bartman
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http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/eels-greats-stage-coup-talks-20100821-139v6.html
![:clap: :clap: :clap:](/data/emoji/1f44f.png)
Forget Fitzy v Ossie, or Fitzy v 3P etc etc. To be honest, THIS is what I was waiting for given the current lots' failure to stop the leaks and give our team a stable back office...
Not just 3 playing legends fronting a whole lot of property developers and the like. Not just change for change's sake, or to get rid of Fitzy. But 10 playing legends - standing up because they (like me) are concerned about the direction of our management.
I'd be very interested in not only voting for an alternate ticket with the above-mentioned priorities and issues, but in actively helping a ticket like this to get elected (handing out etc). After meeting some of the puppeteers behind 3P on the balcony, I could never really trust them enough to want to help them out.
I was hoping that the members would have an alternative this time, that's not the current mob, and wasn't just Fitzy or the old mob. And it looks like we will have an alternative that might be able to steer our club more sensibly. :thumn.
Eels greats stage coup talks
Adrian Proszenko
August 22, 2010
EXCLUSIVE
DISGRUNTLED former Parramatta players have held secret talks about assembling a rebel ticket to overthrow the current board.
The Sun-Herald can reveal that 10 former Eels, including some of the club's biggest names, met a fortnight ago to discuss the problems engulfing the club. The ex-players believe the club is being mismanaged off the field and the dramas are affecting performances on it.
Their concerns include:
❏ the constant leaking of sensitive information from the boardroom to the press;
❏ the lack of loyalty to the coach with replacements sought for Daniel Anderson, despite a year remaining on his contract;
❏ poor recruitment strategy, which includes releasing playmakers Kris Keating and Feleti Mateo - both local juniors - without suitable replacements in mind;
❏ the mass sackings of leagues and football club staff, believed to be a vendetta against those appointed or linked to previous chief executive Denis Fitzgerald.
A growing number of Eels greats are becoming increasingly frustrated with the direction of the club. Michael Cronin, a veteran of 216 games for the club who did not attend the meeting of former players, was stunned to learn of an approach from Parramatta chief executive Paul Osborne to Melbourne assistant Stephen Kearney last week.
''It seems strange that [Anderson] can get them to a grand final in his first year and can then be so bad that, all of a sudden, the next year that he's going to be sacked,'' Cronin said.
As revealed in last weekend's Sun-Herald, Anderson has been a dead man walking for four months, when Eels officials first sounded out Wigan coach Michael Maguire about taking over next year. But a backlash against Anderson's planned sacking - led by co-captains Nathan Hindmarsh and Nathan Cayless - has raised hopes that he could survive if the team finishes the season strongly.
However, the fate of the current board is now clouded following revelations of a planned coup, with the football club elections looming in December and the leagues club elections next April. The identity of the rebel Eels remains a closely guarded secret. They did not want to make their plans public for fear of further disrupting the team before its must-win encounter against Wests Tigers today. However, one attendee of the meeting said: ''Some of the greats of the club are certainly concerned about how the coach and the players are being treated by the current board.
''We've had constant leaks coming out of the board because the incumbent directors got a leg up from News Ltd. Everything is being announced in the paper the next day. There are people [in control] who believe that is how you should run a football club. It's not doing the club or the supporters any good and they are certainly concerned about it.
''The [former Eels greats] spilled blood for that club, spent lots of years there, [some] won premierships there and they are worried about how the spectators and players are being treated.''
Asked about the possibility of opposing the current directors, the source said: ''There was a mixture of people willing to support a ticket, and others willing to run. There was nobody there who wouldn't support a ticket, if it was put together.''
Eels chairman Roy Spagnolo swept to power as part of a 3P ticket at last year's football and leagues club elections, ending Fitzgerald's 30-year reign as chief executive. However, the current dramas at the club could lead to another change of management. Spagnolo has rejected claims he has a vendetta against Fitzgerald appointees and this week claimed that Anderson would see out his contract.
![:clap: :clap: :clap:](/data/emoji/1f44f.png)
Forget Fitzy v Ossie, or Fitzy v 3P etc etc. To be honest, THIS is what I was waiting for given the current lots' failure to stop the leaks and give our team a stable back office...
Not just 3 playing legends fronting a whole lot of property developers and the like. Not just change for change's sake, or to get rid of Fitzy. But 10 playing legends - standing up because they (like me) are concerned about the direction of our management.
I'd be very interested in not only voting for an alternate ticket with the above-mentioned priorities and issues, but in actively helping a ticket like this to get elected (handing out etc). After meeting some of the puppeteers behind 3P on the balcony, I could never really trust them enough to want to help them out.
I was hoping that the members would have an alternative this time, that's not the current mob, and wasn't just Fitzy or the old mob. And it looks like we will have an alternative that might be able to steer our club more sensibly. :thumn.