The sad part is that George has NO official position with the SSDRLFC, yet the papers know he's a complete moron and will go to him for a good news story on an otherwise slow sporting day. Piggins is a moron who voices all his opinions through the media rather than in-house as it should be.
Even though Souths haven't won a Premiership in 30-odd years, we were fairly successful in the 80's, making the semis pretty much every year. Once George took over we went from Minor Premiers to Wooden Spooners, and have been stuck in this rut ever since.
Nick Pappas (the real hero who got us back in the comp) has taken some very big strides for Souths since he became chairman of the club. He got us a CEO who knows what he's doing in Shane Richardson (even if I don't agree with his methods sometimes), and loads of corporate sponsorship. We now have a coach who can actually coach, and the juniors are providing both significant financial support, as well as the latest crop of juniors that are coming through from our successful SG Ball and Jersey Flegg sides. All our key juniors have been retained for at least 2 years. Oh and for all the talk about Braith Anasta - Sutton will be much, much better.
George Piggins only official role these days is as Chairman of the South Sydney Leagues Club - a white elephant that is losing an estimated $80k a MONTH.
We have a successful businessman who is looking to invest significantly in the football club, bail George's Leagues club out of dept, and re-developing Redfern into a class TRAINING facility (plus it would be a great place for Junior games - Flegg and lower). Yet all George wants to do is badmouth Peter Holmes a Court in the media for wanting to help.
South Sydney, led by Nick Pappas, Shane Richardson and Shaun McRae are doing their utmost in bringing Souths out of the cellar and becoming competitive on and off the field. Whilst I don't like Telstra Stadium, I can understand how as a cash-strapped club we needed the guaranteed income. A successful 3 years at the ground would give us a strong case to be able to bargain with the SCG Trust for a better deal back at Aussie (according to Richardson, Souths made more money from two games at Gosford than 9 games at Aussie this year - and we'll be making more than that at Telstra). We are one of the Top 3 sponsored clubs in the NRL in terms of monetary value. Hell, we had two bloody major sponsors this year!! In terms of on field, well we won 6 of our last 8 games (only losing to the eventual grand finalists), a sign that we're on our way up at last.
The unfortunate thing is that the only thing stopping us from being a financial powerhouse is the fact that we do not receive one cent from our Leagues Club - one of only two NSW clubs (the other being Newcastle) in this situation. Clubs like the Roosters and Bulldogs receive $3m a year in a grant from their Leagues club. Had Souths received this sort of money, we'd be in a better position.
Who's in charge of the Leagues Club? George Piggins.
If it wasn't so sad it'd be funny. I can see how we're the laughing stock of the NRL. The sooner George has nothing to do with our once great club, the sooner we can let people who actually know what they're doing build our club into one that us as supporters can be proud of once again.
Cheers.
