Chief steps down

[Nuffy]

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2...s-return-to-traditional-values-photos/?cs=306

Chief is relinquishing the chairmanship.

The bloke is a legend and this is a good thing he is doing, time for new blood.

Good on him.

 

[Noname36]

Me thinks this was more a case of "you won't be offered a place on the new board but since you're a club legend how about we say you stepped down voluntarily".

So happy this has happened either way. Chief is a club legend and I'll always owe him for our first premiership, but reading his quotes in that article, particularly his repeated use of "the Newcastle way" and him saying that Midley and Stone were good signings for the club because they're "Newcastle boys" is infuriating.

I've said it before but I really hate the boys club culture. How can we get shitty with the players that have apparently become too comfortable, overweight and under-performing because they're Newcastle juniors and assume they're safe when the same nepotism is also practiced at admin level?

 

[Newie is God's Country]

Me thinks this was more a case of "you won't be offered a place on the new board but since you're a club legend how about we say you stepped down voluntarily".

So happy this has happened either way. Chief is a club legend and I'll always owe him for our first premiership, but reading his quotes in that article, particularly his repeated use of "the Newcastle way" and him saying that Midley and Stone were good signings for the club because they're "Newcastle boys" is infuriating.

I've said it before but I really hate the boys club culture. How can we get shitty with the players that have apparently become too comfortable, overweight and under-performing because they're Newcastle juniors and assume they're safe when the same nepotism is also practiced at admin level?

Yes you are not alone on this view. The man is a good bloke but he has a very sentimental view on this club that is rather childish. The Newcastle Way references makes him sound like a right goose.

I will ask you though how your comments on the players and board being in synch are an excuse for underperformance when you take Manly as an example of how players with a proper attitude can win titles and be the best side of the last ten years. The Manly players hate their board. My point is the players getting lazy is purely choice. They are sheep here in Newcastle.

 

[Noname36]

I will ask you though how your comments on the players and board being in synch are an excuse for underperformance when you take Manly as an example of how players with a proper attitude can win titles and be the best side of the last ten years. The Manly players hate their board. My point is the players getting lazy is purely choice. They are sheep here in Newcastle.

That wasn't really what I meant...apologies, I probably wasn't too clear.

What I meant was that we're hearing all these reports that some of our local juniors in the side have become too comfortable with the knowledge that they're "safe" due to the fact that they're locals and they know the club won't punt them for under performing. What I'm saying is that unfortunately it's not hard to wrap my head around that attitude because we know it's true. If admin themselves are more concerned with hiring locals or "one of the boys" rather than hiring someone that can actually get the job done then you can see why the local players get comfortable and think all they need to do is be a junior to secure their place at the club...regardless of how they perform.

It's a shocking attitude and of course it's their choice they're under performing, but really we can't honestly expect to clear that culture from the playing ranks when it's just as much (if not more) present at admin level.

I want to support a club where the best candidates (staff and players) are selected based on their ability...not based on where they were born.

 

[Knightmare]

Quotes from the comments section:

"It all went down hill from the time Brian Smith was appointed coach."

"you have hit the nail on head big time and I could not agree more. Smith was the worse signing in the clubs history and we are still recovering from his time here...
Couldn't give two stuffs about his win ratio he brought our club to its knees.. The playing group were miserable, the mind games, players in the circle one week and ignored the next, Smiths renowned for his vindictive, double meaning text messages to players and the Junior system was a rabble when he left. In my opinion that is why he came here to dismantle the club as best as he possibly could....
He forced the great Danny Buderus out and that is one of the main reasons I am a Wayne Bennett fan he brought Danny back to finish his career here as he deserved to do."

Some people still don't get it. It also concerns me Chief's suggestion that we need to do things "the old way". Doing things the old way is half the reason the club is in this mess to start with!

 

[Joker's Wild]

I think the answer is somewhere in the middle fellas

You can shift the culture of the club without ripping out its soul. Like it or not we are a battlers club and we need to work with that rather than try and swim against it. Locals both on the pitch and in the office are essential imo but they need to be balanced with the right imports both in quantity an quality.

Going too far in either direction has meant disaster for us in the past

 

[Noname36]

There certainly needs to be a middle ground. Despite some of our consistent performances on the field I never want another period like the Brian Smith one. At the same time though I don't want us going back to the pre-Brian Smith days (which we seem to be at the moment) where blokes thought it was their God given right to play or work for the club because they were "Newcastle boys" regardless of performance.

It's a delicate balance. I've said repeatedly that I'm not a fan of the "boys club" politics, but at the same time we do need people that at the very least understand the club and won't make it lose it's identity.

 

[slotmachine]

IMO whoever is running a selection process for the club in the future needs to ask themselves, would this candidate get a job somewhere else in the NRL based on their skills and experience, or are they getting a free ride because they are an ex-player?

 

[Noname36]

IMO whoever is running a selection process for the club in the future needs to ask themselves, would this candidate get a job somewhere else in the NRL based on their skills and experience, or are they getting a free ride because they are an ex-player?

Bingo. The CEO Gidley one is clearly the worst...but the Sandercock/Bedsy as assistants thing is a close second.