Hi all,
Sorry for the lengthy wait. I had to attend to some business today and just got home. I have read all of the above questions and written some things down, so I hope I have not missed any as their are a few to get through. If I do miss someone, my apologies, and if you can remind me, I will get back to it.
The first thing I want to stress is that I am not on here to slander anyone, so please keep the questions related to who we are and what we intend to do. I don't have any desires to make any comments regarding the personalities of the current directors & CEO or what my thoughts are. The quickest way for me to answer that is a standard and truthful response which would be that they have had their time to deal with things and 30 years is a long time. Their is no Vendetta from us in regards to the current board.
The second thing I want to bring up before going through the questions is in regards to some of the comments on the other threads in regards to some of the people that I am attending meetings with on a weekly basis. I have seen Robert Gare's name pop up with John Chidiak and Robert Sassen to name a few. There was one comment which said who are these guys and we may as well ask our own fathers to run. Again, I am not putting anyone down and I think it would have been great if other people had chosen to run with us as well, but maybe that is something to look at down the track. In regards to the three gentleman mentioned above, I can tell you something about them. The common thread that these three gentleman have is that they actually care about the direction that Parramatta is heading in, and want to be a part in its future. I have been to meetings with them and heard all three of them speak. Robert is one of the most hardcore Parra people I have ever met and badly wants to assist with the club. He also brings valuable business experience with him. John Chidiak does alot of things within the Parramatta community and assists the Parramatta club already in numerous areas. Business wise he brings alot to the table as well. Robert Gare is a retired policeman. That is what everyone has figured out about Bobby to date. So what I say. Forget the policeman part, Bobby has also had a running interest in the Football Board and the Leagues Club for well over 30 years. He has also run a couple of times. To finish off talking about the three guys above, they all do care, they are all happy to listen to the fans, sponsors, supporters and staff to see how they could make things better. They also give of their time freely on a weekly basis to try to help this transition take place. A guy like Bobby Gare, I am glad is with us, due to the knowledge that he has in prior Elections and actual board dealings. I may be wrong, but I do believe he served on the Football board some time back. There are no hidden motives with these gentlemen, and they are there because they know something has to be done, and they have put their hands up to try to make a difference. I applaud them. Now onto the questions.
To Highlands Fling, some people may think the Football Board is a token board. We do not see it that way. We would not like to see things go the way of the Roosters and that is one thing that we would prevent WHEN we get into power. On the issue of Josh Massoud, again, I am not going to slander anyone. Josh obviously has a job to do and his job is to sell papers. I can confirm to you all that every meeting, it is not a bunch of guys sitting around taking the micky out of DF and his board. That does not happen. We try to focus on what is the best way to get elected, and when elected, what we could do to improve the club in a number of areas. I may seem vague here, but you must understand right now at these point in time, getting elected is the number one priority of many. I have read all of Josh's articles since he found out about 3P and to be honest, he has not written at any point in time an article which has stated that 3P has said this or said that in regards to shots at the current board to the best of my knowledge. Any comments regarding DF and his board are by the Daily Telegraph. Am I an Ovo man? That is a bit of a dangerous question and probably needs to be answered in two ways. Firstly, I do not have an issue with Alan Overton and I have nothing bad to say about the man. I think he should be given some congratulations for doing his duty as long as he has. This next opinion is mine and not that of 3P's. I am talking for myself. Personally, I think Ovo is a nice guy, but he is out of touch and has lost site of what needs to be done. If the question am I an Ovo man is supposed to mean am I working for him, or secretly trying to do his business, I can respond ABSOLUTLEY NOT.
Have I got children. Yes. I have a beautiful little boy named Lachlan who is about to turn 20 months old and is sleeping right now. If I shoot through off this site for a while, it will be to play with him. My wife Kirsty and I are enjoying him at the moment and are stalling before thinking of having a second child. Was I involved with the "Stats Guy" from Channel 9? Yes I was. I worked with David Middleton for a long time in the early 90's on a lot of stats that he was doing at the time for the NRL (or maybe it was the ARL back then, I can't recall). I haven't seen David in a few years. In the old days he used to do everything out of his house and it was quite impressive. These days its even more impressive. He has an office in the City with a lot of staff and they watch every Fox game each week while doing the stats.
Eeladdick asked about the actual election and are we prepared if we don't get all seven on. At this point in time, we are focused purely on winning all seven seats. Again, I must be careful what I say because I don't want a lawsuit brought against myself or my colleagues involved in 3P. What I will say is that I believe that we offer a far better alternative to what everyone currently has. We are backed and we are backed heavily. In saying that too, at the end of the day it does not mean squat. If you talk to Ray Price, he will tell you himself that he is only one man and he can only do so much in regards to getting elected. This is too true. For us to be successful, it comes down to the members of the Football board turning up and voting for us. Too many times in the past Football members do not show up and then they complain that DF and team won again. It is quite easy to not have to say that this year. You only have to do two things. One, TURN UP, and two, VOTE. We are not after a 30 year regime and to mirror what has been done by the current lot. We are after change and are willing to put our time into it to do everything possible to make it happen. Are we prepared if we don't get all 7 in. Again, we are planning on taking all 7. There are pieces within the constitution that will make that unrealisic however. What I will say, is if we get one, well theres some change straight up. If we get two or three, even better. If we get four or above we will probably be doing cartwheels because as someone else mentioned, we will have a majority. Can we work with the others? I believe we can, whether they can with us, I can't answer that. Who are our main preferences? Hard Question. Honest answer however is that we are a TEAM and we will congratulate whoever gets on the board when that happens. Do we expect any of the current board to survive? Again, that all depends on you the voter. I think in the above I have sort of answered Striders question as well. But in regards to Strider and his question of what if we only get 3, all I will say is for us, this is STAGE ONE. Everyone on this forum is smart enough to know what that last comment meant. To free us up answering questions about events that occur after the Football board, please ask us after the Football election. Our one and only priority at this point in time is in regards to December 14th, so as Ray says, Get out there and Vote.
To Parra Matters, voting is a constant topic of discussion at our meetings. Firstly, the you must be a member for 3 years to vote issue, we believe is wrong. If you are a member, you should be able to vote instantly. I believe that would be an instant change WHEN we are elected. (Please understand that it is not cockiness but myself and anyone else from 3P are not going to be negative enough to say IF.) We do believe people are fed up with what they currently have and are willing to put others in, to rectify the mistakes of the past and take us into the future. On top of instant voting, in regards to proxies, I would have to confer with the rest of 3P regarding that. We have some issues at the moment in regards to the voting system that I can not discuss online. We do believe that photo proof should be shown with your badge when voting. Again, I do not want to go into this point any further at this point in time due to legalities. In regards to proxies, I think it would be a good idea personally myself and would be happy to raise it with my colleagues.
Hollywood Jesus asked if this is stage one before a potential Leagues club battle. I have put an answer above which people can read into if they wish. In regards to the questions regarding losses due to grants for the Football Team in the NRL here are our thoughts. The primary aim of any Leagues Club, is to support the Leagues Team. Parramatta Eels is and should always be Parramatta Leagues Clubs first responsibility. A comment in the paper regarding Parramatta's survival beyond 5 years was insanity. Maybe under the current management they believe that. Not under us however. I run a large business at the moment and for the last 10 years, I have had 10 consecutive record years. This is not to bignote myself, but what I will state, is that I have had very good teams and supporters over that time. A tank does not win you a war. People do. I believe alot of things within Parramatta Leagues need to change. A few people may need to be removed. Products should be sourced from other areas. Other activities should be provided by the club. How would we turn it into a profit. Again, not arrogance or cockiness, but I believe quite easily. At this point in time however, I'd rather not state it one week out before an election so the current mob can utilise our thoughts. The current 3P ticket is extremely confident of new sponsors, new revenues, and alot of new ideas to take us forward profitability wise.
Guys / Girls, I hope I didn't miss anyone in this first bout. My apologies about it being so long as well. I'll be logged on for a while so if you have any other queries, feel free to hit me up. I will be in attendance next Sunday 14th December at the sausage sizzle and the actual election. I read a prior thread about people catching up for a drink afterwoods as well. I would be more than happy on the Sunday to talk to all at length as well. This is something that all of us involved with the 3P are all 100% in agreeance about and that is transparency. We are more than happy to work with others and here if their are gripes and deal with them. This isn't going to be a closed up regime. It is going to be an opened up shop that is willing to deal with its "Customers" to use a word.
Lucky last, in regards to Football Board Membership, I am actually quite excited about all the ideas that we would be releasing straight after an Election win. Currently you get some soft drinks and the chance to vote. Personally I believe thats not enough. Under us, everyone would be saying why didn't we get all this stuff years ago when you find out what we have planned.
Take care all.
Col Green.
