Open letter to the CEO - Recruitment

[Nuffy]

After much prompting from me, I actually got a response of sorts.

Nothing I might add from Conway but a email from Tyler.

Not a single answer to any question posed, just a series of platitudes and the inference that Tyler and the club indulged us last year and that would be the end of it.

He offered the opinion that the board and club were doing a good job with a disclaimer about resources, ironic considering the extent of the crowing from the club about the addition of resources last year.

There was also a not so subtle dig about disgruntled supporters and he signed off by saying that there would be no more correspondence entered into.

It seems that you can only ask about issues once, and then they become neutralised?

Unfortunately for Mr Tyler, he chose to avoid answering any legitimate questions, and rather resorted to platitudes and avoidance. For a club that proports to be about the members and a community based club, there seems little actual desire to interact with the members or heaven forbid, answer some specific questions about the running of the club.

Some clubs have shown respect for their supporters and members, through public acknowledgement of supporters concerns and specific responses to current issues.

I commend the Bulldogs and Canberra for their recent candidness. I just wonder why other clubs are so reluctant to be truly answerable to their supporters and members?

I also wonder why a board that is specifically installed to represent members is unwilling to make representation to the club on behalf of those members.

Whats the point in being a member if you can't have you say, and whats the point of having a member elected board if they are not interested in feedback?

Whether my questions have merit or otherwise, they seem to be echoing the thoughts of many and I would have thought that based on the groundhog daylike performance of the club yet again in the player trading period, a little bit of self analysis may be in order.

If the club believes it has done a excellent job in player recruitment and retention, lets hear Ken and Mike actually say so, if they haven't, then lets hear why and also how they will improve in 2007.

Is that too much to ask?

 

[antonius]

After much prompting from me, I actually got a response of sorts.

Nothing I might add from Conway but a email from Tyler.

Not a single answer to any question posed, just a series of platitudes and the inference that Tyler and the club indulged us last year and that would be the end of it.

He offered the opinion that the board and club were doing a good job with a disclaimer about resources, ironic considering the extent of the crowing from the club about the addition of resources last year.

There was also a not so subtle dig about disgruntled supporters and he signed off by saying that there would be no more correspondence entered into.

It seems that you can only ask about issues once, and then they become neutralised?

Unfortunately for Mr Tyler, he chose to avoid answering any legitimate questions, and rather resorted to platitudes and avoidance. For a club that proports to be about the members and a community based club, there seems little actual desire to interact with the members or heaven forbid, answer some specific questions about the running of the club.

Some clubs have shown respect for their supporters and members, through public acknowledgement of supporters concerns and specific responses to current issues.

I commend the Bulldogs and Canberra for their recent candidness. I just wonder why other clubs are so reluctant to be truly answerable to their supporters and members?

I also wonder why a board that is specifically installed to represent members is unwilling to make representation to the club on behalf of those members.

Whats the point in being a member if you can't have you say, and whats the point of having a member elected board if they are not interested in feedback?

Whether my questions have merit or otherwise, they seem to be echoing the thoughts of many and I would have thought that based on the groundhog daylike performance of the club yet again in the player trading period, a little bit of self analysis may be in order.

If the club believes it has done a excellent job in player recruitment and retention, lets hear Ken and Mike actually say so, if they haven't, then lets hear why and also how they will improve in 2007.

Is that too much to ask?

There must be a few of those disgruntled supporters, I notice that the crowds are slowly dropping. 14,000 at the Souths game.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Nuffy.

Can you post what he sent?

Cheers.

 

[Parki]

There must be a few of those disgruntled supporters, I notice that the crowds are slowly dropping. 14,000 at the Souths game.

it was souths. It was a saturday night. And it was bloody cold. Not having a shot at you but i dont think we would have pulled a bigger crowd if we were running first, let alone eighth

 

[antonius]

Yeh you're probably right. Have to say though, it's getting very difficult to find much to look forward too with the club lately. It's really dissapointing after all the good stuff last season, it all seems to be unravelling now. I'm really concerned about the roster we have for next season at the moment. Unless Brian Smith is going to pull a couple of rabbits out of a hat, our backline is going to be threadbare.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Well Tone.

I think that we can kiss goodbye any English Coups now that his back in the country, we would have atleast heard rumours if he had of snagged anyone.

At the moment it looks like it will be a exhilirating battle between knights/eels/raiders for the spoon!

 

[Nuffy]

I think that much of last year was fortuitous rather than the result of good planning and execution.

I'm not deriding the contribution of blokes like Ross Cadell, I think they have contributed enormously, but the flurry of activity last year was not the catalyst for a new model within the club, just a measure of breathing space for the admin.

The reality is that the CEO has been in place for approximately 6 years, the coach has been in place for 6 years, most of the board has been in place for numerous years and the chairman has been on the board for many years, so they should be well aware of the clubs needs, opportunities and shortcomings.

I can't help but think that Newcastle is run on a monthly basis, they only worry about the next month, there seems little focus on long term planning and strategic objectives. Its a symptom of the history of the club, the continual fight for existance.

We could have used last year as the catalyst for a new approach by the club and board, all we have seen is that the status quo remains in place.

We've been critical of Hagan for his squandering of the playing resources of this club over the last few years, what evaluation should we give to the admin based on their performance?

 

[Whats Doing]

Unless Brian Smith is going to pull a couple of rabbits out of a hat, our backline is going to be threadbare.

Well we have got one in Doogs.:lol:

 

[thaknight]

Hi i am new and have just read this thread and you have all mentioned the fact that we have all these players leaving but we also have people like David fairley,rip taylor and Bill peden.Now i am a very big fan of the knights and i have to say i love the team and players but hate the club (board) because i kow alot of the players and their families and their families feel the same way and as for signing players i know a father of one of the players that has a lot to do with the knights and he doesn't know wats happening and for that matter neither do the players and another thing about signing players i know that even though they signed Steve simpson he settled forless than other clubs were offering him also kurt gidley settled for less next year than what he is on this year and as for loyalty that means nothing we all know how good a player Matt gidley has been but i can't remember what round it was but it was when we versed the bulldogs at telstra stadium that i knew matt wanted a release to play with st helens and they didn't give it to him for about 3-4 weeks after that so again ill say LOVE the PLAYERS hate the CLUB.

 

[RABK]

Hi i am new and have just read this thread and you have all mentioned the fact that we have all these players leaving but we also have people like David fairley,rip taylor and Bill peden.Now i am a very big fan of the knights and i have to say i love the team and players but hate the club (board) because i kow alot of the players and their families and their families feel the same way and as for signing players i know a father of one of the players that has a lot to do with the knights and he doesn't know wats happening and for that matter neither do the players and another thing about signing players i know that even though they signed Steve simpson he settled forless than other clubs were offering him also kurt gidley settled for less next year than what he is on this year and as for loyalty that means nothing we all know how good a player Matt gidley has been but i can't remember what round it was but it was when we versed the bulldogs at telstra stadium that i knew matt wanted a release to play with st helens and they didn't give it to him for about 3-4 weeks after that so again ill say LOVE the PLAYERS hate the CLUB.

Welcome to the forums.

Now please use some punctuation and paragraphs.

 

[Ben]

Welcome Knight, great to have some new Knights members around these forums. And your bring up a good point. Players don't even know what is happening with the club so what chance do supporters have finding out what the club's current position is. We are simply the 'little people' and they seem to act like, 'the less we hear the better'.

Just a thing, please put some fullstops in your posts because it makes it much easier to read for everyone else.

 

[Master Vippo]

Deadset pretty pathetic. I think the management have been in a position for waayy to long. They are as comfortable in their positions as can be and are not really looking to make any changes, good or bad. No risks.

We need some new blood in the office, someone with some fresh ideas and some real power to make changes. But i dont see how that would happen, or why the current mgt would let it, as it may hurt their hold on their positions.

Maybe Smith can make a bit of a difference, he is a smart influential coach and bloke, but he is only th coach. How can this change be made to happen?

 

[antonius]

The only way to change all this is to get some new blood on the board. If you are a member then you can have a say. It needs a united effort to dislodge some of these guys from their comfort zone.

 

[thaknight]

Another thing that annoy's me,is it seems as though Ken Conway is running the show even though Mike Tyler is the CEO.
Also i just wanna ask a question how many ppl in this forum got to newcastle games and how many have you's missed this year and last year.

 

[macavity]

it seems as though Ken Conway is running the show even though Mike Tyler is the CEO.

 

[Yosh]

ah well, least hagan is going. thats a start isnt it? im sure conway and tyler and co. dont hate the club, they probably just lazy. also im pretty sure the club has enough talent to not really buy any new players. just it does make me quiet angry that we tend to lose alot of this talent. the club should at least put an effort into retaining these players.

also i hear brian smith knows all his PL players and stuff, and shakes their hand after every match. this would mean he knows alot more about his lesser known players which would ultimatly mean he would try to retain guys who we have lost under the hagan effect. i think this will be our last year where we really complain heaps as the curse of the hagan effect is going to lift.

 

[thaknight]

obviously u don't go to many knights games as Hagan is there for the jersey flegg game as well as PL so he knows whats in both grades.

 

[RABK]

obviously u don't go to many knights games as Hagan is there for the jersey flegg game as well as PL so he knows whats in both grades.

Dude, stfu....seriously.

You're bordering on BBSF big noting and that's saying something.

 

[Nuffy]

Whos Ken Conway and whos Mike Tyler?

Supercoach doesn't seem to watch FG let alone PL and JF.

thaknight WTF?

 

[Hurriflatch]

A few things I need to point out before launching into my post

- I'm a big fan of what Brian Smith has done at Parramatta during his time
- I'm NOT trying to just troll onto the site and cause problems
- I well aware that Hagan does go to lower grades infact I saw him at a SG Ball/Harold Mathews finals game in which the Knights played one game and Parra played the other Hagan stayed for both.





Simply, Welcome to the world of life under Brian Smith he did the same thing in his 1st couple of years at Parramatta he got in place the systems he wanted and made sure that if you weren't going to be part of that system he let you know about it thats part of the reason why Gary Freeman is biased against Parramatta the story goes that when Brian was appointed coach for 1997 (Freeman was the Eels #7 in 96) he told Freeman in no uncertain terms that he was going to be no part of his plans for the next year and he signed John Simon to be halfback.

It may take 18 months to two years for Brian to really get settled in Newcastle but the team will be better at the end of it especially with the fact that life after Johns is fast approaching and considering their past efforts without him on the park the Knights currently are looking at a string of wooden spoons when that happens.

I'd be expecting Newcastle to lose more then they gain next year as well if only in numbers.

Brian is a big fan of having turnover he doesn't like seeing the same faces year in year outm he was once quoted as saying that he wants half a dozen new players each year.

Another thing Brian is a fan of is a "project player" a perfect example of this is none other then Fuifui Moimoi at Souths he was a bench player in Reserve Grade and had a poor attitude after playing only 10 mins in a reserve grasde match for Souths the following Monday at training after 10 mins he walked off telling Paul Langmack "I play for 10 mins I train for 10 mins" Brian signed Fui and worked with him on fitness, attitude etc and now Fui is a regular starting prop and is playing 45-50 mins a game and up to 20 min shifts. Before he was re-signed by the Eels Brian was desparate to try and convince Fui to join him up at Newcastle.

A common thread I've seen from Knights fans in regards to Hagan is that he refuses to drop certain players regardless of form don't expect this to change entierly under Smith while it may not happen as often it will happen, Jarryd Hayne for example was destoying teams in resrrve grade before Brian left and JT told him a month before that he thought Hayne was ready for 1st grade but Matt Petersen was on the wing for the Eels and Brian stuck with him, Smith left and JT's 1st move as coach was to drop Petersen and bring Hayne up.