HBG, Independent Directors Sacked

[area52]

Unfortunately it's worse than that, it's a victim's mentality.

He still believes Wests Magpies doesn't have a fair representation, despite majority ownership and calling the shorts, plus taking over the NSW Cup team.

And then he says "25 years of war"... really, he thinks Magpies and Balmain have always been at war and still are? Including since Balmain was bought out 11 years ago and their clubs subsumed into Wests Ashfield?

Part of me wonders if this is still all about the Tiger brand, that some old folks just can't handle that both clubs agreed the Tiger was more marketable mascot. And you could call it the Western Suburbs Lidcombe Campbelltown Tommy Raudonikis Dallas Donnelly Magpie Black & White Tigers, but they'd still rankle at having Tigers tacked on.

💯

 

[Milky]

Was there a press conference at 12.15?

 

[rex2ce]

If this is true im pleased with it...this will crush him...his ego.and status

But imo Mick Liubinskas is the real threat...he and.lil.sidekick Leo will one day be in control...theres some staunch magpie there more than denis could ever dream of

Edit...but only wts board..need him out of everything

iirc , Liubinskas was the driving force behind magpie return in KOE few years ago

 

[area52]

If this is true im pleased with it...this will crush him...his ego.and status

But imo Mick Liubinskas is the real threat...he and.lil.sidekick Leo will one day be in control...theres some staunch magpie there more than denis could ever dream of

Edit...but only wts board..need him out of everything

Doubt he did it without getting something in return that benefits him

 

[weststigers]

Just wait till the new female board director is announced as Denise Burgeso

Was waiting for DJTrump to do this. Announce his transition to female so he could say he was America's first female president 😅

Could put the Dems in an idealogical dilemma.

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

iirc , Liubinskas was the driving force behind magpie return in KOE few years ago

liubinskas is pro magpie bigtime while he is around it will never be wests tigers one club unfortunately

 

[pawsandclaws1]

BOF said the NRL would eventually intervene if the turmoil continued. It obviously did and PVL's intervention occurred with results. I doubt the independent directors would agree to return unless the NRL have given a guarantee that WTs could continue to position itself as it did before the drama ie its current 15-year strategy for grounds and emphasis on the Southwest growth area - Camden, Narrellan, Oran Park. I'd suggest this mirrors the NRL's strategy for the expansion of the NRL and tv rights with sponsorship. Cash talks and $12m pa dwarfs the HBG $1.4pa.

 

[innsaneink]

Wests Tigers board member quits amid "sexually explicit" Instagram expose​

By SEN

Death, taxes and chaos at the Wests Tigers.
Chairman of the Holman Barnes Group, Dennis Burgess, who serves on the board of the NRL club, has resigned from his position.

It comes just days after it was reported that Burgess followed hundreds of sexually explicit pages on Instagram, though he insists it is not the catalyst behind his decision to step away.
Using the handle "wildmandenny", more than 200 of the 4500 accounts Burgess follows on Instagram display inappropriate content.
“No-one has forced me out, it’s my decision," he told News Corp. “That Instagram page is a relic from my old music life.
“I haven’t touched it since 2017.
“To be clear, I wasn’t ever steering it – someone helping with promotions was driving the account and they likely followed just about everyone to boost the profile.
“Yeah sure, it really should’ve been a generic music handle rather than me, but to me it’s long since been forgotten.
“I wouldn’t say I was hacked, in the technical sense of the word. But I’ve sure been blindsided by it because I was not in control of it.
“At the end of the day, people have jumped on it and weaponised it for their own reasons.”

Burgess' resignation comes just days after the club sacked four board members before being forced to overturn their decision by the NRL.
CEO Shane Richardson was also removed from his position and the club, in the midst of the chaos and instability, looks set to hand Benji Marshall a new contract extending through to 2030.
Burgess has been a director of the Holman Barnes Group since 2001.
It was only in April this year that he was appointed as chairman of the Holman Barnes Group. He has also been serving as a chairman with the Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club.
In his professional life, the former singer has been the chairman of the Australian Songwriters Association since 2003.
With his services to the performing arts and the music industry, he was awarded a medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2024.

Wests Tigers

 

[derekderekson]

https://www.instagram.com/nrl_weststigers/live/17886986994404556
Live press conference

 

[FacePalm]

Burgess stepping down means shit. He will still be pulling the strings at Wests Ashfield.

He has also loaded up the HBG debenture holder group with Allan Fallah, Leo Epifania, and Bob Cairns - prospective HBG board members who bring few skills apart from being staunch Magpie. They are on the Wests board, or in Leo's case, Wests GM.

It's no coincidence he steps down the day before the rally, hoping to take the sting out of it.

HBG need to go. The NRL club board and staff needs to be 100% committed to Wests Tigers.

 

[Kelce68]

Richo won't be back. SM was always his successor, so Richo wouldn't come back and cut his grass now..

Correct mate, Shaun was his heir-apparent.

Hopefully he steps into the chair. Everything we've heard of Shaun is quality.

The only other acceptable candidate would be Brian Fletcher, formerly at Panthers.

 

[KevB]

Various iterations of the WTs' Boards and CEOs successfully negotiated the COE, the UWS COE and upgrades to both Leichhardt and Campbelltown grounds. The upgrades to Leichhardt and Campbelltown alone are worth $100m with major contributions from Federal and State Govt and $10m each from the Inner West City and Campbelltown Councils. The framework is being built for future success and kudos must go to Richardson and Pascoe. We've made remarkable strides in terms of improving facilities and Richardson had a focus towards the SW growth areas. It is very disappointing the inability of some of our leaders to adapt to change. I love Balmain and Wests but those clubs are our heritage, not future.

Hi, Paws our future is South West Sydney, no matter what name or mascot we call it. Locking in any ground for 15 years to get funding needs careful consideration with all parties involved and if HBG, as 90% owners, weren't kept informed, I think it would be disrespectful in my opinion.

 

[Charred]

I reckon this is another bit of damage control by HBG. I am of course happy he is gone from the Tigers board but he is still leading HBG and as evidenced by the events of 2 weeks ago still would have significant influence over the board as HBG can just remove people they don't like. Additionally, with all the new appointees to the Tigers board from the HBG he'd still have a lot of influence over those specific members especially if one ends up being Claire Burgess.

You can see how terrified HBG and the NRL are of the backlash and they're trying to make out as if they are reforming themselves to dissuade people from attending.

They remove the directors which they allegedly had big issues with, only to then agree to NRL terms to re-instate them as long as HBG just increase their numbers to have a majority (in which case the independent directors become pointless).

Then Dennis steps down, except only from one board which is good but he still holds substantial influence.

To the naked eye of a casual observer it looks like the issues have been fixed and everyone should be happy but it's all a smokescreen where they've now managed to gain more control over the club. Don't let any of these facades dissuade you from attending the rally. Enough is enough and HBG have to go.

 

[nrlsurvivor]

Thanks for sharing the press conference link Derek. I only saw the end of it. Will they post the full version at some stage?

 

[liltiger]

Dennis has quit

About time 10 years too late. Muppet might still stir up trouble from the background though. If he remains on the HBG board.

 

[user118245]

New guy seems decent

 

[supercoach]

Richo won't be back. SM was always his successor, so Richo wouldn't come back and cut his grass now..

Yes your right, but the big plan was for SM to take over the ship when all the ground work was completed and the ship was powering ahead, rather than now when it’s run aground and waiting for the salvage team.

I have a lot of confidence in SM but I would have preferred Richo for another 18 months. Although after the last week’s Richo could never have been effective

 

[mtd#2]

Thanks for sharing the press conference link Derek. I only saw the end of it. Will they post the full version at some stage?

I assume it'll be on Wests tigers YouTube soon

 

[UnderTheBus]

I reckon this is another bit of damage control by HBG. I am of course happy he is gone from the Tigers board but he is still leading HBG and as evidenced by the events of 2 weeks ago still would have significant influence over the board as HBG can just remove people they don't like. Additionally, with all the new appointees to the Tigers board from the HBG he'd still have a lot of influence over those specific members especially if one ends up being Claire Burgess.

You can see how terrified HBG and the NRL are of the backlash and they're trying to make out as if they are reforming themselves to dissuade people from attending.

They remove the directors which they allegedly had big issues with, only to then agree to NRL terms to re-instate them as long as HBG just increase their numbers to have a majority (in which case the independent directors become pointless).

Then Dennis steps down, except only from one board which is good but he still holds substantial influence.

To the naked eye of a casual observer it looks like the issues have been fixed and everyone should be happy but it's all a smokescreen where they've now managed to gain more control over the club. Don't let any of these facades dissuade you from attending the rally. Enough is enough and HBG have to go.

I'll say it again. If Dennis Burgess was the chairman of any other organisation, he would be sacked given the events of the past two weeks that he oversaw.

Why has he not been sacked? If they did sack him, it just might be the final straw for liquor and gaming to swoop in a take over the joint. None of the 20 debentures want to lose their status so are treading water very carefully atm.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

Hi, Paws our future is South West Sydney, no matter what name or mascot we call it. Locking in any ground for 15 years to get funding needs careful consideration with all parties involved and if HBG, as 90% owners, weren't kept informed, I think it would be disrespectful in my opinion.

I agree the club's initiatives in the Southwest growth areas, the COE UWS and Campbelltown Oval. I also agree with the WTs Board's decision on Leichhardt Oval. These align imo with the NRL's plans for the expansion of the NRL, tv rights and sponsorship. The NRL via PVL has said the club "will always be Weststigers" and in relation to HBG being kept informed, this is from a SMH article which

"Despite having representation on the Tigers board, HBG claimed it was left out of key decisions such as the team’s stadia policy. It’s a claim that prompted a legal letter from the sacked directors, resulting in a video from HBG chief executive Daniel Paton being taken down from the company’s website".