very little soul left and people on here want to take that a step further and delete the name from reserve grade and every other grade as well 😡.
Zero care or consideration shown by those people Imo.

 

[BZN]

I did. I asked you to elaborate on what it is you found so objectionable in my posts. Following me around laughing at my posts is your prerogative, but if you choose to engage with me, at least put your point across for discussion.

Now c'mon weststigers. You do a really great post, then you follow up with a comment that sounds like your upset by a couple of laughing emojis. Have you seen how many laughing emojis I've received the last few days, and I have no doubt I'll cop some more for this post.

 

[weststigers]

PB...the Balmain people don't need to return to Tigers. They have that name covered already in Wests Tigers, but how many people do you know that follow a reserve grade side and how many people do you know that put up the Wests chant when the Tigers are playing.
Wests Magpies have very little soul left and people on here want to take that a step further and delete the name from reserve grade and every other grade as well 😡.
Zero care or consideration shown by those people Imo.

The time to protest losing your club was the same time Souths fans were marching the streets to get reinstated.

Not a peep from Wests or Balmain fans as we were happy to take the money with a hope we could drag our teams off the bottom of the ladder after 10-20 years of relative failure. It ended up paying off in only 5 years. Most of us had never seen our team win a grand final until then. I remember being devastated in 1989 as a 6 year old and 2005 was an amazing moment for me and I'm sure the fans of both clubs.

Keeping separations of Wests Tigers and Magpies (and Balmain in the past) in KOE to appease the old supporters isn't going to help us moving forward. We need to unify as much as we can.

Changing the name to the Bushrangers or whatever might make you feel better about it because you feel the losses are even across both sides, but it just creates the same issue. It shold be Wests Tigers from top to bottom. There just seems to be a ledger mentality about the issue and it's just going to hold us back for longer.

 

[weststigers]

Now c'mon weststigers. You do a really great post, then you follow up with a comment that sounds like your upset by a couple of laughing emojis. Have you seen how many laughing emojis I've received the last few days, and I have no doubt I'll cop some more for this post.

I'm not upset at all. He was speaking in riddles and I was genuinely confused as to what his problem was. Turns out he made a lot of assumptions and took things out of context. Nothing to see here, but appreciate your concern as always. Thanks for checking in.

 

[BZN]

After 25 years, I must say, that I truly find the whole Balmain/Wests thing tiresome.

Am I surprised that it is still a thing? Nope.

How could I be when it is seared into my memory coming home on the bus from the best night of my life (excluding the birth of my daughters) - Sunday October 2, 2005 - that all I heard was an old dinosaur complain about the size of his old teams logo on the jersey of the winning team. Champ, you had just won the freaking Premiership and that's what you want to talk about? Not about the flick pass or Patty Richards swatting away the puny little Cowboy man to score the try?

Now please dont go me Magpie people, there are plenty of crusty old Balmain dinosaurs out there too and I am sure that you can give the forum an anecdote from your experience. I only refer to it because they are the problem: the dinosaurs of Balmain and Wests.

I will not wear my Balmain jersey to a Wests Tigers game. My team is the Wests Tigers. Has been since 2000.

Anyways, that's my little rant for the day.

After three spoons, I am excited about 2025. Hopefully we can start winning games and these sort of issues get put where they belong: into the bin.

You don't show any empathy or compassion for your Magpie brothers do you ST.
Old dinosaur Magpie followers like me lost our identity with the JV.
And you want to winge about something that happened 20 years ago to an old dinosaur feeling sad about a tiny Magpie on the jersey being the only meaningful recognition of the team he followed for the previous 30 or 40 years.
He at least wasn't so one eyed that he refused to go and watch the Tigers play.

 

[hammertime]

Would we accept being able to select our spine from a random pool of 20 state cup players?

Then why do we accept it for our board?

 

[pawsandclaws1]

This post is poor form mate.

Mate you have my support and many forum members.

 

[Jolls]

You don't show any empathy or compassion for your Magpie brothers do you ST.
Old dinosaur Magpie followers like me lost our identity with the JV.
And you want to winge about something that happened 20 years ago to an old dinosaur feeling sad about a tiny Magpie on the jersey being the only meaningful recognition of the team he followed for the previous 30 or 40 years.
He at least wasn't so one eyed that he refused to go and watch the Tigers play.

BZN

You are so right. Wests Tigers must be completely unrecognizable to any former Magpies fans. I mean, who could possibly connect the dots between the "Wests" in the name, the Magpie proudly sitting on the shoulders of the sleeves, and the black and white incorporated into the colors? Clearly, we've abandoned everything about the Magpies legacy. 🙄

But hey, don't let a few obvious nods to history stop the narrative that we’ve erased it all. It's not like the club merged two histories to honour both or anything... oh, wait....

my favorite part? Given you have obviousely been keeping score since the merger, your (Wests Magpies) 90% ownership of the club, run by "Wests Magpies" debenture holders has generously given Wests Tigers a clown show administation that is 100% responsible for the last three wooden spoons. That’s true selflessness—letting everyone ignore the fact that both sides of the JV were struggling long before the merger.

Clearly, Wests Magpies were on the cusp of a dynasty back then.

Thank goodness the Wests Tigers came along and saved you from so much success!

 

[finnzo]

I was thinking last night do we really need or want a board? Why not just have 1 chairman and Richo as CEO and they just work together less people to have to deal with way easier to get things done. I understand there would be issues if the CEO wasn’t as experienced as Richo.

 

[diedpretty]

Which Club?

Wests Ashfield. Now HBG.

 

[diedpretty]

How does a club that doesn’t just operate 1 club but multiple , so it’s a multi million dollar business , have a debenture setup in the first place in 2024?
How are these people proven to not just be skilled enough to keep the lights open at Ashfield but skilled enough to expand the business and continue growth , as per most business’ responsibility , usually tot just shareholders ?
This is a serious question. I honestly don’t understand how these people are vetted . How hasn’t the club imploded by simple popularity votes ? Is there some mechanism to prevent it ?
Does anyone actually know the answer to this ?

There is the argument that they have expanded the business. They have added new clubs, increased revenue. They have increased their property holdings outside of the clubs.. Admittedly it's all been achieved on the back of pokies and the takeover of Balmain remaining assets. But that's business. This is only HBG - nothing to do with WT.

 

[diedpretty]

It would have been Wests Magpies.


Unless you create a separate class of shareholder (or member) with greater voting rights for the debenture-holders.

HBG only has 177 general members, 6 Life Members and 389 Perpetual Members. The other 30,000 are Social Members. I don't know what the breakup of voting rights/privileges is.

No it's Wests Ashfield. The actual club building only came about in the early fifties.

 

[diedpretty]

Guess the problem starts there?There the 1's to be leaned on for change,will they be shut down under the new secret review if all go's to plan

No. However the point of the review was to remove HBGs complete power over Wests Tigers. To make WT more independent but still owned by HBG.