Taking a wrecking ball to the club! (Recent Media Reports)

[cdinoz007]

Liquor and Gaming can force changes , this is FACT , don’t be fooled they can’t

Can you give 1 example where they have? They are really good at finding clubs who are not compliant.

But they don't have much of a track record at making clubs change their legal structure

 

[Joel Helmes]

Can you give 1 example where they have? They are really good at finding clubs who are not compliant.

But they don't have much of a track record at making clubs change their legal structure

The board of the Parramatta Leagues Club has been sacked and replaced by a temporary administrator.

In a statement, the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority said it "was of the opinion that the club's board had ceased to be effective as a governing body."

Channel Nine news 20/06/16

 

[BAGNF05]

True but boards change as can philosophies, directions and ideas with them. At the end of the day, telling the owners how to suck eggs could eventuate in a long drawn out public process that could present serious ramifications for the recruitment and retention teams still working on Galvin and others. The threat of get out clause activation for some of our most high profile recruits…including the CEO also becomes enhanced.
We could end up with a pyrrhic victory out of all this.
The best outcome I can see is HBG gets fed up with the bad press and sells the football club.

Absolutely, I hope HBG do sell WT. Someone above just pointed out it’s a distinct possibility that a local bin man could be elevated into a position of power within the club we support, and while that’s just a hypothetical, it shouldn’t be that way.

Wests Tigers need a merit based independent Board, or new owners.

 

[tigertragic]

Let me clarify.

There are 27,000 Social Members

There are 200 General Members.

To become a general member, you need to be a social member for 3 years, and then apply for general membership.

You have to be a General Member to be nominated to become a Debenture Holders.

There are up to a max of 20 debenture holders at any one time

Currently there are 16

Now, the board at the HBG is made up of 5 Debentures Holders and 2 from the floor

Social members can vote for the 2 directors from the floor

General Members vote for 5 board members from the 20 Debenture Holders.

It's a complex arrangement. But it has a structure. And it's democratic

“You have to be a General Member to be nominated to become a Debenture Holders” …. and either family or friend of existing debenture holders (it appears)

 

[cktiger]

True but boards change as can philosophies, directions and ideas with them. At the end of the day, telling the owners how to suck eggs could eventuate in a long drawn out public process that could present serious ramifications for the recruitment and retention teams still working on Galvin and others. The threat of get out clause activation for some of our most high profile recruits…including the CEO also becomes enhanced.
We could end up with a pyrrhic victory out of all this.
The best outcome I can see is HBG gets fed up with the bad press and sells the football club.

I agree with your best outcome but the fact is the board didn’t change until recently and hasn’t voted on the matter since.
It seems obvious some of them put their hands up with no desire to ever implement what they publicly announced they voted for.

 

[cktiger]

And they've said that they won't?

It doesn’t matter what they say… they haven’t after a year… and still haven’t given a timeline.
Do you think that’s reasonable or professional?
Actions speak louder than words.

 

[Tucker]

You’re with BZN, good on you 🤙

No. Wrong again. This thread is not being kind to you.
For your information, I was raising these concerns many years ago…long before it became fashionable to be holding such views. In fact I was once banned from this forum by one of the leaders of this group for stating that Pascoe was the problem more so than the coaches and players that everyone else was blaming. He used to be protected on here by the same people running these petitions.

Fundamentally I agree with the petitions and I signed both. I think HBG should stick to hospitality administration. That’s their lane. I don’t believe Western Suburbs are very good at running football clubs. I’ve stated both these things 100’s of times on this forum and others over the better part of the past decade.

I think the board set in motion the drivers that caused our 3 spoons via sacking Madge and bringing in Sheens. They sacrificed 2022 in the hopes that a Sheens led rival coupled with some big recruits would elevate our fortunes and train his protege to continue his legacy into the future. I was one of the VERY FEW dissenting voices to this plan. So yeah, I don’t like our footy club board at all. I’ve copped a lot of stick for saying so off some of the same people who are now the biggest supporters of the movement against them and it somewhat amuses me that “98%” of the fanbase is now saying the same things that people like me were being targeted for saying only 5-6 years ago.

All that said, it is clear HBG are doggedly sticking to their history and structures. They seem offended and possibly feel persecuted as a fanbase that ignored them for so long are now out for their destruction.
Questioning whether continued fanbased attacks led through podcasters is the wisest move and best pathway to achieving outcomes is not being critical of the movement. Note that we are finally assembling a decent playing squad which the board has played a role in developing through the removal of deadwood administration and the recruitment of effective operators as well as green lighting mostly correct recruitment and retention decisions. They haven’t been this helpful ever. This petition is flaming Wests v Balmain even if unintentionally. It could derail yet another season and cause havoc moving forward.
Two things can always exist simultaneously.

 

[Tucker]

I agree with your best outcome but the fact is the board didn’t change until recently and hasn’t voted on the matter since.
It seems obvious some of them put their hands up with no desire to ever implement what they publicly announced they voted for.

The board has always been terrible.
Those guys who left it are not victims nor martyrs. The spotlight was shone on them and understanding the gravy train was ending they walked. The ones that are digging in require a different approach.

 

[Joel Helmes]

It doesn’t matter what they say… they haven’t after a year… and still haven’t given a timeline.
Do you think that’s reasonable or professional?
Actions speak louder than words.

It’s not hard to put two and two together to work out why a clique controlled by Dennis Burgess is reluctant to grant greater autonomy to Wests Tigers.

 

[cktiger]

The board has always been terrible.
Those guys who left it are not victims nor martyrs. The spotlight was shone on them and understanding the gravy train was ending they walked. The ones that are digging in require a different approach.

I think they’re being flushed out now.
Not one of them have had the guts to stand up and answer the hard questions.
They think just hiding behind corporate speak press releases, while keeping their heads in the sand, will make it all go away.

 

[Joel Helmes]

I think they’re being flushed out now.
Not one of them have had the guts to stand up and answer the hard questions.
They think just hiding behind corporate speak press releases, while keeping their heads in the sand, will make it all go away.

And same goes for Balmain, we need people involved in the foundation clubs that prioritise the Wests Tigers, not want to run it or morph it into a version of what ended in 1999.

 

[Tucker]

I think they’re being flushed out now.
Not one of them have had the guts to stand up and answer the hard questions.
They think just hiding behind corporate speak press releases, while keeping their heads in the sand, will make it all go away.

Here’s an analogy…
You put a fence around your property for home security. It keeps all the honest ones out. Those that want to get in can still do so. You need more advanced strategies to keep them out…dogs, cameras and security alarms.
What I’m saying is that the first petition was the fence and it saw success as it flushed out a certain number of them. This second petition is another fence. It has barbed wire on the top but it’s effectively the same thing.
We may need a better strategy that brings the dogs…

 

[BAGNF05]

No. Wrong again. This thread is not being kind to you.
For your information, I was raising these concerns many years ago…long before it became fashionable to be holding such views. In fact I was once banned from this forum by one of the leaders of this group for stating that Pascoe was the problem more so than the coaches and players that everyone else was blaming. He used to be protected on here by the same people running these petitions.

Fundamentally I agree with the petitions and I signed both. I think HBG should stick to hospitality administration. That’s their lane. I don’t believe Western Suburbs are very good at running football clubs. I’ve stated both these things 100’s of times on this forum and others over the better part of the past decade.

I think the board set in motion the drivers that caused our 3 spoons via sacking Madge and bringing in Sheens. They sacrificed 2022 in the hopes that a Sheens led rival coupled with some big recruits would elevate our fortunes and train his protege to continue his legacy into the future. I was one of the VERY FEW dissenting voices to this plan. So yeah, I don’t like our footy club board at all. I’ve copped a lot of stick for saying so off some of the same people who are now the biggest supporters of the movement against them and it somewhat amuses me that “98%” of the fanbase is now saying the same things that people like me were being targeted for saying only 5-6 years ago.

All that said, it is clear HBG are doggedly sticking to their history and structures. They seem offended and possibly feel persecuted as a fanbase that ignored them for so long are now out for their destruction.
Questioning whether continued fanbased attacks led through podcasters is the wisest move and best pathway to achieving outcomes is not being critical of the movement. Note that we are finally assembling a decent playing squad which the board has played a role in developing through the removal of deadwood administration and the recruitment of effective operators as well as green lighting mostly correct recruitment and retention decisions. They haven’t been this helpful ever. This petition is flaming Wests v Balmain even if unintentionally. It could derail yet another season and cause havoc moving forward.
Two things can always exist simultaneously.

We agree on much of this.

I too was howled down for criticism of Pascoe but it appears you were more hurt by this than I ever was.

I’m grateful the podcasters have seen the light and are now pushing for and achieving positive outcomes for WT.

On our original disagreement, yes, the CEO “answers” to the Board, but a quality one has full autonomy to run the club as they see fit. That’s the biggest change that’s occurred to date (the new CEO) and the reason the football department has new hope.

They need to fix the Board so they don’t completely undermine this progress.

 

[Jux]

Every other club, the members nominate other members to positions on the board.

No prerequisite there either. You just have to be a member.

You could end up with Bob the bin man whose never seen a spreadsheet, or read a financial report in his life

That's how club boards work. And a club I was a member of.... That happened.

I'd wager the average competency of the HBG debentures is higher than many nominations from the floor at other clubs

But Bob the bin man could be more likely voted in via the debenture system as he has fewer people to convince (or coerce).

 

[Joel Helmes]

But Bob the bin man could be more likely voted in via the debenture system as he has fewer people to convince (or coerce).

100% correct ✅

 

[Tucker]

We agree on much of this.

I too was howled down for criticism of Pascoe but it appears you were more hurt by this than I ever was.

I’m grateful the podcasters have seen the light and are now pushing for and achieving positive outcomes for WT.

I wasn’t hurt by it, the hypocrisy though is not lost on me.
Yes I’m glad the original petition was put together. It has achieved solid outcomes.

On our original disagreement, yes, the CEO “answers” to the Board, but a quality one has full autonomy run the club as they see fit. That’s the biggest change that’s occurred to date (the new CEO) and the reason the football department has new hope.

They need to fix the Board so they don’t completely undermine this progress.

Richo is not the messiah to me he is for most. He also does not operate within a vacuum. Both his good and bad decisions are board backed.

 

[Jux]

From the wests Ashfield website .
Hidden a long way down the bottom of the by laws ..literally at the end

n) Nominations for the position of debenture holder director must be proposed & seconded by existing debenture holder members
o) On the occasion of vacancies on the board reserved for debenture holders , the preselection process of the debenture holder group will be conducted by the debenture holders.

Sounds really democratic 🤣

It also gives no detail about what a debenture holder is or what power they have .

And the debenture holder is there for life, so death is the only real limiting factor to their tenure 🥴
Do you think this would pass the pub test ?

 

[tigertuff]

“

But Bob the bin man could be more likely voted in via the debenture system as he has fewer people to convince (or coerce).

Bob the bin man's last name is Burgess. Hès a shoe in.

 

[Big Red]

No. Wrong again. This thread is not being kind to you.
For your information, I was raising these concerns many years ago…long before it became fashionable to be holding such views. In fact I was once banned from this forum by one of the leaders of this group for stating that Pascoe was the problem more so than the coaches and players that everyone else was blaming. He used to be protected on here by the same people running these petitions.

Fundamentally I agree with the petitions and I signed both. I think HBG should stick to hospitality administration. That’s their lane. I don’t believe Western Suburbs are very good at running football clubs. I’ve stated both these things 100’s of times on this forum and others over the better part of the past decade.

I think the board set in motion the drivers that caused our 3 spoons via sacking Madge and bringing in Sheens. They sacrificed 2022 in the hopes that a Sheens led rival coupled with some big recruits would elevate our fortunes and train his protege to continue his legacy into the future. I was one of the VERY FEW dissenting voices to this plan. So yeah, I don’t like our footy club board at all. I’ve copped a lot of stick for saying so off some of the same people who are now the biggest supporters of the movement against them and it somewhat amuses me that “98%” of the fanbase is now saying the same things that people like me were being targeted for saying only 5-6 years ago.

All that said, it is clear HBG are doggedly sticking to their history and structures. They seem offended and possibly feel persecuted as a fanbase that ignored them for so long are now out for their destruction.
Questioning whether continued fanbased attacks led through podcasters is the wisest move and best pathway to achieving outcomes is not being critical of the movement. Note that we are finally assembling a decent playing squad which the board has played a role in developing through the removal of deadwood administration and the recruitment of effective operators as well as green lighting mostly correct recruitment and retention decisions. They haven’t been this helpful ever. This petition is flaming Wests v Balmain even if unintentionally. It could derail yet another season and cause havoc moving forward.
Two things can always exist simultaneously.

You make some interesting points Tuck. I would hate to see another season derailed and you’re right that if it is, the consequences could be devastating for player retention and recruitment. However, with all the pressure being applied I think there will be a resolution of some sort sooner rather than later. Negotiation will still play a part in the outcome and it’s always best to negotiate from a position of strength. HBG hold the power but a united base carries weight and can enact change. How big or how small those changes need to be seems to be the question. A governance review of HBG should be something they action separate of the WT issues. In the short term, L&G looking under the hood will ether provide reassurance or identify things that need to be looked at. As long as the independent directors are appointed to the WT board, we should be fairly stable for 2025.

 

[BAGNF05]

I wasn’t hurt by it, the hypocrisy though is not lost on me.
Yes I’m glad the original petition was put together. It has achieved solid outcomes.

Richo is not the messiah to me he is for most. He also does not operate within a vacuum. Both his good and bad decisions are board backed.

regardless of who backs them, those decisions are his.

Thank f$$k the last guy isn’t making them anymore.