http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...b/news-story/46cda808c9e4232cf2b7ae1b1af669f0
Parramatta Eels: NRL legend calls for massive overhaul of club
MATT LOGUE & PAUL CRAWLEY, The Daily Telegraph
28 minutes ago
EELS legend Mick Cronin has led a who’s who of some of the greatest players to don Parramatta’s blue and gold with an impassioned plea for a massive overhaul at the club in a bid to return it to its glory years.
The 22-test veteran joined fellow greats from the side which dominated the comp in the ’80s — Brett Kenny and Ray Price — in the call-to-arms after watching bitter factions tear the franchise apart.
Cronin, who played 216 games in his decade with the Eels, issued the call for the embattled club to channel the original mantra of former supercoach Jack Gibson.
“The first thing Jack told us when he arrived at the Eels was, ‘For the good of this club, at some stage we’ve all got to put our egos aside’,” Cronin said yesterday. “Now that’s a pretty prophetic statement.
“Everything is in position – plenty of money, juniors, a ground and the coach. Now in a perfect world you want seven people to go in there with only Parramatta’s interests at heart and then they work with the NRL.
“That’s what needs to happen for the good of the club.”
Kenny said Parramatta needed a board which would put aside agendas and work to make the club a success off the field by the time the Western Sydney franchise’s new 30,000-seat stadium arrives in 2019.
He believes the club already has the right coach in Brad Arthur who has proved he is the man to take the team forward on the field.
“We have got the right coach. He has proven himself to be able to handle the position and has done a great job,” he said. “So if we get the right people involved in the board, we have two years to get it right.
“We can’t afford to go through this again. This is an opportunity to start afresh and get it right.”
Kenny said as much as it hurt to see the Eels stripped of 12 competition points that virtually ended their hopes of playing in this year’s NRL finals series, he understood the game’s bosses were left with no choice.
“You couldn’t do what they did and not be penalised,” he said.
“That is an unfortunate thing for the players because they have done nothing wrong but they had to pay the penalty. That is the way it goes.
“Not in your wildest dreams would you have thought this would ever happen at the Eels.”
Parramatta’s Mr Perpetual Motion, Ray Price, believes the only way forward is to give the football club ultimate control of the Eels.
“Give the NRL side back to the football club, that’s what needs to happen,” Price said. “The Leagues club is there to prop up the football club, so they know their job.
“But it’s up to the football club directors to run the football club, not doing both. That’s what they’ve been trying to do.”
Former champion backrower Peter Wynn declared fans “have had enough” given the NSW government’s move in appointing a temporary administrator to run the embattled club.
With his Peter Wynn Score sports store in Parramatta’s heartland, he is acutely aware of how much the fans are hurting.
“I just want to pick up the newspaper and read all positive things about Parramatta, that is what I want to see happen,” he said.
“And I think the fans are the same. To cut it to the bone, they just want to see their players do well on the field.
“To tell you the truth they are over it, they have had enough. At the start of the year there was just so much hope and promise.
“The fans were really rallying behind the team, behind the jersey.”
And 1986 premiership-winning hooker Michael Moseley pleaded with the club’s warring parties to stop for the greater good of Parramatta.
“I just want all the factions gone, that’s all I want,” Moseley said. “Everyone needs to stop worrying about their own personal interest and egos and just worry about the club going forward.”
John Muggleton spent 10 years at Parramatta so he understands what makes the club tick. He urged those in charge to stick with the current administration set-up, instead of looking at privatisation. “I don’t think private ownership is the way to go,” he said.
“It’s a money-making entity in itself so I think we should stay with the current system, but we need a board that’s united and working together.
“And as far as I’m concerned that pretty much rules out everyone from the last 30 years. The fact we haven’t won a premiership for 30 years is an indication of how big a shambles the club has been — it’s ridiculous.”
