Parramatta Eels bold plan to become Australias No.1 sporting franchise
Dean Ritchie EXCLUSIVE
The Daily Telegraph
February 26, 2015 12:00AM
THE Parramatta Eels have unveiled a bullish strategic plan to become Australias No.1 sporting franchise.
Eels chief executive Scott Seward has had a gutful of on-field failure.
He wants to fix the problem, starting now.
The Daily Telegraph has obtained a full copy of the Eels new strategic plan - titled the 2020 Vision.
The paper was presented to 250 club members on Wednesday night. By the year 2020, Parramatta has boldly predicted they can:
* Win two NRL premierships;
* Play in the final series for six successive years, including a minimum of two grand finals;
* Deliver a $1 million operating profit;
* Have 50,000 members;
* Have an average home crowd of 26,000;
* Train at $25 million new high performance centre in Parramatta.
A clearly frustrated Seward said: We havent played in the finals since 2009 and thats just an absolute failure. This club has to play in the finals every year - that should just be an expectation. It is totally unacceptable (the club hasnt won a premiership since 1986). Clubs like Parramatta shouldnt ever win a wooden spoon.
The strategic plan covered every possible issue with answers and resolutions. Some may be unattainable, others are realistic, if not cheeky.
The paper asks Parramatta to be united, honest, progressive and ruthless.
It reads: Rest assured we will be ruthless in our pursuit of success and delivering all elements of the Eels 2020 Vision.
We want to known as the most professional sporting brand in Australia.
Under another headline of The Parramatta Way, the club vows to be brave and ask the hard questions - put the issue on the table. If you say it, do it.
No shortcuts - take the time to get things right.
And in another category, the club vows it will not tolerate:
* Passing the buck - offloading responsibility onto others.
* Throwing others under the bus - blaming someone else to cover for your mistake.
* Reverting back to the safety of Thats what we have always done.
* Being quick to say no.
At the end of the day, we are here to win a comp - its as simple as that, Seward said.
Seward stressed his club had to change its mentality.
We have to ask the hard questions - even if it something we dont want to do. We have to confront and challenge each other, he said.
We dont want to take short cuts - we have to do things the right way and we have to give every idea a chance to succeed. There will be failures but we prefer to try ten things and get one thing right so we can change the way the business is going to be run.
It is a change in mindset. Were not just going to do it the same way it has always been done. We have to try something different. You have to move forward and change with the times. When I started here, there were a lot of people saying thats the way we have always done it. The results would show me thats not good.
Parramatta won successive wooden spoons in 2013 and 2014 and havent won a title in 29 years.
We were last on and off the field - and it was a fair gap, he said.
Do you strive to get to eighth or say stuff it, well go around you and be the best. Thats the mentality we want. We think if you are built to win one title, you are built to win multiple. You have to change, you have to adapt, you have to try something new. We werent doing that. We are trying to aspire to be better than weve ever been.
