How is it a myth? Can you elaborate on this?
Apologies for my grammatical error - I was drunk & upset when reflecting on the team I follow slugging it out for the spoon. Thank you for your careful & considerate correction.
Yes, Dave should walk, it's obvious Ivan is vacuous - he was last time & that has not changed.
I wouldn't use the term "lynch mob", maybe just politely asked to leave, asked to return the office key, take his parking permit, hand back the credit card, withdraw dry cleaning services, return the company car, refuse entry to the box - you know what I mean.
"Investigation into the ENTIRE operations":
- Ivan & Nathan got paid way too much
- Dave blew it by employing Ivan
- Gus got squeezed out after saving the club
- Ivan is not quite an NRL coach (refer to statistics)
End of investigation
The myth created by Gould and promoted by consecutive Chairmen and CEO's is that Panthers was about to fold - the time frame varies from hours to days to weeks - and Gus came along and saved the day.
There was ZERO chance of Panthers folding - the assets held far exceeded the debt. It is true that Panthers was in a tough place but it was well protected due to the business that had been built up over decades but particularly during the 90s and early 2000s.
The rough place that Panthers was in when Gus joined was due to some poor decisions ,starting in 2005.
Now I won't dispute that Gus brought some significant benefits to the club but the story that he saved the club is a myth that should be dispelled.
Wasn't really worried about the grammar - just used to using that reference when a quote contains an error or a typo.
Re: "lynch mob" : what I see is a very emotional response to an unfortunate period in the club. If we were at 5 wins now rather than 2 I doubt whether there would be calls for O'Neill's and Cleary's scalp.
This type of stretch happens to most clubs at some time or other. I agree with the push - more for Oneill than Cleary not on the grounds of how the team is performing but on the grounds that the governance of the club over the last (at least) 7 years has been terrible and caused significant waste of the members'assets and even jeopardise our future.
So, for me the ENTIRE operation extends much further than what you suggest. Extending into things like the Warren Wilson appointment and departure, the sale of Wallacia, the sale of the Mulgoa Rd property, the outsourcing of the gaming operation, the lack of growth in sponsorships, game attendances and game day revenues, the large losses incurred by the football department, etc etc.
Certainly part of that investigation would be about the roles of the the Board, and the senior executives. It confounded me how Gus could have a job that had no real job description - this was admitted on a few occasions by Gus himself and by Fletcher recently when he was commenting on Gus's "redudancy".
On each of the points you make I would say this:
- Ivan and Nathan paid too much; possibly but there are other non-footballing staff that are overpaid by a lot - also the mismanaging means not only overpayments to Ivan but we are still paying oters no longer at the club.
- Dave blew it by employing Ivan - did he blow it because Ivan is no good or because it is just wrong for the Chairman to be employing the coach without consultation. He may have made a mistake by his selection of coach but it showed very poor governance just taking the action.
- Gus got squeezed out after saving the club - I say "saved"is a myth. Gus squeezed himself to to a large extent - he made decisions and took action that were against the Boards wishes (example: extending Hook's contract). The Board had tired of their inability to control Gus and this is why they (or Oneill) took over the recruitment of Cleary behinds Gus's back. They did not want to directly address the problem that Gus had become for them - so they did it very slyly.
- Ivan is not quite an NRL coach - there a few NRL standard coaches, except for the very talented they simply don't last. Personally I think Ivan has the potential to be a good coach - despite the stats so far - but I am just as likely as you are to be wrong in that assessment.
OMG - There's too many words there, sorry.
Oh - one more thing - I do understand and have both empathy and sympathy for your upset and your remedy - I'm there with ya!!
