Knights battling to save backer

[Frederick]

Knights battling to save backer

By Barry Toohey
February 02, 2007

THE explosive boardroom coup which ousted Newcastle chairman Mike Tyler and saw director Paul Harragon storm out has thrown doubt over the club's financial partnership with The Wests Group.

Tyler lost a no-confidence vote on Wednesday night and immediately resigned as chairman with the decision to get rid of him the climax of more than 12 months of tension and bickering among board members.

Ironically, it was during that period the Knights, bordering on financial ruin, were thrown a lifeline with the powerful Wests League Club aligning itself with the club.

But that partnership was on shaky ground yesterday with Wests chief executive officer Phil Gardner claiming the move could cause more corporate damage to the Knights than the fallout from the behaviour of players at a Bathurst University dormitory two years ago.

Gardner indicated the Wests board may decide to review its partnership with the Knights following the Tyler coup but new acting chairman Peter Corcoran hit back at that suggestion.

"Phil seems to be extremely upset by the personalities in all this,"he said.

"The agreement that the Knights have with Wests is between Wests and the Knights - not the individual personalities involved."

Tensions between Tyler and a number of board members have been simmering for almost 12 months after the plug was pulled on a bid to oust him as chairman at the last minute prior to the club's annual general meeting last April.

They intensified three months ago after Tyler and club chief executive Ken Conway had a major falling out.

The pair had been close allies since Tyler's election as chairman in April 2005, but they have not spoken to one another since last November.

The relationship is understood to have begun to sour after Conway was given a dressing down by Tyler following the chief executive's alleged criticism of Knights star Andrew Johns in Townsville last season.

The falling out saw Tyler align himself with a faction on the board which, with the rumoured backing of Wests League Club, wanted Conway's head. After failing to entice the CEO to resign, the issue went to a vote of the nine-member board just prior to Christmas with Conway narrowly surviving five votes to four.

A bloc vote of the four Newcastle rugby league-aligned directors on the Knights board - Vince Murphy, Kevin Smith, Trevor Crow and Kevin Parker - along with the support of deputy chairman Peter Corcoran, saved Conway. It was those same directors who voted on Wednesday night to get rid of Tyler.

The explosive meeting lasted around 45 minutes and followed a sometimes heated debate between Tyler and board member Vince Murphy regarding the chairman's expense account.

During the row and well before the vote of no-confidence was brought up, a fired-up Harragon, frustrated at the ongoing bickering within the board ranks, stormed out of the meeting along with another director Mark Fitzgibbon.

Fitzgibbon, general manager of NIB Health Funds, a leading Knights sponsor, is understood to have made a beeline for Conway's office, and within hearing distance of a number of other administrative staff, allegedly angrily accused the CEO of involvement in the latest spat.

With Harragon and Fitzgibbon absent, the no-confidence vote was carried five votes to two.

The club is expected to call a board meeting early next week to appoint a replacement director and officially install Corcoran as chairman.

LINK

We're f**ked, aren't we

 

[CJKnight]

Yep, we're f***ed alright.

Right up the royal goat arse.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Lets hope its being blown out of proportion.... If not we are up sh*t creek for sure and certain.

 

[Yosh]

Hmm... What does this acutally mean? Just how bad is it?

 

[Jedda]

Remember the result in 2005 and the injury toll? That pretty much sums up whats gonna happen to our club should Wests take their funding.

 

[antonius]

It pretty obvious where all this comes from, every dispute at the club always seems to originate from one K.Conway. Think Sargent, Hagan etc. now Tyler. It's time Conway was punted along with the 4 smiling assasins and Corcoran

 

[Frederick]

So how do we go about getting Conway to f**k off? Can we as members vote him out? Or is it a board decision?

 

[antonius]

So how do we go about getting Conway to f**k off? Can we as members vote him out? Or is it a board decision?

pretty sure it would be a board decission, you can bet if Tyler gets back in though that'll be the end of Conway

 

[The Genge]

If the members passed a vote of no confidence motion in Conway he would most likely resign - at least if I was him I would.

 

[antonius]

Pretty sure a meeting of members will be held very soon. Though listening to reports from the Harragon camp this morning he seems to softening a bit.

 

[cram]

This article is contradiction, in relation to the sponsorship of Wests, to one that appears in the Newcastle Herald and the SMH on line
http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/k...te-bloodletting/2007/02/02/1169919535321.html

Knights' sponsors stick despite blood-letting
Brad Walter
February 3, 2007

KNIGHTS chief executive Ken Conway will next week meet one of the club's major sponsors to discuss an upgrade of their financial deal, despite the boardroom hostilities that this week cost Newcastle chairman Mike Tyler his position and are expected to claim more casualties.

Conway made the revelation after yesterday addressing the Knights players to assure them that the internal drama within the club would be confined to the boardroom. He spoke to new coach Brian Smith on Thursday and gave him the same assurance ahead of what is expected to be two months of heavy campaigning before the Knights' 8000-strong membership is asked to vote on a constitutional change to reduce the number of Newcastle Rugby League-appointed directors on the nine-man board at the club's April 4 AGM.

Despite five directors being elected to the nine-man board, the four Newcastle RL representatives ousted Tyler on Wednesday night with the support of veteran administrator Peter Corcoran, who was appointed executive chairman, and the same group saved Conway's job in December after a no-confidence motion against him.

"These things have happened in the football club from time to time," Conway said. "Two years ago Mike Tyler led a coup against [former chairman] Michael Hill.

"But it's purely a boardroom situation and that's where it will be sorted out - with the membership - and myself and the rest of the staff are totally dedicated to making this year a very good year on the field regardless of that stuff going on. What I said to the players was that they would have to be Blind Freddy not to realise there was a stoush going on at board level but there was absolutely no pressure on the coaching staff or the football team."

Conway said he had spoken with several sponsors, and the Wests Leagues Club Group that has taken over the Knights' marketing operation and underwrites any losses had also been assured their relationship was not in jeopardy.

"There are no issues on the sponsorship side that we are aware of and indeed one of the major sponsors has rung and made an appointment to come and see me on Monday about upgrading their sponsorship," he said.

As the Knights prepare for trial games against Penrith and Cronulla later this month, the players enjoyed a game of cricket in which Andrew Johns - wearing the NSW uniform from his guest stints this summer in two Twenty20 matches - starred with the bat, ball and as wicketkeeper.

"Forget about any State of Origin comeback, I think what Joey was really about today with the press there was staking his claim for a spot in the Australia one-day squad," Conway joked.

Meanwhile, Test forward Sam Thaiday is among six Brisbane players from last year's grand final-winning team named for the club's opening pre-season trial against Central Comets in Rockhampton next Saturday. Boom hooker Michael Ennis will make his first appearance since round five last year after recovering from a knee reconstruction