Ownership by default?
Zero business acumen to run the joint.
Reminiscent of when Alan Bond purchased Channel 9 and almost ran it into the ground.
SMH Article 'We’ve lost faith in them’: Balmain consider shock exit from Wests Tigers merger
- Thread starter tiger_one
- Start date
Zero business acumen to run the joint.
Reminiscent of when Alan Bond purchased Channel 9 and almost ran it into the ground.
cochise
Well-known member
I'm saying that threat was one of dumbest things that I have ever read.
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Hopefully that pressure is from Vlandys/NRL or another influential faction from within HBG telling Romero & Burgess to pull their heads in.
This whole situation does make me wonder whether Romero, Burgess & their faction actually care about the member/fanbase!
If they did, as you say @cochise someone from the board/club/HBG should be telling members/fans what is happening atm rather than go off media reports.
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Worth a re-read from December last year (Roy Mastersd article) ...
The hardest task in sport is to convince officials to surrender their blazers. Yet the board of Wests Tigers has done that, resigning in order for a more skills-based directorship to drag the club out of the NRL cellar. In fact, the board of the rich Wests Ashfield Leagues club, which owns 90 per cent of the NRL licence has, on the surface, ceded power to an interim board half controlled by two directors affiliated with Balmain, which owns only 10 per cent.
Barry O’Farrell, a former NSW premier and stalwart Balmain fan, along with Danny Stapleton, chairman of Balmain Tigers, will take two places on the interim board of four. Former cricketer and administrator Dave Gilbert, a Roosters supporter, will be Wests Ashfield’s sole representative while Wests Magpies will nominate a director.
Play Video
https://archive.is/20231213045344/h...-are-wests-tigers-fixed-20231213-p5er69.html#
Play video
6:51
Interim Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson gives update after the club's board was dismissed and chief executive Justin Pascoe resigned on Tuesday.
Magpies loyalists like Rick Wayde and Tony Andreacchio have resigned from the Wests Tigers board yet have been prime movers of the restructure since September, endorsing the return of O’Farrell as chairman. They have retained their places as directors of Wests Ashfield, suggesting the club with all the money and power has handed control to the one whose debts it paid off.
No wonder Balmain great Benny Elias enthusiastically endorsed the new board, while former Magpies greats stared forlornly into the bottoms of their schooners.
But perhaps the old axiom – never commission a review unless you know the outcome – applies.
When the Holman Barnes Group (essentially the Wests Ashfield board, whose chief executive Simon Cook is one of the smartest operators in licensed club land) ordered a review following fan unrest, perhaps someone anticipated the outcome.
It’s been a rough two years for the Wests Tigers.Credit:NRL Photos
The review’s recommendations, by former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford and businessman Gary Barnier, effectively leave Wests Ashfield in control.
Crawford-Barnier have recommended Wests Ashfield separate out reserve powers for the benefit of their 90 per cent ownership of the NRL franchise. The powers hived off are considerable, with Wests Ashfield controlling the purse strings and directorships.
The new board will increase from four to seven after six months, with the appointment of three independents. It cannot borrow money; it can’t sell the business or change the terms of the licence.
Wests Ashfield retains hire and fire rights of the directors of the NRL franchise, meaning under-performing ones are replaced.
Former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell.Credit:Simon Alekna
But the ultimate board of seven will potentially have far more skills than the previous board. The independents can be drawn from past players and those with backgrounds in finance, marketing, health and diversity.
Committee members in days past stuffed party pies in their pockets after meetings and, while versed in the history of the club, knew more about the geography of the boardroom fridge. Boards with independents can be more strategic and operational; less likely to be reactive to irate fans and gossip over player movement.
With O’Farrell as chairman and Stapleton the only director retained from the old Wests Tigers board, it signals the divide between the 1908 foundation clubs is dead. Wests retains control but trusts the Tigers to run the interim show. Old Magpies doubt whether Balmain would have been as magnanimous if the tables had been reversed. The same Wests loyalists would prefer the whole joint venture to be dissolved and the club rebadged Magpies. But the NRL would never consent to this and, in any case, a whole generation of fans has grown up knowing the club only as Wests Tigers.
The danger with the new board structure is the choice of independents.
Wests Tigers have had independent directors before, under the chair of Marina Go when the club was in debt to the NRL.
Independent directors invite the traditional fan complaint that sport is now just a business. Somehow more disturbing is if the business people see a football club directorship as a bridge to a more highly paid corporate position elsewhere.
After all, if you snap the multicoloured braces of a corporate, a sports metaphor spills out, such as the eternal curse – “winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing”. NRL players wear suits to games; some of their directors wear sneakers. Failed businessmen “fumble the ball”.
The objective of the interim board of Wests Tigers is to put in place the 50-plus recommendations of the Crawford-Barnier review and recruit three independents with diverse skills and a passion to succeed.
Outgoing Wests Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis was highly critical of his axing, but fans have been saying for years that the NRL club needed to do something. And now it has. Good luck to you.
The hardest task in sport is to convince officials to surrender their blazers. Yet the board of Wests Tigers has done that, resigning in order for a more skills-based directorship to drag the club out of the NRL cellar. In fact, the board of the rich Wests Ashfield Leagues club, which owns 90 per cent of the NRL licence has, on the surface, ceded power to an interim board half controlled by two directors affiliated with Balmain, which owns only 10 per cent.
Barry O’Farrell, a former NSW premier and stalwart Balmain fan, along with Danny Stapleton, chairman of Balmain Tigers, will take two places on the interim board of four. Former cricketer and administrator Dave Gilbert, a Roosters supporter, will be Wests Ashfield’s sole representative while Wests Magpies will nominate a director.
Play Video
https://archive.is/20231213045344/h...-are-wests-tigers-fixed-20231213-p5er69.html#
Play video
6:51
CLIP FOR SOCIALS: West Tiegers interim CEO
Interim Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson gives update after the club's board was dismissed and chief executive Justin Pascoe resigned on Tuesday.
Magpies loyalists like Rick Wayde and Tony Andreacchio have resigned from the Wests Tigers board yet have been prime movers of the restructure since September, endorsing the return of O’Farrell as chairman. They have retained their places as directors of Wests Ashfield, suggesting the club with all the money and power has handed control to the one whose debts it paid off.
No wonder Balmain great Benny Elias enthusiastically endorsed the new board, while former Magpies greats stared forlornly into the bottoms of their schooners.
But perhaps the old axiom – never commission a review unless you know the outcome – applies.
When the Holman Barnes Group (essentially the Wests Ashfield board, whose chief executive Simon Cook is one of the smartest operators in licensed club land) ordered a review following fan unrest, perhaps someone anticipated the outcome.
It’s been a rough two years for the Wests Tigers.Credit:NRL Photos
The review’s recommendations, by former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford and businessman Gary Barnier, effectively leave Wests Ashfield in control.
Crawford-Barnier have recommended Wests Ashfield separate out reserve powers for the benefit of their 90 per cent ownership of the NRL franchise. The powers hived off are considerable, with Wests Ashfield controlling the purse strings and directorships.
The new board will increase from four to seven after six months, with the appointment of three independents. It cannot borrow money; it can’t sell the business or change the terms of the licence.
Wests Ashfield retains hire and fire rights of the directors of the NRL franchise, meaning under-performing ones are replaced.
Former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell.Credit:Simon Alekna
But the ultimate board of seven will potentially have far more skills than the previous board. The independents can be drawn from past players and those with backgrounds in finance, marketing, health and diversity.
Committee members in days past stuffed party pies in their pockets after meetings and, while versed in the history of the club, knew more about the geography of the boardroom fridge. Boards with independents can be more strategic and operational; less likely to be reactive to irate fans and gossip over player movement.
With O’Farrell as chairman and Stapleton the only director retained from the old Wests Tigers board, it signals the divide between the 1908 foundation clubs is dead. Wests retains control but trusts the Tigers to run the interim show. Old Magpies doubt whether Balmain would have been as magnanimous if the tables had been reversed. The same Wests loyalists would prefer the whole joint venture to be dissolved and the club rebadged Magpies. But the NRL would never consent to this and, in any case, a whole generation of fans has grown up knowing the club only as Wests Tigers.
The danger with the new board structure is the choice of independents.
Wests Tigers have had independent directors before, under the chair of Marina Go when the club was in debt to the NRL.
Independent directors invite the traditional fan complaint that sport is now just a business. Somehow more disturbing is if the business people see a football club directorship as a bridge to a more highly paid corporate position elsewhere.
After all, if you snap the multicoloured braces of a corporate, a sports metaphor spills out, such as the eternal curse – “winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing”. NRL players wear suits to games; some of their directors wear sneakers. Failed businessmen “fumble the ball”.
The objective of the interim board of Wests Tigers is to put in place the 50-plus recommendations of the Crawford-Barnier review and recruit three independents with diverse skills and a passion to succeed.
Outgoing Wests Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis was highly critical of his axing, but fans have been saying for years that the NRL club needed to do something. And now it has. Good luck to you.
jrtiger
Well-known member
the suggested changes made by the review to the WT constitution, board and overall corporate governance is to save Wests Ashfield from itself and to build a sustainable, professional and innovative footballing franchise.Worth a re-read from December last year (Roy Mastersd article) ...
The hardest task in sport is to convince officials to surrender their blazers. Yet the board of Wests Tigers has done that, resigning in order for a more skills-based directorship to drag the club out of the NRL cellar. In fact, the board of the rich Wests Ashfield Leagues club, which owns 90 per cent of the NRL licence has, on the surface, ceded power to an interim board half controlled by two directors affiliated with Balmain, which owns only 10 per cent.
Barry O’Farrell, a former NSW premier and stalwart Balmain fan, along with Danny Stapleton, chairman of Balmain Tigers, will take two places on the interim board of four. Former cricketer and administrator Dave Gilbert, a Roosters supporter, will be Wests Ashfield’s sole representative while Wests Magpies will nominate a director.
Play Video
https://archive.is/20231213045344/h...-are-wests-tigers-fixed-20231213-p5er69.html#
Play video
6:51
CLIP FOR SOCIALS: West Tiegers interim CEO
Interim Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson gives update after the club's board was dismissed and chief executive Justin Pascoe resigned on Tuesday.
Magpies loyalists like Rick Wayde and Tony Andreacchio have resigned from the Wests Tigers board yet have been prime movers of the restructure since September, endorsing the return of O’Farrell as chairman. They have retained their places as directors of Wests Ashfield, suggesting the club with all the money and power has handed control to the one whose debts it paid off.
No wonder Balmain great Benny Elias enthusiastically endorsed the new board, while former Magpies greats stared forlornly into the bottoms of their schooners.
But perhaps the old axiom – never commission a review unless you know the outcome – applies.
When the Holman Barnes Group (essentially the Wests Ashfield board, whose chief executive Simon Cook is one of the smartest operators in licensed club land) ordered a review following fan unrest, perhaps someone anticipated the outcome.
It’s been a rough two years for the Wests Tigers.Credit:NRL Photos
The review’s recommendations, by former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford and businessman Gary Barnier, effectively leave Wests Ashfield in control.
Crawford-Barnier have recommended Wests Ashfield separate out reserve powers for the benefit of their 90 per cent ownership of the NRL franchise. The powers hived off are considerable, with Wests Ashfield controlling the purse strings and directorships.
The new board will increase from four to seven after six months, with the appointment of three independents. It cannot borrow money; it can’t sell the business or change the terms of the licence.
Wests Ashfield retains hire and fire rights of the directors of the NRL franchise, meaning under-performing ones are replaced.
Former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell.Credit:Simon Alekna
But the ultimate board of seven will potentially have far more skills than the previous board. The independents can be drawn from past players and those with backgrounds in finance, marketing, health and diversity.
Committee members in days past stuffed party pies in their pockets after meetings and, while versed in the history of the club, knew more about the geography of the boardroom fridge. Boards with independents can be more strategic and operational; less likely to be reactive to irate fans and gossip over player movement.
With O’Farrell as chairman and Stapleton the only director retained from the old Wests Tigers board, it signals the divide between the 1908 foundation clubs is dead. Wests retains control but trusts the Tigers to run the interim show. Old Magpies doubt whether Balmain would have been as magnanimous if the tables had been reversed. The same Wests loyalists would prefer the whole joint venture to be dissolved and the club rebadged Magpies. But the NRL would never consent to this and, in any case, a whole generation of fans has grown up knowing the club only as Wests Tigers.
The danger with the new board structure is the choice of independents.
Wests Tigers have had independent directors before, under the chair of Marina Go when the club was in debt to the NRL.
Independent directors invite the traditional fan complaint that sport is now just a business. Somehow more disturbing is if the business people see a football club directorship as a bridge to a more highly paid corporate position elsewhere.
After all, if you snap the multicoloured braces of a corporate, a sports metaphor spills out, such as the eternal curse – “winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing”. NRL players wear suits to games; some of their directors wear sneakers. Failed businessmen “fumble the ball”.
The objective of the interim board of Wests Tigers is to put in place the 50-plus recommendations of the Crawford-Barnier review and recruit three independents with diverse skills and a passion to succeed.
Outgoing Wests Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis was highly critical of his axing, but fans have been saying for years that the NRL club needed to do something. And now it has. Good luck to you.
Romero can't see the wood for the trees. she's incompetent.
it's clear that WT officials are concerned and unhappy. I'm certain it would've been Richardson who went to the NRL, and someone at WT is clearly feeding information to Pengilly, and rightly so.
the only way we get out of this alive is via internal and external pressure being applied to HBG from all sides. I truly hope Romero & Co. see the sense in actioning all of the changes of the review before members, fans and others are forced to take action again.
Balmain are in no position to threaten anything that will result in moving on as a single entity. If anything they are vulnerable if the recommendations are not carried through - hence their frustration.
pawsandclaws1
Well-known member
Tom Shines
Well-known member
Exactly right … With the current rules, HBG can play a long game on this should they choose too..I doubt they are walking away from ultimate control of the Tigers…. nothing will change in the long run ..
Tom Shines
Well-known member
cmon man 😂… 4hours old and you think it hasnt been posted
liltiger
Well-known member
Hypothetically if I was vlandys and this was happening at any club. After 25 years of garbage in the board room, I'd make a press conference out of the blue without telling anyone at the club and just announce that there will never be a Western Suburbs Magpies or Balmain Tigers team in any form of first grade rugby league. The only way both entities can be involved is through the only team I endorse being the Wests Tigers. I'd make it clear that hbg may feel dismayed as they are the ones financing the majority of the operation and the solution is to privatise. I would also come out and say that the recommendations of the review will be fulfilled and that 2 of the 4 indipendant board members will be put there by the N.R.L as part as any future licencing agreement in order to finally end the 25 years of turmoil this boardroom has caused and because the growth corridor the club is supposed to be servicing is the largest and fastest growing in the country by the club not functioning properly is bringing the game into disrepute.
Magpie_Magic
Well-known member
This is a projection.
If roles were reversed do you think the Balmain partner would've been so magnanimous? Let's face it was a super deal with the option of Balmain becoming fully financial again........can't possibly think of a better way to foster good relations with a partner in need.
Can only speak for myself but the meetings I attended 5 years ago when HBG took control........there was nothing but talk of keeping the honest spirit of the JV alive and promoting Balmain legacy within it.....along with funds.
In any case threats have occurred based on speculation without evidence......different if there was evidence something was proposed to cancel in some way Balmain's connection.
There is no getting around to it, the threat to dissolve the JV was pathetic.......and has turned me off the club and I'm sure it's done the same for others..
liltiger
Well-known member
At a packed house this week against parra when there will be 40k odd people in the stadium and eyeballs glued to the TV for a nothing game that's been billed as a spoon bowl
If people in control aren't committed to WTs and have some nostalgic view of bringing back either of the old clubs and they are in a position to make things difficult for self serving reasons, than they are handbrake to moving forward.
liltiger
Well-known member
About 99.9 percent of us agree with you. We also feel the same about hbg not implementing the recommendations of the review by June. It's putting fans on edge that the last decade of crap was for nothing because potentially the next decade could end up exactly the same
Magpie_Magic
Well-known member
You must be talking about Balmain as per the article that created this thread.
The club has never before been publicly threatened with dissolution.....only now by Balmain.
They are the problem in this instance.
Completely unacceptable.
Magpie_Magic
Well-known member
PM sent.
Magpie_Magic
Well-known member
Well much has happened.
Remember the review was commissioned by the club and is non binding.
But look,
Lee gone,
Board gone,
Richardson appointed.
Governance changes.
That' a fair bit, probably exceeded the original expectations already don't you think?
hammertime
Well-known member
All BRLFC are doing is playing the only card they have. They have no power and feel helpless. It's a proverbial tiger trapped in a cage lashing out... that's all.
Agree it was dumb. But many people are getting very frustrated with these unqualified fools at HBG driving our club to the bottom.
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Magpie_Magic
Well-known member
You can't be serious?
You think without the 4 independents Wests will cancel Balmain?
This is a projection.....not something I want and could've been done already.
As it is it suits HBG to continue with this powerful branding of the Wests Tigers.
