WT Ownership, The Board & Senior Management - MEGA Thread

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Telltails said:
Benny Elias meeting with Richardson and Api was interesting. He has been very critical of the club, but on 360 tonight said he was sold on Richardsons plans and sees success in the near future. Why Richardson felt the need to bring him in for a meeting is puzzling.
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Smart move IMO as it's stops the negative press he gives out weekly on 360 and then the article after.
Last night he was asked about it and he actually stood up for the club and direction.
Spud was just embarrassing last night and keep having a dig and made all the excuses why we beat his beloved Manly.. The calls they got we get every week and his crying.
 
WesternSuburbsBoy said:
Barry O’Farrell’s second coming as Wests Tigers chairman is on shaky ground with the board refusing to reappoint him and asking the former NSW premier to reapply for his job if he wants to remain at the helm.

Sources with knowledge of the situation talking under the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality told this masthead that O’Farrell is considering walking away from the club if the majority owner, the Holman Barnes Group (HBG), does not follow through on some of the key recommendations from last year’s Crawford-Barnier report.

O’Farrell was appointed as interim chairman at the end of last year on a six-month term as part of a major overhaul of the club’s board following an external review that led to the ousting of former chairman Lee Hagipantelis and ex-Tigers chief executive Justin Pascoe.

O’Farrell was meant to oversee the introduction of four new independent directors to the Wests Tigers board, however, a change of leadership at the Holman Barnes Group is now threatening to descend into a messy split.

When contacted by this masthead, O’Farrell declined to comment.

The four new directors were meant to be appointed by May and join the three representatives (Balmain, Wests Magpies and HBG) on the Wests Tigers board.
However, the ascension of Julie Romero to chairman of the Holman Barnes Group in February has resulted in Geoff Squires (Magpies) and Dave Gilbert (HBG) being replaced by former Tigers director Dennis Burgess and Steve Montgomery respectively. Romero did not respond to calls.

The appointment of four new independent directors has been delayed and O’Farrell is no guarantee to earn a reappointment after being told he would have to apply to an external recruitment company.


O’Farrell is now contemplating his future at the club and could relinquish the role if the Holman Barnes Group does not follow through on its pledge to restructure the Wests Tigers board.

New chief executive Shane Richardson has signed a four-year deal with the Tigers, which commenced in July, despite only being appointed as the interim boss.
O’Farrell and Richardson have been in regular contact with billionaire property developer Harry Triguboff about him taking over from Hagipantelis as the club’s major sponsor from next season as part of a plan to involve the 94-year-old in a community and lifestyle project in south-west Sydney.

On the field, the Tigers are seeking to avoid a third straight wooden spoon when they clash with Parramatta next week.

Marshall has led the Tigers to six wins from 23 games this year, registering a slight improvement on the four wins they managed to rack up in each of the last two years.

The Tigers are in the market for Canberra forward Corey Horsburgh and Sharks prop Royce Hunt as well St George Illawarra utility Jack Bird.
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Re-reading this article and this paragraph: The appointment of four new independent directors has been delayed and O’Farrell is no guarantee to earn a reappointment after being told he would have to apply to an external recruitment company.

Maybe the Board is at the stage of taking applications for the 4 independent directors via this mentioned recruitment company. It may just be as per governance that the chair has to re-apply since the Board was only interim. So maybe the wheels are in motion.

But it would be nice as a member to know what stage it is at! Hopefully @cochise & the pod team can secure an interview with Romero or Burgess or Simon Cook to advise.
 
hsvjones said:
Smart move IMO as it's stops the negative press he gives out weekly on 360 and then the article after.
Last night he was asked about it and he actually stood up for the club and direction.
Spud was just embarrassing last night and keep having a dig and made all the excuses why we beat his beloved Manly.. The calls they got we get every week and his crying.
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100%. I can't believe the panel didn't pull him up when he said the 3 send-offs brought them down to 10 men.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
Maybe the Board is at the stage of taking applications for the 4 independent directors via this mentioned recruitment company. It may just be as per governance that the chair has to re-apply since the Board was only interim. So maybe the wheels are in motion.

But it would be nice as a member to know what stage it is at! Hopefully @cochise & the pod team can secure an interview with Romero or Burgess or Simon Cook to advise.
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The interim board has been in place since December last year... That's a damn long interview process.
 
hammertime said:
The interim board has been in place since December last year... That's a damn long interview process.
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It sure is.

From memory, HBG had its own AGM in March when Romero & Burgess became chair & deputy. There was a story in the SMH around then that report co-producer Gary Barnier had his doubts whether those 2 supported the review as much as Andreacchio & Wayde who previously held more power.

So that may explain the delay. Hopefully common sense still prevails & not self-interest.
 
Pascoes_barber said:
Can save a few dollars in membership fees I guess if they're that keen on repeating past mistakes.

I just replied to my 'upcoming membership renewal' email from the membership team with some questions about the review recommendations and board appointments.

(You'll appreciate this @TSP ) CC'd to ceo@weststigers.com.au

Suggest anyone else concerned does the same.
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Thank you for the alert.

I responded to my membership renewal asking them to engage with me.

Then I got a response that they would respond.

As a new tack I might ask them not to respond…then they actually might.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
Re-reading this article and this paragraph: The appointment of four new independent directors has been delayed and O’Farrell is no guarantee to earn a reappointment after being told he would have to apply to an external recruitment company.

Maybe the Board is at the stage of taking applications for the 4 independent directors via this mentioned recruitment company. It may just be as per governance that the chair has to re-apply since the Board was only interim. So maybe the wheels are in motion.

But it would be nice as a member to know what stage it is at! Hopefully @cochise & the pod team can secure an interview with Romero or Burgess or Simon Cook to advise.
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I have no problem with BOF having to reapply for the appointment and, if there's a good field, I don't think he'll get it. I worked for his government for a few years and was unimpressed with him. He had some good ministers under him and that kept his government ahead of the Opposition. Any Premier who could shoot himself in the foot as spectacularly as BOF did over a bottle of Grange wouldn't be the sort of person I'd like to see heading up a board.
 
Barry wouldn’t be the first pollie lacking judgment about these issues, from all parties etc.

Poor Gladys got caught up in emotional trouble!

As you said, I actually had some good experiences with some of the ministers in his government and their staff on a couple of select issues.

Richo probably has a lot of experience working with government. Its important.
 
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TSP said:
Barry wouldn’t be the first pollie lacking judgment about these issues, from all parties etc.

Poor Gladys got caught up in emotional trouble!

As you said, I actually had some good experiences with some of the ministers in his government and their staff on a couple of select issues.

Richo probably has a lot of experience working with government. Its important.
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I actually rated Gladys and thought she was excellent during COVID. I couldn't believe it when the news of her affair with Daryl Maguire came out via ICAC. She's survived it but her reputation took a hit. Perrottet and Constance were both good ministers under BOF and Baird had some good moments as Treasurer although he also shot himself in the foot over the greyhound issue.
The best thing the last Coalition government did for NSW was to completely reverse the previous attitudes and invest an absolute fortune into transport infrastructure. We'll see the economic benefits of that investment for years to come. It was refreshing to see Chris Minns acknowledge the previous government when opening the Sydney Metro extension recently.
 
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coivtny said:
I actually rated Gladys and thought she was excellent during COVID. I couldn't believe it when the news of her affair with Daryl Maguire came out via ICAC. She's survived it but her reputation took a hit. Perrottet and Constance were both good ministers under BOF and Baird had some good moments as Treasurer.
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Greg Smith the Attorney General was respected and I had some dealings with Gladys office prior to co-vid.

She was very good with the co-vid.

Baird was a shocker I thought.

I have a rellie working with upper government now but we don’t discuss anything about it. I’m not too interested and I don’t think she could say anything anyway lol.
 
TSP said:
Greg Smith the Attorney General was respected and I had some dealings with Gladys office prior to co-vid.

She was good with the co-vid.

Baird was a shocker I thought.
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My dealings with the goverment were mainly in the economic and finance portfolios. I thought Baird was a good Treasurer but out of his depth as Premier. I also worked with his father when he was a NSW minister. Bruce was very prickly to deal with compared to Mike.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
It sure is.

From memory, HBG had its own AGM in March when Romero & Burgess became chair & deputy. There was a story in the SMH around then that report co-producer Gary Barnier had his doubts whether those 2 supported the review as much as Andreacchio & Wayde who previously held more power.

So that may explain the delay. Hopefully common sense still prevails & not self-interest.
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It can't be hopefully anymore. It has to happen. It is SO important to our club and our future success.

We all need to unmask these faceless people who have made part of our lives so miserable over the last 15 years and let them know that they can no longer hide.
 
Sadly it does seem like member protests need to continue. I'd say Romero has until our last match against Parra to publicly confirm that every one of the reports recommendations will be enacted, with the new independent directors to be added by the end of September.
Anything less and the campaign to oust Romero, Burgess and co will have to ramp up again. They have time to do the right thing, fail and it's a declaration of war
 
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