Leadbeater sends out SOS on Eels woes
Date
September 3, 2013
Brad Walter
Chief Rugby League Writer
Former Parramatta prop Terry Leadbeater has written to Eels members calling for an extraordinary general meeting to deliver a no-confidence vote against some of the club's directors.
Leadbeater, who played a big role in the 2009 campaign that ousted long-serving Parramatta supremo Denis Fitzgerald, used a 16-page open letter circulated by email to outline the reasons he believed such dramatic action was needed less than four months after the board was elected.
''It is the only way that Ricky Stuart can have a clear run next year as coach,'' Leadbeater told Fairfax Media on Monday.
''What has been going on now can't be allowed to continue into next season. It has to be affecting the coaching staff and our players, and it has got to be affecting any players who might be looking to come to us. They'd have to be thinking 'thanks but no thanks'.''
The Eels board has been split since the ParraFirst ticket led by former Eels great Steve Sharp gained five of the seven seats at the Parramatta Leagues Club elections on May 11. Leadbeater's letter - addressed to ''all members and supporters of the Parramatta Eels, a club in utter turmoil'' - provides insight into the infighting at the club.
He also says directors are divided over whether they want Stuart to remain as coach. In the letter, he says one wants Jason Taylor, another wants Neil Henry and a third wants Brian Smith to return to the club to work with Stuart in a coaching director's role.
Stuart, who has two years remaining on his Parramatta contract, has been linked to the Raiders. There is also speculation about his future as he was appointed by the previous Eels board, of which only one director, Robert Sassen, remains.
''I don't know whether Ricky has got an offer from Canberra or not, but if you were him and you were looking at this shit fight, what would you do?'' Leadbeater said.
Despite his involvement with the 3P faction that swept to power in the 2009 elections, Leadbeater insisted he had no problems with Sharp but believed there needed to be other changes at the board level.
He also said Fitzgerald, who ran the club for 30 years, was pulling the strings behind the scenes and described one of the directors as his ''puppet''.
''You need 106 signatures to call an extraordinary general meeting but I can tell you if it happens, the place will be full because I pushed this and I wrote that letter because I have been getting smashed by people ringing me about what is going on at the club,'' Leadbeater said.
''It is not unrest, it is hostility at the moment and it is sad. We don't need it, Sharpie doesn't need it. He is a good person and he is a legend of the club whose standing in the club cannot be tarnished but I don't understand what is going on in the place.
''It is just totally dysfunctional.''
