DRAGONS NEW CEO TIM WATSFORD

[RedVee]

Can someone tell me who the CEO reports to? And will he have the power to sack the board like Richo did at Wests? And what would need to happen to sack all or part of the BOD?

The CEO reports to the Board
No
Win Corp can replace their board members, like St George has replaced (most) their board members

 

[John moz]

No GM as yet come on Tim get it done.

 

[Bayside Dragon]

The CEO reports to the Board
No
Win Corp can replace their board members, like St George has replaced (most) their board members

Thanks for that. My takeaway is that we are operating like a privately owned entity. Hard to feel that anything much is going to change.

 

[RedVee]

Thanks for that. My takeaway is that we are operating like a privately owned entity. Hard to feel that anything much is going to change.

That’s what we are

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

That’s what we are

Yep. None of us are shareholders, so none of us can vote on Board members or have any real say in the structure and organisation of the club. From my point of view, there's no real incentive for the Board to do much. Last year, St George-Illawarra made an operating profit of 46% on $13M Revenue and the Board didn't have to do anything to make that money. If we're relying on the Board to drive the performance of the club, but you're generating that sort of profit while doing bugger all, where is the incentive to improve? That's my take on the whole sorry saga anyway.

 

[RedVee]

Yep. None of us are shareholders, so none of us can vote on Board members or have any real say in the structure and organisation of the club. From my point of view, there's no real incentive for the Board to do much. Last year, St George-Illawarra made an operating profit of 46% on $13M Revenue and the Board didn't have to do anything to make that money. If we're relying on the Board to drive the performance of the club, but you're generating that sort of profit while doing bugger all, where is the incentive to improve? That's my take on the whole sorry saga anyway.

I would hope the annual NRL table would provide incentive. It seems not.

 

[Carrera28]

Yep. None of us are shareholders, so none of us can vote on Board members or have any real say in the structure and organisation of the club. From my point of view, there's no real incentive for the Board to do much. Last year, St George-Illawarra made an operating profit of 46% on $13M Revenue and the Board didn't have to do anything to make that money. If we're relying on the Board to drive the performance of the club, but you're generating that sort of profit while doing bugger all, where is the incentive to improve? That's my take on the whole sorry saga anyway.

This is just not true.

The membership of the Board is decided by the St George Dragons Leagues Club and the Win Corporation with the Chairman role alternating.

The body that makes the decision for the St George Leagues Club's seats on the NRL Club's board is the Board of the Leagues club. In order to vote on the Board of the St George Leagues you simply need to be a financial voting member of the Leagues Club.

If we want an influence on the Board Members of the NRL club all we have to do is join the Leagues with a voting membership and vote for the board members we agree with.

If the Leagues Club board is not appointing NRL board members we agree with we should start lobbying the Leagues club board members or develop a platform and stand for election ourselves. There are a groundswell of disgruntled posters on this site, why not join the Leagues Club and support a candidate you agree with that will send a message?

There is another ill informed view that somehow the NRL Club made a decision to allow WIN Corporation to be the co-owners. Again that is simply erroneous, the original joint venture had shares owned by Illawarra Steelers Leagues Club and St George Dragons Leagues Club.

When Illawarra Leagues Club was in financial difficulties and needed to sell their shares, the St George Leagues Club (which remains a rich leagues club) offered to buy the shares. For political reasons the Illawarra Leagues Club refused to sell their shares to them and sold them to WIN.

Like any other shareholder arrangement, the company that you own shares in does not make decisions about who you can and cannot sell your shares to (some proprietary companies like the NRL club have a veto clause where sale can be vetoed but you cannot direct to whom they sold)

We are lumbered with WIN corporation because Illawarra Leagues Club decided to sell the shares to them. The incompetence rests with the Illawarra Leagues Club Board not with the NRL Team's Board.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

This is just not true.

The membership of the Board is decided by the St George Dragons Leagues Club and the Win Corporation with the Chairman role alternating.

The body that makes the decision for the St George Leagues Club's seats on the NRL Club's board is the Board of the Leagues club. In order to vote on the Board of the St George Leagues you simply need to be a financial voting member of the Leagues Club.

If we want an influence on the Board Members of the NRL club all we have to do is join the Leagues with a voting membership and vote for the board members we agree with.

If the Leagues Club board is not appointing NRL board members we agree with we should start lobbying the Leagues club board members or develop a platform and stand for election ourselves. There are a groundswell of disgruntled posters on this site, why not join the Leagues Club and support a candidate you agree with that will send a message?

There is another ill informed view that somehow the NRL Club made a decision to allow WIN Corporation to be the co-owners. Again that is simply erroneous, the original joint venture had shares owned by Illawarra Steelers Leagues Club and St George Dragons Leagues Club.

When Illawarra Leagues Club was in financial difficulties and needed to sell their shares, the St George Leagues Club (which remains a rich leagues club) offered to buy the shares. For political reasons the Illawarra Leagues Club refused to sell their shares to them and sold them to WIN.

Like any other shareholder arrangement, the company that you own shares in does not make decisions about who you can and cannot sell your shares to (some proprietary companies like the NRL club have a veto clause where sale can be vetoed but you cannot direct to whom they sold)

We are lumbered with WIN corporation because Illawarra Leagues Club decided to sell the shares to them. The incompetence rests with the Illawarra Leagues Club Board not with the NRL Team's Board.

Well my point is that being a member of St George Illawarra gives you no voting rights. None, zero, zilch. Being a member of St George Leagues club only gives you voting rights for the Leagues Club board (provided you have been a member for three years). It gives you no say in the selection of St George Illawarra board members, either the ones selected by the St George Leagues club board or of course the ones selected by WIN or the one selected by Illawarra.

The other point I was trying to make is I really don't see any incentive for WIN to improve the club. St George Illawarra are just a very small part of their corporate assets. As long as StGI continues to generate a reasonable rate of return (which it looks like it does even when we've done nothing of note for years) then the corporate boffins will be happy. We're just a sideshow for them.

 

[Carrera28]

Well my point is that being a member of St George Illawarra gives you no voting rights. None, zero, zilch. Being a member of St George Leagues club only gives you voting rights for the Leagues Club board (provided you have been a member for three years). It gives you no say in the selection of St George Illawarra board members, either the ones selected by the St George Leagues club board or of course the ones selected by WIN or the one selected by Illawarra.

The other point I was trying to make is I really don't see any incentive for WIN to improve the club. St George Illawarra are just a very small part of their corporate assets. As long as StGI continues to generate a reasonable rate of return (which it looks like it does even when we've done nothing of note for years) then the corporate boffins will be happy. We're just a sideshow for them.

1) There are no board members appointed by Illawarra. So that is erroneous. Illawarra sold their all of their shares to WIN. Should Illawarra board members be appointed they would take a WIN board seat.

2) You don't get to vote for the Government you want in Australia either. You vote for the member whose interests most closely align with yours and they represent you in their decision making. Your point is like complaining about not having a vote in who gets to be a High Court judge. You do not get a voice in who is appointed as a high court judge but you do get a voice in the appointment of the government by voting for members. The RL club board members appointed by Dragons are also board members of Leagues cub or former players - Ralph Piggot, Peter Doust, Ben Creagh and Mark Coyne. So in actual fact by voting for Leagues Club board members you do get a say in who is appointed.

3) WIN Corporation are a poor owner but unfortunately not for the reasons that you say, it is sadly even worse. They are not making profit or taking dividends from the Dragons. The only NRL club that is consistently profitable are the Broncos.

WIN Corporation bought the shares as part of a Quid Pro Quo deal for naming rights on stand at Illawarra ground and paying off the Illawarra Leagues club debt. They got a cheap deal for promotion and publicity at below market rate in return for paying off Illawarra Leagues Club debts. Win Corp is effectively a tax exile corporation that is now headquartered in the Bahamas and uses the losses of the Dragons to offset income earned in Australia to avoid paying tax here.

The blame for WIN Corporation ownership debacle is 100% at the feet of the Illawarra Steelers Leagues club. The Dragons Leagues club was willing to pay more and it was simply sour grapes by the Steelers. The fact that we are saddled with WIN is because of the Illawarra side. This continual story by some on this forum that the NRL club board chose them is simply a fabrication by people who do not understand how corporation law works.

Hate on the board all you like, but to say you do not have an opportunity to have a say is patently wrong, join the Leagues club and campaign and lobby for board members that suit your interests. If there is the groundswell that so many on this forum claim then if you all joined and found a suitable candidate you could have a representative on the board. But that takes effort and a lot of work....