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Gary Gutful

Gary Gutful

Post Whore
Messages
53,726
Stagger eel said:
and With Nick gave her street cred…

I still think he should of aimed better with that rock.

anyway we digress ….
Click to expand...
Its a quality digression and anyone who disagrees can suck a fart.

I agree. She was desperate to progress her career and stop being a poser. Cave was ideal, but obviously a dud root.
 
Avenger

Avenger

Immortal
Messages
35,671
Sorry if I’m late to the party but


Just watched Face to Face with Ben Elias. People can criticise Denis Fitzgerald all they want, but according to Benny, the Tigers were set to merge with us—right up until the eleventh hour. That’s when Fitzgerald stepped in and said Parra didn’t want the Tigers and didn’t want to be known as the Parramatta Tigers. The deal was off, and they ended up merging with the Wests Magpies instead. Credit to Fitzy for that move (even if he was never a fan of the Eels and tried to turn us into the Rams).
 
The Predictor

The Predictor

Bench
Messages
2,551
Avenger said:
Sorry if I’m late to the party but


Just watched Face to Face with Ben Elias. People can criticise Denis Fitzgerald all they want, but according to Benny, the Tigers were set to merge with us—right up until the eleventh hour. That’s when Fitzgerald stepped in and said Parra didn’t want the Tigers and didn’t want to be known as the Parramatta Tigers. The deal was off, and they ended up merging with the Wests Magpies instead. Credit to Fitzy for that move (even if he was never a fan of the Eels and tried to turn us into the Rams).
Click to expand...
First time I heard that version, I did hear he had Parra tigers prototype hats printed without tigers knowledge, spooking them into merging with Maggies, that sounds more plausible, considering Dennis did everything in his power to get rid of the eels emblem, I think that is a much truer version
 
Joshuatheeel

Joshuatheeel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,848
Avenger said:
Sorry if I’m late to the party but


Just watched Face to Face with Ben Elias. People can criticise Denis Fitzgerald all they want, but according to Benny, the Tigers were set to merge with us—right up until the eleventh hour. That’s when Fitzgerald stepped in and said Parra didn’t want the Tigers and didn’t want to be known as the Parramatta Tigers. The deal was off, and they ended up merging with the Wests Magpies instead. Credit to Fitzy for that move (even if he was never a fan of the Eels and tried to turn us into the Rams).
Click to expand...
Looks like that story from Benny isn't correct......according to the eels and Fitz. Tigers pulled out while Fitz was happy to sell out the eels:

"It turned out that strong opposition from several former Balmain legends and influential supporters stopped the move in its tracks and within weeks the Tigers had announced a merger with Western Suburbs to become the Wests Tigers."

www.parraeels.com.au

THROWBACK | The Parramatta Tigers

Each week NEIL CADIGAN will look back on some of the most eventful games and most famous names in the club’s 70-year history and bring them back to life.
www.parraeels.com.au www.parraeels.com.au

Fitz was then willing to merge with Panthers and agreed to be called the panthers (or tiger):

"The Eels, headed up by long-time former chief executive Denis Fitzgerald, were pushing for the two western Sydney clubs to enter into a joint-venture before the 2000 premiership season"

"Fitzgerald said he wasn’t a big fan of the Eels logo and would have been prepared to sacrifice it had a merger with Balmain or Penrith eventuated. The self-proclaimed “Emperor of Parramatta” said the merged entity would likely have been branded Parramatta Panthers."

"There was some alliteration there, it would have been good,” he said. “And you have to be seen to be giving up something.”

www.smh.com.au

‘The Parramatta Panthers’: The secret document that almost led to a Panthers-Eels merger

A merger manifesto that has emerged after more than two decades shows that a Parramatta-Penrith marriage was just a Panthers pen-stroke away from eventuating.
www.smh.com.au www.smh.com.au
 
Last edited:
TheParraboy

TheParraboy

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
70,527
Avenger said:
Sorry if I’m late to the party but


Just watched Face to Face with Ben Elias. People can criticise Denis Fitzgerald all they want, but according to Benny, the Tigers were set to merge with us—right up until the eleventh hour. That’s when Fitzgerald stepped in and said Parra didn’t want the Tigers and didn’t want to be known as the Parramatta Tigers. The deal was off, and they ended up merging with the Wests Magpies instead. Credit to Fitzy for that move (even if he was never a fan of the Eels and tried to turn us into the Rams).
Click to expand...

Brave story by Benny regarding the eels-tigers naming

The bigger issue was control and power




www.parraeels.com.au

THROWBACK | The Parramatta Tigers

Each week NEIL CADIGAN will look back on some of the most eventful games and most famous names in the club’s 70-year history and bring them back to life.
www.parraeels.com.au www.parraeels.com.au

It was declared there would be a $21 million benefit from merging with the Tigers. Negotiations reached a point where chairmen and CEOs of both clubs (Denis Fitzgerald–Alan Overton and Danny Munk–John Chalk) had agreed on terms and were ready to go to their boards for rubber stamping.

It turned out that strong opposition from several former Balmain legends and influential supporters stopped the move in its tracks and within weeks the Tigers had announced a merger with Western Suburbs to become the Wests Tigers.

They had seen that they would be a very junior partner with the Eels, and a merger with the Magpies would allow games to continue at Leichhardt Oval as well as Campbelltown (the irony was that Balmain played the 1995-96 seasons out of Parramatta Stadium as they struggled with their identity and poor facilities at Leichhardt which underwent urgent remedial work).

As a safeguard, the Eels management re-opened talks with the Penrith with Panthers supremo Roger Cowan keen to play ball, knowing his club was no certainty to make the final 14 for 2000 after poor years with crowds and performance.

Ultimately, a well-publicised public campaign led by former politician and influential club supporter Ron Mulock thwarted any great progress and the western city clubs were left to their own devices.

When the criteria rankings were revealed in October 1999 and the make-up of the 14-team future competition announced, Penrith were the bottom club on the list of those who survived but well clear of North Sydney and South Sydney who were cut.

St George and Illawarra had been the first clubs to see the light and merge (in 1998 for the ’99 season) while 1999 wooden spooners Wests and third-last placed Balmain had already agreed to a joint venture, meaning only 12 stand-alone clubs were considered to remain in 2000.
 
L

lucablight

First Grade
Messages
6,860
Avenger said:
Sorry if I’m late to the party but


Just watched Face to Face with Ben Elias. People can criticise Denis Fitzgerald all they want, but according to Benny, the Tigers were set to merge with us—right up until the eleventh hour. That’s when Fitzgerald stepped in and said Parra didn’t want the Tigers and didn’t want to be known as the Parramatta Tigers. The deal was off, and they ended up merging with the Wests Magpies instead. Credit to Fitzy for that move (even if he was never a fan of the Eels and tried to turn us into the Rams).
Click to expand...
I thought Fitzgerald wanted to merge with Balmain because he didn’t like the Eels logo? Old wives tale?
 
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