Knightsrebuild - time to do something.

[slotmachine]

I'd have some shred of confidence if the club had developed a legit rep level player since Gids debuted in 2001.

 

[otori]

The interesting part of this response from Quayle is that they don't feel they are accountable to the fans. That's not necessarily a bad thing (realistically we fans don't see any of the behind the scenes work including strategies and development) but I do fear they're running the club on auto-pilot. If they said were employing Coach X who will set up structure Y and the long term future is Z then myself perosnally, I would be content to struggle in the short term. The lack of transparency is hurting them as all we see are shit results, poor prospects and negativity. The excuse making shows them up as reachers rather than confidently setting up the blocks.

I don't mind having a bad season or two. I think the poster who wrote that 8 teams will miss out every year was realistic. But long term cultural success and construction is necessary

 

[Noname36]

So basically what Quayle is saying is that we have zero money, will have zero money for at least 3 years while the NRL is running the joint and as a result we have absolutely nothing to look forward to?

Reading between the lines that's what is going on. The NRL have zero intention of finding us a new owner for a very long time and as a result we're stuck with what we have...a shitty budget football department and a shitty roster with the NRL controlling the purse strings.

Joy.

 

[Joker's Wild]

The comedy of that article is astounding

Even better is the best performers in our FG side of the last few years have been imports like Scott, the Sims boys and Gagai. Snowie and Mullo have been the only locals to prove worth feeding and even that's a stretch in Mullo case.

Our days of producing gun jnrs are over. We are truly f**ked

 

[perverse]

I really can't fathom that response from Quayle. Do they really think the way to reconnect with the community is to tell them "look, you're going to take what you're given because we're telling you it's what you wanted". He says the community wanted it's club back... but the community hasn't got anything back at all! All we've got is a bunch of feel-good, nice-guy appointments and the NRL running the show how they see fit (cheaply). Clearly, as Quayle has illustrated himself - the fans are dead last on the list of stakeholders in the club at the moment. They clearly couldn't give a rats arse how the fans feel.

I wish I could not give a shit, but I do. The worst thing that could be done at this point is to go quiet about it. Need to vote with our wallets and our voices. Keep the media on them, they can't just fob it off forever... especially if we start averaging under 10k crowds - which would have to be a possibility on this trajectory surely. The only language they will understand is money - and we need to stop giving it to them en-masse. It's not like we can collapse the club by boycotting with the NRL owning us.

 

[Joker's Wild]

I've been a member fir 10+ years despite never living in Newie. I'm done with that unless things change now. My hard earned can go towards something worthwhile from now on

 

[Nuffy]

I've been a member fir 10+ years despite never living in Newie. I'm done with that unless things change now. My hard earned can go towards something worthwhile from now on

Interesting isn't it, I'm Newcastle raised but have lived in Sydney for nearly 20 yrs.

I've been a season ticket holder since the AJ stand opened and moved to the Western grandstand about 5 years ago. All platnium. Prior to that we stood on the hill for every game since 1988.

My kids support Newcastle even though they are growing up in Sydney, my Sydney based godsons both support Newcastle. I buy gear every year even though I dont need it.

But I am disloyal because I don't swear blind allegiance.

Perhaps I would be better to take my 2 grand a year and do something else. Is that really what the club wants?

A final question, how long has John Quayle supported the Knights?

 

[Loose Cannon]

If these juniors they speak of are the future, how long before Stone looks to the future.

This season is gone. We might as well throw any kid on the books in the top grade next week and let them sink or swim. It's not like they are going to be any worse than our current bunch of first string derp wads, and given 10 games at the back end this year, they will be better for it going into the 2016 misery.

Instead, the money we paid for 3x Matautia's (at least 2 of), and then Jake Mamo, will be wearing reserve grade shirts until McManus' kilt gets folded circa 2018.

 

[The Showstopper]

Quayle has totally deflated me with his comments.

With the growing push for a Perth franchise one has to wonder what the NRL agenda is there. If it was my job to pick the club relocated to Perth it would be us. The reason is simple. It is a marketing opportunity made in heaven. A club who is a financial basket case in a mining heartland being relocated to the mining Mecca that is Perth and WA would have immense appeal to West Australians over say Cronulla or the Gold Coast. You need connection with the lifeblood of a region. It was working here but we have never had the commercial appeal we need. Over there I feel that commercial opportunity would be far greater. It is all hypothetical but unless we sort our shit out I would not write it off as impossible,

 

[Alex28]

I've been a member since 1995. Won't be renewing next year. The attitude towards the club by its current owners is bullshit. Why should we put up with mediocrity because that is all the NRL can be bothered putting into the club?

How do they expect to maximise the value of the asset by running it into the ground?

 

[Swarzey]

So.....we're getting somewhere with this little campaign ;-)

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/3...-knights-bosses-in-for-the-long-haul/?cs=2503

 

[The Showstopper]

I feel an Us vs Them social media war might well ignite the commercial interest we so desperately need. This club is seen as having no passion and that the fans are simply passive idiots. They are almost correct. The thing is fellas we have got their attention. Controversy sells. It is a fact of life. I suggest we refer to ourselves as the REAL fans who feel this club has sold itself out on an ideology that is long dead in commercial terms. Business is about expansion and not regression. Newcastle simply cannot move out of the view of itself as inferior to Sydney. We are because we choose it to be that way.

This is a start. We need to rock the boat a bit like ANONYMOUS do. Make your presence felt and most importantly put it up! We put forth irrefutable fact and why we are not rolling over like conditioned dogs. Facts like 8/9 losses in professional sport is not acceptable at an elite level. That accountability is not empty dribble on a radio station. This will gain traction if we all agree to keep it relevant.

 

[Whats Doing]

We should also be making it quite clear that we don't like the direction of where the Board is taken us which will lead us to years of mediocrity and bottom 8 finishes

 

[Jono078]

That's awesome that we've made the papers.

Once again I don't know if they're entirely getting the point. Of course it's probably not realistic to expect drastic changes just 6 months after we had big changes.

What were asking for is accountability and signs that we want to be a premier club. This means players being dropped for poor performances. Better recruitment strategies and solutions to why we aren't performing and not bloody excuses.

 

[Noname36]

That's awesome that we've made the papers.

Once again I don't know if they're entirely getting the point. Of course it's probably not realistic to expect drastic changes just 6 months after we had big changes.

What were asking for is accountability and signs that we want to be a premier club. This means players being dropped for poor performances. Better recruitment strategies and solutions to why we aren't performing and not bloody excuses.

This exactly. What they don't seem to get is that we would cop the short-term pain for long-term success if we genuinely thought they were doing something that was setting us up for long-term success. Take the Smith era for example. Even though there was the outcry from the average moron Knights fan, most of us were content to sit through the pain of 2007 and parts of 2008 because we could see that the consistent success of 2009 was coming.

I don't see that this time. In fact I feel like the club is going even further backwards (and I didn't think that was possible).

Also I understand that Stone hasn't exactly been given an easy job. He's been left with a roster that is horrendous in the key positions (up front, halves and hooker) which has been made even worse by our injury issues. If we felt that he was doing all he could with what he was given I think we'd all be willing to sit by and wait to see what he could do with the side in time. HOWEVER that's not what's happening. The players are allowed to get away with crap performances and having crap attitudes because they know they he's never going to drop them. They talk about our juniors but a bloke like Mamo who always has a go is sitting in NSW Cup while someone like BJ, who is leaving and has probably the worst attitude I've ever seen in a player is assured a spot week in week out despite his performances calling for being dropped.

And what about on the administration side of things? If the board and Midley really do have a plan or a "vision" then why can't they share that direction with the fans? If they don't tell us anything then why are they so surprised and angered that we're questioning whether they even have one?

 

[Rod]

That's awesome that we've made the papers.

Once again I don't know if they're entirely getting the point. Of course it's probably not realistic to expect drastic changes just 6 months after we had big changes.

What were asking for is accountability and signs that we want to be a premier club. This means players being dropped for poor performances. Better recruitment strategies and solutions to why we aren't performing and not bloody excuses.

Agreed, it's going to be tough to get people to realise the difference between the points we are trying to get across and just complaining because we've had a few losses.

It's such a huge difference but if it's not communicated correctly that's all it will be written off as.

Paul Kent is a journo worth targeting. He's not everyone's favourite (I personally think he's not bad) but from the snippets he's said about us on NRL 360 he recognises and understands the problems with our joint.

 

[slotmachine]

And what about on the administration side of things? If the board and Midley really do have a plan or a "vision" then why can't they share that direction with the fans? If they don't tell us anything then why are they so surprised and angered that we're questioning whether they even have one?

Quayle shared the vision yesterday. Locals only brah.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Holy f**k. Can't believe the campaign made the papers already. The group isn't that big yet but I guess the message is powerful. I think the media, if they want to report more about the campaign should read this thread as well. Some posts here are very well voiced it it couldn't hurt anyone from within the Knights reading them.

 

[Allstar Knights]

Holy f**k. Can't believe the campaign made the papers already. The group isn't that big yet but I guess the message is powerful. I think the media, if they want to report more about the campaign should read this thread as well. Some posts here are very well voiced it it couldn't hurt anyone from within the Knights reading them.

Yep, I like the idea of tweeting Brett Keeble and Robert Dillon etc with a link to this thread. It would help them understand a lot better why this started and what we want from the campaign. I also think they believe we mainly want immediate results when in reality, we just want to have some hope with a team that has a proper dig each week as well as some accountability off and on the field.

 

[Noname36]

Quayle shared the vision yesterday. Locals only brah.

I meant more in terms of their plans to make us viable financially, but Jeez, the locals bullshit drives me mad. They're held on a pedestal while a lot of our imports (Scott, Gags and the Sims bros) have been our better players in recent times. Enough of speaking like they're the red headed step children or somehow inferior just because they weren't born in Newcastle FFS.