CEO - Shane Richardson

[twentyforty]

I think a lot of Tigers fans are confusing Richo with Santa Clause.
What can he do in 6 months?
He may be older than Sheens but still has a sharp mind and his decisive leadership persona, but by the time he identifies various organisational behaviours which need redirection, will he have time to oversee any of his plans implemented?
Richo’s great quality is staying the course, which is totally opposite to the HBG DNA, and when he’s gone what assurances do we have that WT will stay the course? Stick to the plan? We’re more likely to have a new 5 year plan every new season. Is this just one of those?

 

[StarswithStripes]

As I mentioned a long time ago, the NRL actually owns the Wests Tigers brand, and the only way they could get involved is if they thought the brand was being compromised.
Maybe, just maybe, PVL and AA quietly worked behind the scenes as far as what has transpired , and the release of the “report” gave them the cover to move ahead.
Only speculation but it’s not that far fetched. Maybe they spoke with Richo and Barry O. behind the scenes. As I say maybe ?

Love the theory. Probably true.

 

[StarswithStripes]

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.

I left my Magpie baggage at the door at season end 1999. I looked forward to success with Wests Tigers and it gave me relief knowing I didn’t have a choice but to leave the past behind. Fast forward 23 years and with this week’s announcements, I can look forward again. I just hope the days of interclub rivalry leading to bad management decisions and lack of success are truly over.

 

[LUPO]

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.

…and I hope Richo makes the obvious change that all our junior teams come under the ONE banner of Wests Tigers. I’m an old Balmain boy but I’m all for moving out of Leichhardt permanently and setting up home in the Macarther region. One town, one team

 

[GNR4LIFE]

I’d imagine, at the very least, if he doesn’t plan to stick around, he’ll be heavily involved in deciding who his successor will be. And I doubt he’d hand the keys over to someone incompetent.

 

[twentyforty]

…and I hope Richo makes the obvious change that all our junior teams come under the ONE banner of Wests Tigers. I’m an old Balmain boy but I’m all for moving out of Leichhardt permanently and setting up home in the Macarther region. One town, one team

It would be great! Like getting a stent in the left ventricle, you breath a lot easier.

 

[Merlot]

It would be great! Like getting a stent in the left ventricle, you breath a lot easier.

i got what you describe 6 years ago

 

[twentyforty]

I got what you describe 6 years ago

Hope its going really well mate. A friend Got it too.

 

[Tom Shines]

I think a lot of Tigers fans are confusing Richo with Santa Clause.
What can he do in 6 months?
He may be older than Sheens but still has a sharp mind and his decisive leadership persona, but by the time he identifies various organisational behaviours which need redirection, will he have time to oversee any of his plans implemented?
Richo’s great quality is staying the course, which is totally opposite to the HBG DNA, and when he’s gone what assurances do we have that WT will stay the course? Stick to the plan? We’re more likely to have a new 5 year plan every new season. Is this just one of those?

Does anyone know the answer … apart from Richo himself ?

Maybe just wait and see what happens … he may stay a couple of years if they are lucky …so hopefully that will be enough to get the foundations in place and maybe he even can find his successor

 

[TYGA]

Richo has committed to 6 months with full authority. It’s smart given our history if he gets road blocks he walks if he can build I’d say he stays for 2 years and grooms his successor.

 

[liltiger]

…and I hope Richo makes the obvious change that all our junior teams come under the ONE banner of Wests Tigers. I’m an old Balmain boy but I’m all for moving out of Leichhardt permanently and setting up home in the Macarther region. One town, one team

Great point I totally forgot about that aswell, our juniors should all be under the Wests Tigers banner, might be a bit harder to sort out though, I'd imagine seeing as Holman Barnes are the ones funding things that they might be against removing the wests Magpies completely, but I'm of the opinion that from the removal of the board everything now should just be Wests Tigers. No more Wests and Balmain junior teams, only one home stadium at Campbelltown, only Wests Tigers affiliated board members. Time to finally make the merger official.

 

[Halbrowne61]

I’d imagine, at the very least, if he doesn’t plan to stick around, he’ll be heavily involved in deciding who his successor will be. And I doubt he’d hand the keys over to someone incompetent.

Phew, that means Farah won’t be considered.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

Richo has committed to 6 months with full authority. It’s smart given our history if he gets road blocks he walks if he can build I’d say he stays for 2 years and grooms his successor.

He's basically the executive with HBG oversight till new board is established.

This way he gets extra latitude in football operations and with whatever was agreed with HBG for 6 months to get things on an even keel.

Then he probably signs on with KPIs once new football club board is vetted by the HBG and appointed.

Sort of free rein for a bit.

 

[Conbat07]

King 👑 Richo

 

[Magpie_Magic]

King 👑 Richo

Yeah,

Or some may say Regent.

Got 6 months to do whatever shite is necessary without accountability up to a point.

 

[clontarfkid]

Having hopefully resolved our halves situation,next assignment is our outside backs,starting with our recalcitrant winger moving on asap,and a quality replacement or two recruited with his not inconsiderable $$$
No more rugby discards or reserves for reserve grade. a genuine nrl starting player

 

[TT 01]

I’m keen to know where I future actually lies? The centre of excellence is concord, half games at Leichhardt and half Campbelltown. I am an old tiger but I fully believe our future is West. We should redevelop Campbelltown stadium and ply majority there with a few in at Leichhardt. Will the centre of excellence proposed for Campbelltown be good enough to base the NRL squad? For me we should go all in out there

 

[king_sirro]

I’m keen to know where I future actually lies? The centre of excellence is concord, half games at Leichhardt and half Campbelltown. I am an old tiger but I fully believe our future is West. We should redevelop Campbelltown stadium and ply majority there with a few in at Leichhardt. Will the centre of excellence proposed for Campbelltown be good enough to base the NRL squad? For me we should go all in out there

I'm a bit like you. I'm an old Balmain boy, and I find it really difficult to decide what direction to go. The West is definitely locked in IMO, but to what degree? There are a lot of factors to take in. If we move training to Campbelltown and all our games there, does it affect recruitment? IMO it has to a little bit. Like it or not, guys earning 150k-1m don't want to move clubs to live in Campbelltown. To commit entirely to the West we better make sure our pathways are better then every other club so the locals who grew up in the area want to play for us.

Something about having some games here and some there doesn't sit well with me. So I do lean towards all games going to Campbelltown. We need that one home ground IMO but crowd number there are poor aren't they? So work needs to be done to engage the area and build up support. Ticketing pricing needs to be better then reasonable. Get the westies in somehow anyhow. Once you get them in away we go.

I think it's a few years away from happening. We can't stop having games in the inner west until the West show they are behind us.

 

[hank37w]

I never thought that going all out for a COE at Concord was such a great idea without having a long term plan for a home ground, unless of course Concord could have been redeveloped into a 25-30,000 seat ground, which of course was not the case and in fact the place would currently be packed out with a couple of thousand people.

Personally I think we are based and training at Concord for a long time to come which would not have been a problem if the original plans for Olympic Park rectangular stadium had of happened, in which case I would not have had a problem with that as a home ground even if we shared it with some others.

Homebush would have been ideal being centrally located between the inner west and the southwest with the Markets Club not too far away. We still could have have had a game or so a year at Leichhardt and Cambo to keep people happy.

Like some others on here, I believe that the South West and the Macarthur area probably is our future and we keep hearing stories about having funding for a COE out at Campbelltown which I assume will probably be at Leumeah next to the existing ground in the area where the athletics track is currently.

At various times there was talk of a COE somewhere out at the Western Sydney University site which is still quite some distance from CSS and I thought that was a dumb idea if a rebuild of CSS was ever to be a consideration.

Who knows what will happen while we seem to have no clue about where we will go to next.

 

[Glenji95]

I never thought that going all out for a COE at Concord was such a great idea without having a long term plan for a home ground, unless of course Concord could have been redeveloped into a 25-30,000 seat ground, which of course was not the case and in fact the place would currently be packed out with a couple of thousand people.

Personally I think we are based and training at Concord for a long time to come which would not have been a problem if the original plans for Olympic Park rectangular stadium had of happened, in which case I would not have had a problem with that as a home ground even if we shared it with some others.

Homebush would have been ideal being centrally located between the inner west and the southwest with the Markets Club not too far away. We still could have have had a game or so a year at Leichhardt and Cambo to keep people happy.

Like some others on here, I believe that the South West and the Macarthur area probably is our future and we keep hearing stories about having funding for a COE out at Campbelltown which I assume will probably be at Leumeah next to the existing ground in the area where the athletics track is currently.

At various times there was talk of a COE somewhere out at the Western Sydney University site which is still quite some distance from CSS and I thought that was a dumb idea if a rebuild of CSS was ever to be a consideration.

Who knows what will happen while we seem to have no clue about where we will go to next.

Well CSS is actually in Leumeah so building it there isn’t a bad idea. I assume it’s close to the stadium, but it’s not going to be funded like the Concord COE was. The one being built in the south west is $16.7 million and is in partnership with the club, WSU, MacArthur Bulls and South West sport of academy. The one in Concord was about $70-$80 million can’t remember exact amount.

I still think for now Concord is going to be the main training ground for the club. The club would be dumb to abandon that big of a facility unless something better comes along.

I understand wanting to make our presence known better in the south west, but I think the fan attendance this year will help determine the course of action. If LO does better than CSS it does make it difficult I think to make that decision. They still may go ahead with it but if they do and LO does better fan attendance wise, I don’t think they can abandon it completely. Probably can still do 2-3 games a year at least. Be interesting to see what they decide.