HBG, Independent Directors Sacked

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

If Mestrov gets the gig I am out, he couldn't organize a sausage sizzle.

Hence his missing out on the Bunnings job 🥴

 

[Jux]

Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne has called on the NSW government to resolve the Wests Tigers’ boardroom imbroglio with an intervention similar to that at Parramatta in 2016.

The Tigers remain in the spotlight and under fire after the decision last week to sack four independent boardroom directors, including chairman and former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell.

Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne.Credit:Oscar Colman

Byrne has been an outspoken critic of the Holman Barnes Group (HBG), which owns 90 per cent of the Tigers franchise and orchestrated last week’s boardroom upheaval.

As well as a series of public comments, the mayor has convened a public rally for Saturday. He is urging Tigers fans to march from Pratten Park to Wests Ashfield and demand that the HBG board members resign.

On Sunday, he ramped up his campaign by calling on NSW Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris to step in and take control of the HBG, citing concerns about club members’ funds being spent on legal action.

As well as the current boardroom battle, HBG also sacked three directors – Rick Wayde, Tony Andreacchio and David Gilbert – last year. Wayde subsequently took legal action and said he accepted an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed amount.

Wests Tigers fans are entitled to be concerned about their club’s boardroom circus, says Darcy Byrne.Credit:Getty Images

Byrne said members were entitled to “transparency” about the exact figure.

“I’ll be writing to [ARL Commission chairman] Peter V’landys and to David Harris separately, calling for each of them to intervene in the Wests Tigers’ situation,” Byrne said.

“In the case of minister Harris, I’m going to call for his agency to put an administrator in place to run the Holman Barnes Group.

“We want some transparency on how much has been spent of members’ money on legal fees in the past year … I think that is the smoking gun for intervention by Minister Harris.”

In 2016, the Parramatta Leagues Club board was sacked and an administrator appointed when the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority intervened after a salary-cap scandal resulted in the Eels being stripped of 12 competition points and fined $1 million.

As well as ousting the directors, five Parramatta officials were deregistered. The Eels won 13 games that season, which would have been enough to qualify for the finals if penalties had not been imposed. Instead, they finished 14th.

The state’s liquor and gaming watchdog, Liquor and Gaming NSW, said last week it was “monitoring” the situation but was “not currently investigating any matters” relating to HBG.

V’landys promised that the NRL would “safeguard” the club’s long-suffering fans.

“We will look into it,” he said. “I’m not saying they have done anything wrong, but naturally we are concerned.”

Byrne said it would be a further blow for the Tigers if chief executive Shane Richardson and the club part company on Monday.

Richardson has two seasons remaining on his contract, but the deal is reported to include an exit clause that would entitle him to a lucrative payout if there were changes in the boardroom.

Asked about Richardson’s future last week, HBG chief executive Daniel Paton said: “Shane needs to make a decision now. We’ll respect his decision. That’s up to Shane, and he’ll come back to us.”

Byrne said it appeared “untenable” for Richardson to continue working under a new-look board.

“He’s the guy who’s been in charge of the clean-up operation, and most people seem to think he’s been doing a good job,” Byrne said.

“If you sack the independent directors and chairman of his board – and remember he insisted on having independent directors as a condition of taking the job – you’re sending a message that his position is untenable … if ‘Richo’ goes, I am genuinely worried about the Tigers going out the back door.

“If he goes, how do you recover from that? Who would actually agree to be CEO of the Wests Tigers?

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“How can they re-sign Jarome Luai? This is exactly the reason he asked for clauses in his contract.

“I am actually concerned that this will be the end, just when the club was starting to turn things around.

“I’m just worried that in a couple of years the Tigers will be running last, the administration still won’t be fixed and it won’t be that hard a decision to move the franchise.”

Paton and HBG chairman Dennis Burgess were contacted for comment.

“We want some transparency on how much has been spent of members’ money on legal fees in the past year … I think that is the smoking gun for intervention by Minister Harris.”

Probably a footnote in the next annual report.

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

Sorry @innsaneink , I have to use it. You’re jumping at shadows. Who has told you not to use the term Wests? Is that what you are saying, cos that’s about the only thing that makes sense. No one has (or should have) a problem with the Wests name. Has anyone here told you different? If not, what’s the problem?

We’re all Wests fans here !
Carn WESTS 👍

 

[weststigers]

I stand to be corrected, but Im pretty sure @BZN
doesn’t own the club 🤷‍♂️

Good one 👍

 

[Big Red]

I think it's highly unlikely HBG appointment any CEO until the NRL has come to its conclusions.

10 days ago we all thought it was highly unlikely that HBG would sack all four independent directors, run a smear campaign against Richo and be on the cusp of hiring Mestrov to replace him…. The level of corruption and ineptitude with this mob has no bounds.

 

[twentyforty]

If Mestrov gets the gig I am out, he couldn't organize a sausage sizzle.

With the quality players he had only managed to scrape into the 8 once from 3 seasons. Then managed to lose DCE.
If we lose Richo we’ll be a distant last. These $100 debenture holders should never be in positions of authority.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

HBG aren’t true Magpie people. No one who loves the Magpies would ever hire anybody from Manly.

 

[Tired Tiger]

10 days ago we all thought it was highly unlikely that HBG would sack all four independent directors, run a smear campaign against Richo and be on the cusp of hiring Mestrov to replace him…. The level of corruption and ineptitude with this mob has no bounds.

Agreed, but they have the NRL sniffing around now and some reasonably high profile public figures call for intervention. The dogs have gone to ground and are not likely to risk the NRL coming down even harder on them.

Our future rests on what the NRL decides to do or not do, OLGR is a wish and a prayer.

 

[hammertime]

Y'all so intent in getting rid of the Magpies y'all have already forgotten WESTS as in WESTS Tigers is a 90% part of our JV.

Honestly @BZN , no one looks at the other 10%. Its irrelevant. We have 1 owner. HBG. They carry balmain and wests legends in their title.

No one cares about the magpies or balmain, except for a few people who have a hard time dealing with change... i mean, 25 years should do it but apparently not!!

We have 1 team in the NRL. The wests tigers. This is an incompetent mgmt and governance issue, not a magpie/balmain issue.

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

BZN, sorry to be the one to enlighten you mate, but you’re suffering from a deeply ingrained paranoia. There are no Balmain fans that I’ve noticed on here during the last 5 years.
Doesn’t the magpies have a social media platform?

Hey two dozen, @BZN didn’t mention Balmain fans.

He spoke of peeps coming originally from the Balmain side of the equation - like every member of the Wests Tigers podcast, Wests Life podcast, Darcy Byrne etc etc..

There is a clear distinction between that and being a “Balmain fan”, or a Western Suburbs fan for that matter.

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

This is an incompetent mgmt and governance issue, not a magpie/balmain issue.

Tell that to the media 🤪

 

[weststigers]

Tell that to the media 🤪

What does Richo and the 4 independent board members have to do with Balmain? Can you explain that?

This has nothing to do with Balmain and Wests infighting. In fact, HBG are the ones that chose them in the first place.

 

[cochise]

Hey two dozen, @BZN didn’t mention Balmain fans.

He spoke of peeps coming originally from the Balmain side of the equation - like every member of the Wests Tigers podcast, Wests Life podcast, Darcy Byrne etc etc..

There is a clear distinction between that and being a “Balmain fan”, or a Western Suburbs fan for that matter.

See that is factually untrue, not everyone involved in those podcasts were former Balmain fans and airtime is being given to a former Magpies supporter today

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

What does Richo and the 4 independent board members have to do with Balmain? Can you explain that?

This has nothing to do with Balmain and Wests infighting. In fact, HBG are the ones that chose them in the first place.

What does any of that have to do with my post ?

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

See that is factually untrue, not everyone involved in those podcasts were former Balmain fans and airtime is being given to a former Magpies supporter today

To be fair, I haven’t listened to either for a year or so, but back then they were all former Balmain fans with a couple (one on each) who were too young to have known anything pre 2000.

 

[cochise]

To be fair, I haven’t listened to either for a year or so, but back then they were all former Balmain fans with a couple (one on each) who were too young to have known anything pre 2000.

So in other words you made an assumption without knowledge and passed it off as fact to be critical of people? Probably behaviour worthy of an apology.

 

[BrissieTiger67]

This feels like a real D-Day with the club , if Richo calls it quits and PVL washes their hands with a weak, let's see with these changes how it goes and we're watching. We are so screwed ...

 

[hank37w]

You’ve had your turn, you’ve done your worst
SELL THE CLUB AND LIFT THE CURSE!

Your words have such a melodic rhythm, there is a bloke at the Australian Songwriters Association that would be seriously interested in your kind of talent.

I think his name is Dennis but his friends call him Denny.

 

[weststigers]

What does any of that have to do with my post ?

This all started because 4 independent directors got booted by HBG and now looks like Richo will move on too.

When someone said its not a Wests v Balmain thing you said "tell that to the media".

I'll pose the question again...what does any of this have to do with Balmain v Wests?

 

[BlackWhiteGold]

This feels like a real D-Day with the club , if Richo calls it quits and PVL washes their hands with a weak, let's see with these changes how it goes and we're watching. We are so screwed ...

PVL needs a big PR boost as it’s copped a hit in racing lately. This could be it!