Here's my drivel.
Ok I need to consolidate the state of play in my mind in simple(ish) dot points :
ASADA were apparently tipped off by an ex-employee about the use of performance enhancing drugs at the club. The club was already the subject of an investigation that to date had not been resolved and had yet (and is yet) to report any startling evidence.
The investigation seems to affect players that were with the club and some currently remain at the time in question.
The club appointed consultant, who had been employed to advise the players, provided potential options once the report’s findings are handed down (some 4 weeks away now) including plea bargaining among a raft of other things..
ASADA apparently then met with Sharks officials last week to outline the current state of their investigation having received this latest intel.
The Board, who had been pressured all week, and were in their words, working all week to sort through the issues, finally break their silence. It appears that based on events in the lead up to the presser on Friday felt they had sufficient cause to take action against the support staff. Whilst this is coincident with the investigation and has links to it, it was reinforced by the Board as not being because of the ASADA findings.
The Chairman who had been overseas returned and regrettably made some inflammatory comments I suspect because he had grossly underestimated the intensity of the story on the ground in Aus and made an error in judgement which is potentially career ending..
The players go out and despite all this win their opening game in a show of courage and solidarity rarely seen. Whilst they will no doubt stick together in the short term they will have one eye out for anything that might bring resolution to them. They will support the sacked staff because of the trust they placed in them.
The ARLC have stepped in with support and staff to assist the club through the crisis. The more we look the more we find.
So in a nutshell our finances stink. We all really knew that to be fair. The development thread is full of this won’t save our short term money issues and we need to have a plan to get us to the point where the development start bringing in the revenue.
Our tenuous position has meant that we have not been able to offer the cash required to get the top line administrators to the club. The Admins staff, Board etc has been working for feck all and to their credit has probably saved the club from relocation many times. However we find ourselves in a dire predicament which would test the likes of the most hardened sports admin team and may have made some (time will tell) judgement errors as a result.
The fans are gutted because this was going to be our year having assembled a formidable squad under the guidance of 2 of the removed staff.
What do we need:
I’ve just finished reading QF32. Great story and we could learn a bit from Capt De Crespigny. If I was on the Board id take the same approach. We know things are terrible, but instead of focusing on what wrong, putting fires out and trawling through checklists we need to know what sort of aeroplane we have, and can we get it to a safe destination where we can resolve the issues. That’s what BC will do. Strike deals, set milestones, can we pay our bills, are we currently compliant, is anything going to close us down today, and bring our focus right back. Back to basic lads, get the team ready for next week. Get the coaching staff behind them sorted, give whatever assurances you can to the players, sponsors and staff . Give them a date that the next milestone will be met ( pushing the ASADA feckers to have their report done in 4 weeks and hold them to it is where I wouls start) provide updates as promised and where possible get the team, staff and players to contribute so they feel a part of the solution. This will help bind the club. Close ranks and deliver just a very short statement of progress to the media every day.
A bit simple and probably shyte I know.
I am sure you're pm inbox would have gayer
