This is a letter from another Forum sent to the Souths Management It's Brilliant I'm sure you will all agree when you read it
Below is a letter sent to Souths last Thursday (02.09.09), as of today (09.09.09) it remains unanswered...
Dear Sir
Re: South’s Sydney’s NRL Team’s Performance
On behalf the above-mentioned ‘season ticket holders’, I wish to express our concerns with regard to the performance, or lack there of, from our NRL side this season & last.
Before we continue I wish to point out that we have all been season ticket holders since readmission and have never felt the need to write to you prior to now. As concerned and paid up members we would expect a detailed response from such a professional club and not a political response thanking us for our support and rest assured we, SSFC are doing everything to achieve the goals set etc etc.
It has been widely reported & acknowledged by football management themselves & those in the media that SSFC are “ticking nearly every box” off the field, whether it be sponsorship, member numbers, training facilities, specialist coaching & even work in the community. These achievements are fantastic without question & congratulations need to be given for this.
These are great building blocks for ultimately the main goal of SSFC that is being a “winning NRL team”
During the ownership change in 2006 “winning team” was defined as a winning percentage of 50%.
The record since has been:
ß 2007: 12/25
ß 2008: 8/24
ß 2009: 5/14, including only 2 wins from our last 10 matches.
ß Total: 25/63
It is well below the 50% ‘achievable’ target and this is a fact that cannot be argued with.
Add to the above Football managements claim at the beginning of this season & also widely accepted in the media that this is the best squad since possibly since our minor premiership year way back in 1989, then why our lack of “winning performance”. Either the assessment of the squad is incorrect or the squad is not being utilised to its full potential. “Off field” has been taken care of, so these can be the only real issues as to why we are not a “winning team”
Is the Football Management asking the question “Is the NRL team playing at or near its full potential?” – I certainly hope the answer to this question is “no” and if not “why is the squad not doing this & what is being done to resolve this”.
In 2009 there should be no excuses. It was the first year in recent history we as fans has cause for optimism. Souths have leading edge training equipment, a fantastic new training venue, specialist coaches in all facets of the game, a rehab team who manage injuries and numerous big name sponsors. Above all however we had a team of true first grade players in all positions on the field, something we have not had for a long time. Our optimism was soon dented by the realisation that our head coach would not play key players in their preferred positions and in some instances for very limited periods of time.
We feel from outsiders looking in that this has caused a lot of unrest within the playing group. It is clear by our results this year that the strategy has not and is not working.
One example we cannot understand is the Craig Wing situation. He has publicly stated that he came to Souths to play in the halves. He has and is our best performer/game breaker by a long way and yet our coach refuses to utilise him correctly. This we feel has also added to his desire to potentially seek a release from our club. Rest assured this is something that we as fans will not tolerate not only because of his football ability but his wonderful image for the South Sydney brand and his unselfish charity work.
For the last 13 weeks, supporters have given up time with their families, travel to Western Sydney, purchase expensive food & refreshments to watch an ‘over coached & unmotivated’ style of play from our team. We are now contenders for the Wooden Spoon. We then have to listen to the press conferences & read in the papers a whole range of excuses. We feel the excuses need to stop and management needs to make two things clear:
1. What is being done about our head coach’s performance?
2. What is being done to ensure Craig Wing is kept at SSFC
We all agree that you can not run a football club as each individual fan wants you too, and that as passionate supporters we all have opinions, some good and many not so good, but we are concerned that our mediocrity on the park & seeming acceptance by coach & management will have an adverse effect on our sponsorship base, member numbers & player recruitment potential & ultimately viability in the club so we want it addressed now to avoid all these issues.
Unfortunately drastic times call for drastic measures and what we will be doing is, continuing to support the club by being season ticket holders, but we will not be attending any further games ‘live’ until the above matters are resolved or at the very least explained. We will not continue to be treated with contempt while our head coach is given 3 years benefit of the doubt without any explanation to the fans. If 4 season tickets holders feel this way how do you expect to retain fringe memberships next year?
It is time for our management to be firm and explain where we stand. And why even as late as today our head coach is quoted as saying “I’m not feeling any pressure”. The fans certainly are feeling the pressure along with humiliation and uncertainty.
Up the Rabbitohs!
