Memo to Ivan Cleary

[tigerap]

I know players(NC admitted as much) and some coaches read fan forums…so here goes:
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Dear Ivan,

After the Wests Tigers threw you a coaching lifeline, after Gus Gould dumped you in 2015, you talked up that you intend to rebuild the club, change its culture to a winning one, you gave the fans hope that you committed for the long haul.

In 2017 you coined the phrase “on the bus”, that became your mantra, players had a choice to either get on the bus or off it!. You let 3 promising juniors off the bus at the nearest bus stop as you felt they were not committed to the club. You convinced a number of players from other clubs to hop on the bus long term as you gave them a vision of a long term commitment and rebuilding programme, they bought into your vision and mantra.

You were given full reins of the football club by our CEO and Board, Marina Go openly stated that you have full ownership of the clubs roster and if you wanted to bring your son over that would be your call. It became clear the last 2 months, for whatever reason, that you were not going to bring across your son to the W.T. to fulfil both your dreams of coaching/playing together. So you abandoned our club. Having filled the bus with committed players and fans, you jumped off the bus and left all on board the bus without a driver. You failed to walk the talk about being “on the WT bus”; your integrity as a person and a man of his word has taken a massive hit.

Good luck at Penrith; good luck with your second marriage to Gus and Penrith, we all know how your second Penrith marriage will eventually end; good luck fulfilling your dream and coaching your son, bear in mind all the Penrith players will be looking at you when your sons form dips and how your react and manage it; Good luck trying to have the same support and full ownership of the football club from Penrith that you enjoyed in your short time at the WT; we know when the road gets a bit rocky Gus will intervene and you will be his puppet!; Good luck with restoring your integrity, you joined the WT as a man with high integrity and leave with the complete opposite.

As for the West Tigers, their fans, sponsors and players they will move on, you will go down as their worst coach in their short history; we will get a coach who is fully committed to coaching with no personal/family agendas impeding his goals.

 

[JD Tiger]

Dear Ivan,

The Panthers players will turn on you and suspect you are playing favourites on your son. Gus will turn on you because he wants to be in control and so you do you. All this integrity talk is gone, rubbished, and your name is now forever mud.

Just please front the Tigers players in person before you go. And if you do want to stay, you've blown it forget it, leave with whatever dignity you think you have left.

Do me a favour, after coaching your son at Penrith, retire, because Rugby League doesn't need your sort. Please take Gus with you.

 

[Nucky_Thompson]

Knowing our luck he will win a premership next year

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Dear Ivan,

The Panthers players will turn on you and suspect you are playing favourites on your son. Gus will turn on you because he wants to be in control and so you do you. All this integrity talk is gone, rubbished, and your name is now forever mud.

Just please front the Tigers players in person before you go. And if you do want to stay, you've blown it forget it, leave with whatever dignity you think you have left.

Do me a favour, after coaching your son at Penrith, retire, because Rugby League doesn't need your sort. Please take Gus with you.

Actually he has fronted the players and told him what he was doing, and so far nothing has changed.

 

[Pawsandclaws]

Dear Ivan,

The Panthers players will turn on you and suspect you are playing favourites on your son. Gus will turn on you because he wants to be in control and so you do you. All this integrity talk is gone, rubbished, and your name is now forever mud.

Just please front the Tigers players in person before you go. And if you do want to stay, you've blown it forget it, leave with whatever dignity you think you have left.

Do me a favour, after coaching your son at Penrith, retire, because Rugby League doesn't need your sort. Please take Gus with you.

Actually he has fronted the players and told him what he was doing, and so far nothing has changed.

Aren't there rumours/articles/information circulating that he signed a contract for three years from 2021? That is new. Also one of the Channel 9 reports (Weidler?) said the players wanted Bennett at the club?

 

[cqtiger]

I wonder who will be the first player at training to say “here comes the Penrith coach”.

 

[Clawdan]

Good post tigerap. Its all so disappointing. He should be ashamed

 

[Pawsandclaws]

I wonder who will be the first player at training to say “here comes the Penrith coach”.

Won't say but all will be thinking it. More to the point, what will those players who signed because IC was coaching will thnk?

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Dear Ivan,

The Panthers players will turn on you and suspect you are playing favourites on your son. Gus will turn on you because he wants to be in control and so you do you. All this integrity talk is gone, rubbished, and your name is now forever mud.

Just please front the Tigers players in person before you go. And if you do want to stay, you've blown it forget it, leave with whatever dignity you think you have left.

Do me a favour, after coaching your son at Penrith, retire, because Rugby League doesn't need your sort. Please take Gus with you.

Actually he has fronted the players and told him what he was doing, and so far nothing has changed.

Aren't there rumours/articles/information circulating that he signed a contract for three years from 2021? That is new. Also one of the Channel 9 reports (Weidler?) said the players wanted Bennett at the club?

Rumours and articles is what all this is living on.
Some people will believe anything that someone with a microphone says

 

[wonka]

Dear Ivan,

The Panthers players will turn on you and suspect you are playing favourites on your son. Gus will turn on you because he wants to be in control and so you do you. All this integrity talk is gone, rubbished, and your name is now forever mud.

Just please front the Tigers players in person before you go. And if you do want to stay, you've blown it forget it, leave with whatever dignity you think you have left.

Do me a favour, after coaching your son at Penrith, retire, because Rugby League doesn't need your sort. Please take Gus with you.

Actually he has fronted the players and told him what he was doing, and so far nothing has changed.

Aren't there rumours/articles/information circulating that he signed a contract for three years from 2021? That is new. Also one of the Channel 9 reports (Weidler?) said the players wanted Bennett at the club?

Rumours and articles is what all this is living on.
Some people will believe anything that someone with a microphone says

Goldcoast tiger do you truly believe this is all a fabrication of the media & nothing will come of it ?

 

[innsaneink]

I'd say there's a lot more guessing from the media than actual facts

 

[Pawsandclaws]

Go way back to the beginning when Marina Go became involved. I believe one of her issues concerned contract negotiations with Cleary prior to him getting aboard (the bus). If I recall, Marina Go stated that coaching his son was not part of the agreement signed by IC. To me, that was a very pointed remark as the main conclusion to be drawn from it was that he wanted to do it sooner rather than later. Also, the threat of a legal solution issued by Pascoe to me was also directed at IC as well as the Panthers.

 

[Tarl]

Honestly, it's illuminating at how thin-skinned and sensitive we all are.

In the real world, if you had plans of changing employers in 2 years or when your contract runs out, do you think the boss and your fellow employees would tell you to leave now? Would they get so offended that you want to work for a different company and call you names?

This is one of the modern issues with Western society, we are too readily offended and almost eager to be outraged.

Until he's gone IC is our coach. Afterwards, whenever that happens to be, go hard. But until then a dose of reality may do wonders!

*[sound of me getting off my high-horse and leaving the room]

 

[NT_Tiger]

Go way back to the beginning when Marina Go became involved. I believe one of her issues concerned contract negotiations with Cleary prior to him getting aboard (the bus). If I recall, Marina Go stated that coaching his son was not part of the agreement signed by IC. To me, that was a very pointed remark as the main conclusion to be drawn from it was that he wanted to do it sooner rather than later. Also, the threat of a legal solution issued by Pascoe to me was also directed at IC as well as the Panthers.

Precisely. All along, I have thought the comments by Pascoe and Go were directed at Cleary. If they are now negotiating something other than the line in the sand position they took publicly, I believe, they will be doing so on their terms.

 

[Spud_Murphy]

I know players(NC admitted as much) and some coaches read fan forums…so here goes:
\
\
\
Dear Ivan,

After the Wests Tigers threw you a coaching lifeline, after Gus Gould dumped you in 2015, you talked up that you intend to rebuild the club, change its culture to a winning one, you gave the fans hope that you committed for the long haul.

In 2017 you coined the phrase “on the bus”, that became your mantra, players had a choice to either get on the bus or off it!. You let 3 promising juniors off the bus at the nearest bus stop as you felt they were not committed to the club. You convinced a number of players from other clubs to hop on the bus long term as you gave them a vision of a long term commitment and rebuilding programme, they bought into your vision and mantra.

You were given full reins of the football club by our CEO and Board, Marina Go openly stated that you have full ownership of the clubs roster and if you wanted to bring your son over that would be your call. It became clear the last 2 months, for whatever reason, that you were not going to bring across your son to the W.T. to fulfil both your dreams of coaching/playing together. So you abandoned our club. Having filled the bus with committed players and fans, you jumped off the bus and left all on board the bus without a driver. You failed to walk the talk about being “on the WT bus”; your integrity as a person and a man of his word has taken a massive hit.

Good luck at Penrith; good luck with your second marriage to Gus and Penrith, we all know how your second Penrith marriage will eventually end; good luck fulfilling your dream and coaching your son, bear in mind all the Penrith players will be looking at you when your sons form dips and how your react and manage it; Good luck trying to have the same support and full ownership of the football club from Penrith that you enjoyed in your short time at the WT; we know when the road gets a bit rocky Gus will intervene and you will be his puppet!; Good luck with restoring your integrity, you joined the WT as a man with high integrity and leave with the complete opposite.

As for the West Tigers, their fans, sponsors and players they will move on, you will go down as their worst coach in their short history; we will get a coach who is fully committed to coaching with no personal/family agendas impeding his goals.

I read this somewhere else today because I couldn't get on this forum, but I can't remember where. Did you post this somewhere else Tigerap or am I dreaming?

 

[fibrodreaming]

Honestly, it's illuminating at how thin-skinned and sensitive we all are.

In the real world, if you had plans of changing employers in 2 years or when your contract runs out, do you think the boss and your fellow employees would tell you to leave now? Would they get so offended that you want to work for a different company and call you names?

This is one of the modern issues with Western society, we are too readily offended and almost eager to be outraged.

Until he's gone IC is our coach. Afterwards, whenever that happens to be, go hard. But until then a dose of reality may do wonders!

*[sound of me getting off my high-horse and leaving the room]

Ivan has made a decision that is in his own best financial interests. I can't blame him for that - although I believe that he had to compromise his standards of integrity to achieve this outcome.

But, your assertions about the "real" world are simply not true. I am sure that if you worked in a competitive industry with lots of secret intelligence, and a colleague of yours who was tasked with putting in place strategies to move the organisation forward over the next few years, declared that, in two years time, they were joining a rival organisation, their employer would take steps to remove them or, at least, move them off-line.

I am happy to be corrected, but I don't recall an NRL coach signing a contract to coach a team in two years time. The only reason the Panthers and Cleary have done so is to force the Tigers into releasing Ivan for the 2019 season. It is duplicitous for Ivan to say that he intends to honour his contract. He knows that he has put the Tigers in an impossible position.

I believe that Tiger's supporters have every right to feel disappointed and angry.

 

[fibrodreaming]

Honestly, it's illuminating at how thin-skinned and sensitive we all are.

In the real world, if you had plans of changing employers in 2 years or when your contract runs out, do you think the boss and your fellow employees would tell you to leave now? Would they get so offended that you want to work for a different company and call you names?

This is one of the modern issues with Western society, we are too readily offended and almost eager to be outraged.

Until he's gone IC is our coach. Afterwards, whenever that happens to be, go hard. But until then a dose of reality may do wonders!

*[sound of me getting off my high-horse and leaving the room]

Ivan has made a decision that is in his own best financial interests. I can't blame him for that - although I believe that he had to compromise his standards of integrity to achieve this outcome.

But, your assertions about the "real" world are simply not true. I am sure that if you worked in a competitive industry with lots of secret intelligence, and a colleague of yours who was tasked with putting in place strategies to move the organisation forward over the next few years, declared that, in two years time, they were joining a rival organisation, their employer would take steps to remove them or, at least, move them off-line.

I am happy to be corrected, but I don't recall an NRL coach signing a contract to coach a team in two years time. The only reason the Panthers and Cleary have done so is to force the Tigers into releasing Ivan for the 2019 season. It is duplicitous for Ivan to say that he intends to honour his contract. He knows that he has put the Tigers in an impossible position.

I believe that Tiger's supporters have every right to feel disappointed and angry.

 

[fibrodreaming]

Honestly, it's illuminating at how thin-skinned and sensitive we all are.

In the real world, if you had plans of changing employers in 2 years or when your contract runs out, do you think the boss and your fellow employees would tell you to leave now? Would they get so offended that you want to work for a different company and call you names?

This is one of the modern issues with Western society, we are too readily offended and almost eager to be outraged.

Until he's gone IC is our coach. Afterwards, whenever that happens to be, go hard. But until then a dose of reality may do wonders!

*[sound of me getting off my high-horse and leaving the room]

Ivan has made a decision that is in his own best financial interests. I can't blame him for that - although I believe that he had to compromise his standards of integrity to achieve this outcome.

But, your assertions about the "real" world are simply not true. I am sure that if you worked in a competitive industry with lots of secret intelligence, and a colleague of yours who was tasked with putting in place strategies to move the organisation forward over the next few years, declared that, in two years time, they were joining a rival organisation, their employer would take steps to remove them or, at least, move them off-line.

I am happy to be corrected, but I don't recall an NRL coach signing a contract to coach a team in two years time. The only reason the Panthers and Cleary have done so is to force the Tigers into releasing Ivan for the 2019 season. It is duplicitous for Ivan to say that he intends to honour his contract. He knows that he has put the Tigers in an impossible position.

I believe that Tiger's supporters have every right to feel disappointed and angry.

 

[fibrodreaming]

Honestly, it's illuminating at how thin-skinned and sensitive we all are.

In the real world, if you had plans of changing employers in 2 years or when your contract runs out, do you think the boss and your fellow employees would tell you to leave now? Would they get so offended that you want to work for a different company and call you names?

This is one of the modern issues with Western society, we are too readily offended and almost eager to be outraged.

Until he's gone IC is our coach. Afterwards, whenever that happens to be, go hard. But until then a dose of reality may do wonders!

*[sound of me getting off my high-horse and leaving the room]

Ivan has made a decision that is in his own best financial interests. I can't blame him for that - although I believe that he had to compromise his standards of integrity to achieve this outcome.

But, your assertions about the "real" world are simply not true. I am sure that if you worked in a competitive industry with lots of secret intelligence, and a colleague of yours who was tasked with putting in place strategies to move the organisation forward over the next few years, declared that, in two years time, they were joining a rival organisation, their employer would take steps to remove them or, at least, move them off-line.

I am happy to be corrected, but I don't recall an NRL coach signing a contract to coach a team in two years time. The only reason the Panthers and Cleary have done so is to force the Tigers into releasing Ivan for the 2019 season. It is duplicitous for Ivan to say that he intends to honour his contract. He knows that he has put the Tigers in an impossible position.

I believe that Tiger's supporters have every right to feel disappointed and angry.

 

[fibrodreaming]

Honestly, it's illuminating at how thin-skinned and sensitive we all are.

In the real world, if you had plans of changing employers in 2 years or when your contract runs out, do you think the boss and your fellow employees would tell you to leave now? Would they get so offended that you want to work for a different company and call you names?

This is one of the modern issues with Western society, we are too readily offended and almost eager to be outraged.

Until he's gone IC is our coach. Afterwards, whenever that happens to be, go hard. But until then a dose of reality may do wonders!

*[sound of me getting off my high-horse and leaving the room]

Ivan has made a decision that is in his own best financial interests. I can't blame him for that - although I believe that he had to compromise his standards of integrity to achieve this outcome.

But, your assertions about the "real" world are simply not true. I am sure that if you worked in a competitive industry with lots of secret intelligence, and a colleague of yours who was tasked with putting in place strategies to move the organisation forward over the next few years, declared that, in two years time, they were joining a rival organisation, their employer would take steps to remove them or, at least, move them off-line.

I am happy to be corrected, but I don't recall an NRL coach signing a contract to coach a team in two years time. The only reason the Panthers and Cleary have done so is to force the Tigers into releasing Ivan for the 2019 season. It is duplicitous for Ivan to say that he intends to honour his contract. He knows that he has put the Tigers in an impossible position.

I believe that Tiger's supporters have every right to feel disappointed and angry.