HBG, Independent Directors Sacked

[Rock Hopper Steve]

My question here... how do we know they were a well performing board? What exactly did this board do which we can had on heart say "performed well"??

Heresay from the club says that Richo wasnt consulting the board on many things and was making his own decisions - which suggests the board may have been largely ineffective.

And if Richo WAS doing things without consulting the board, and they knew he was signing docs he wasnt authorise to, does that make them a success? Or does that make them negligent in ignoring what was happening right under their noses?

And your second point.... I will wager less than 25% of the 25,000 WA members care about the Wests Tigers. The majority care that:

1. The beer is cold
2. Food is available
3. The pokies are working

Most members care that the Leagues Club is making money. Some of them are happy that Wests Cricket is being funded, or Wests Apia Soccer is being funded.

Most members of WA actually dont want the board gone. The club is profitable. They have plans to extend the club building on Liverpool Rd over the car park.

Its only a few unhappy WTs fans who want the Ashfield board gone.

If only 25% of W.A. are interested in Wests Tigers what's the point of even owning it, let someone else who is a 100% invested in it have it.

I'll say it one more time considering you won't listen the first time I don't give a rats about what goes on over at Ashfield, just want the best for the footy club.

Look you seem to want the existing board and most of the forum don't, let's leave at that, it's like a dog chasing its tail.

 

[cochise]

If only 25% of W.A. are interested in Wests Tigers what's the point of even owning it, let someone else who is a 100% invested in it have it.

I'll say it one more time considering you won't listen the first time I don't give a rats about what goes on over at Ashfield, just want the best for the footy club.

Look you seem to want the existing board and most of the forum don't, let's leave at that, it's like a dog chasing its tail.

Some people support HBG like it is a sporting team. Blind faith.

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

Some people support HBG like it is a sporting team. Blind faith.

To tell you the truth mate they give me the shits, they just can't see the damage done to the club.

When is the next pod coming out, I hope it dives into all matters of recent happenings.

 

[cochise]

To tell you the truth mate they give me the shits, they just can't see the damage done to the club.

When is the next pod coming out, I hope it dives into all matters of recent happenings.

Recording on Friday, will have Shaun hopefully next week.

 

[mtd#2]

Honestly? There is nothing wrong with the current board members at HBG that I can see makes cause for anyone to demand they resign.

Lets ignore the "Dennis" story for a moment:

Francesco Primerano - Lawyer and Businessman
Stephen Montgomery - Lawyer and Barrister
Vince Tropiana - ex Ford Motor Company (I know plenty from the industry who know and worked with Vince and he apparently was well respected in the motor industry)
Mick Liubinskas - Ex Magpies enforcer, Businessman (IT industry). Havent met a more honest and direct bloke as Mick. Have known Mick about 20 years.
Rick Yabsley - Chartered Accountant. Honest hard working guy from what I have been told about him
Peter Di Michiel - Wests Magpies club doctor. Medic and General Practictioner

Now, lets go back to Denis. Yes, I read the nonsense about looking at young ladies on Instagram. I have known Dennis some 20 years or so. He is a music guy and that is who he is. Does he like the ladies? Yeah he does. He is off that generation of old rockers who arent scared to tell a pretty girl she is pretty (and apparently that offends some people). And he has always been a passionate Magpies supporter. Yes, in his perfect world, I think he would like to see the Maggies back in the NRL, but he also knows that that is also pipe dream.

I dont see any of these blokes being poor for the leagues club. Would it be good to see a female somewhere on the board? Yeah, of course. But I also dont wanna see a woman appointed just becuase she is a she for DEI reasons.

I have no issue supporting these guys to get the leagues club functioning. Certainly I know at least one of them was very proactive in trying to stop the culture of bullying at the leagues club... which was very much covered up and that cover up was facilitated by TA and RW.

They decided to oust the independent directors. Thats enough wrong doing in my book to say see ya!

 

[NT_Tiger]

Some people support HBG like it is a sporting team. Blind faith.

That really surprises me.
I cant understand why any Wests Tigers supporter would also choose to support HBG given their history, unless they are good mates with board members or are HBG members themselves.
Are their pokies or meat tray raffles extra good?

 

[hank37w]

Thus, WTs, Penrith and Souths for example get an elevated top up, as the "nursery areas" are bigger.

The Dogs don't have such a geographical reach and not as big a junior nursery.

At least, that's how I seemed to understand things. Maybe someone can either confirm this or explain where my reasoning from the NRL pages is not correct

The way the HBG Board have been acting they may very well lose the Wests Tigers Licence and V'Landys could grant the licence to an entity outside of Sydney.

This could solve the problem of having too many NRL sides in Sydney and allow V'Landys to continue his expansion plans interstate, or into New Zealand.

This would then free up the junior areas currently held by the Wests Tigers for V'Landys to divided up between The Parra-sites and the Dogs giving the Dogs that increased geographic reach that they currently do not have.

Thanks Holman Barnes Group you need to be acknowledged for your service and dedication to the expansion of the game of Rugby League.

 

[Go_You_Good_Things]

So you dont think HBG bailing out the club to the tune of several million dollars when Balmain went into default has done the same for the Wests Tigers?

Sure HBG "only" has property assets to the value of $62m where Easts have property assets at more than twice that at $160m... but given Easts also has a membership base of 49,000 members to Ashfield (combined) 26,000 members, thats still not a bad portfolio figure.

Sharkies as a comparison have around $40m in property assets with similar members base to Ashfield.

Under HBG stewardship we have also been able to move into a new CoE.

Just trying to see where that compass sits?

The silence is deafening, cdinoz . . . you obviously are close to the workings at HBG.
I would like to think your researched and detailed efforts would be appreciated by all here.
But you sing an unpopular song, my friend.

 

[cdinoz007]

Goes without saying the rich clubs don’t need the hand outs. They aren’t constant contenders because of their awful junior retention.

They were up on literally all metrics for the club. And secured funding for both grounds which looked almost impossible at one point. Again, this didn’t all happen by accident. If they weren’t being effective PVL wouldn’t of reinstated them himself.

We still dont know if the board were effective or not. The metrics could simply have been as a result of the actions of Richo and NOT the board. That was my point. There have been comments made that Richo wasnt consulting the board over the decisions he was making. HE was making. Not "consulting with the board" and then making a decision.

Again and this is only hearsay, but Richo apparently saw himself as a one man band. Now, no corporate organisation in the land will allow a senior exec to go off and make decisions without approvals, regardless of how succesfull those decisions turn out to be. CEO's cannot be left

PVL didnt reinstate them himself becuase of any perceived metrics. He forced the club to reinstate the board becuase HE felt due process had not been followed and breached NRL guidelines. Nothing to do with their abilities.

 

[cdinoz007]

The way the HBG Board have been acting they may very well lose the Wests Tigers Licence and V'Landys could grant the licence to an entity outside of Sydney.

This could solve the problem of having too many NRL sides in Sydney and allow V'Landys to continue his expansion plans interstate, or into New Zealand.

This would then free up the junior areas currently held by the Wests Tigers for V'Landys to divided up between The Parra-sites and the Dogs giving the Dogs that increased geographic reach that they currently do not have.

Thanks Holman Barnes Group you need to be acknowledged for your service and dedication to the expansion of the game of Rugby League.

The likelihood of that happening is close to zero. The HGB board breached NRL guidelines. They didnt breach the NRL rules.

For a club to have their licence revoked would require a serious breach of financial, legal or governance. What HBG did was in my opinion a silly move to make. It wasnt serious enough to cause a warning of licence revocation.

 

[hank37w]

Just tell your mates to keep up the good work and see what happens. 🤣

 

[cdinoz007]

They decided to oust the independent directors. Thats enough wrong doing in my book to say see ya!

They are the 90% share holders. They are entitled to appoint and remove directors as they see fit. But if they are going to do that, they need to have a valid reason.

I am assuming with PVL stepping in, he wasnt convinced they had justification

 

[cdinoz007]

The silence is deafening, cdinoz . . . you obviously are close to the workings at HBG.
I would like to think your researched and detailed efforts would be appreciated by all here.
But you sing an unpopular song, my friend.

I was driving to the airport for a flight for work.

Its not that I am close to the workings of the HBG today, its well known and well broadcast here on other posts that my wife worked for Wests Ashfield for more than 15 years, ultimately as ended up as the marketing manager.

I should hate the organisation in the way she was treated and why she ultimately decided to leave the organisation.

Its very well known that under Simon Cook, and the later years too with Tim McAleer there was a significant culture of bullying. I know personally of 4 other managers who left the club due to that bullying culture.

It's also well known that I nearly came to blows with Simon on more than one occasion.

That culture whilst maybe not "supported" by TA and RW, was largely ignored because of the success of the leagues club. When the person DOING the bullying is asked to run the investigation INTO the bullying, you know what the end result is going to be.

That is the culture that was. Sadly after the passing of Mike Bailey, the factions in the board were apparent. When TA and RW were up for election, they both under Simons guidance allowed to use my wife's time to "campaign" for them, where she would call up intra clubs and voting blocks and help convince them to vote for TA and RW.

She did that becuase it was under the guidance of the CEO.

That faction has GONE. Their supporters on the board have largely GONE. Yes, some of the debenture holders may still hold those views. BUT those debenture holders wont ever see a board appointment.

The problem is, its very very obvious from reading who is on the "Magnificent 7" list, that these names have been suggested by TA and RW.

Thats where my connection lies to Wests Ashfield.

I hope that clears things up

 

[Go_You_Good_Things]

I was driving to the airport for a flight for work. I

ts not that I am close to the workings of the HGB today, its well known and well broadcast here on other posts that my wife worked for Wests Ashfield for more than 15 years, ultimately as ended up as the marketing manager.

I should hate the organisation in the way she was treated and why she ultimatley decided to leave the organisation.

Its very well known that under Simon Cook, and the later years too with Tim McAleer there was a significant culture of bullying. I know personally of 4 other managers who left the club due to that bullying culture.

That culture whilst maybe not "supported" by TA and RW, was largely ignored becuase of the success of the leagues club. When the person DOING the bullying is asked to run the investigation INTO the bullying, you know what the end result is going to be.

That is the culture that was. Sadly after the passing of Mike Bailey, the factions in the board were apparent. When TA and RW were up for election, they both under Simons guidance allowed to use my wife's time to "campaign" for them, where she would call up intra clubs and voting blocks and help convince them to vote for TA and RW.

She did that becuase it was under the guidance of the CEO.

That faction has GONE. Their supporters on the board have largely GONE. Yes, some of the debenture holders may still hold those views. BUT those debenture holders wont ever see a board appointment.

The problem is, its very very obvious from reading who is on the "Magnificent 7" list, that these names have been suggested by TA and RW.

Thats where my connection lies to Wests Ashfield.

I hope that clears things up

Well, you're more autonomous than I would have originally thought. Close enough to know what's going on, but not quite in the echelon of those doing the damage.
On the debenture holders . . . I recently ran into a bloke who's dad is/was a debenture holder. When I questioned the need for such a dinosaur method of governance . . . he was quick to defend the honour and need for the continuation of the debenture system. As you would expect, I guess.

 

[cdinoz007]

And for the sake of clarity, not ONE of the current HBG board members has EVER been the subject of a Four Corners investigation into a company they have run.

(And let's not forget, the CEO of that company resigned almost immediately after the episode was broadcast....and was is named on the 7 proposed temporary board members)

 

[cdinoz007]

Well, you're more autonomous than I would have originally thought. Close enough to know what's going on, but not quite in the echelon of those doing the damage.
On the debenture holders . . . I recently ran into a bloke who's dad is/was a debenture holder. When I questioned the need for such a dinosaur method of governance . . . he was quick to defend the honour and need for the continuation of the debenture system. As you would expect, I guess.

To be fair. The debenture system which has been described as "antiquated" is no better or worse than all members being voted directly.

It's an absolutely red herring in my opinion which many supporters have cottoned onto because it's different. And they simply don't understand it.

It's certainly very unusual. But that doesn't mean it's bad

 

[Merlot]

The likelihood of that happening is close to zero. The HGB board breached NRL guidelines. They didnt breach the NRL rules.

For a club to have their licence revoked would require a serious breach of financial, legal or governance. What HBG did was in my opinion a silly move to make. It wasnt serious enough to cause a warning of licence revocation.

For a club to have their license revoked is as simple as not renewing it.
Don't toe the line - move on, That option is on the horizon for both hbg and the NRL

 

[cochise]

And for the sake of clarity, not ONE of the current HBG board members has EVER been the subject of a Four Corners investigation into a company they have run.

(And let's not forget, the CEO of that company resigned almost immediately after the episode was broadcast....and was is named on the 7 proposed temporary board members)

And investigations cleared him of any wrongdoing, it's easy to be honest and transparent mate.

 

[cochise]

To be fair. The debenture system which has been described as "antiquated" is no better or worse than all members being voted directly.

It's an absolutely red herring in my opinion which many supporters have cottoned onto because it's different. And they simply don't understand it.

It's certainly very unusual. But that doesn't mean it's bad

It means that only 20 people have any real avenue to effect change at the club.

 

[cdinoz007]

For a club to have their license revoked is as simple as not renewing it.
Don't toe the line - move on, That option is on the horizon for both hbg and the NRL

...and if the NRL did that without significant justification..? I can only imagine the legal fight.