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Parramatta Leagues Club board sacked, administrator appointed

strider

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What is the process? ... once we appoint our board, what happens? Does Max then go bye bye?
 
Gronk

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strider said:
Im on the fence about how much i like Max ... its all well n good to talk up saving money, but it's an NRL club and they are meant to heomorage money if you want to be successful
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I think you need to read Max's quotes in context. He was talking at a time that the NRL are proposing to cut the promised increased funding to the clubs. So in that context, he was spin doctoring our financial position.

Same as Fitzy's infamous "i can't guarantee that we'll be about in 5 years" quote was made at the time when Fitzy was the NRL club spokesman and similarly trying to claw in extra funding.
 
strider

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Gronk said:
I think you need to read Max's quotes in context. He was talking at a time that the NRL are proposing to cut the promised increased funding to the clubs. So in that context, he was spin doctoring our financial position.

Same as Fitzy's infamous "i can't guarantee that we'll be about in 5 years" quote was made at the time when Fitzy was the NRL club spokesman and similarly trying to claw in extra funding.
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Yeah maybe .... but he's showed his renowned tight arse ways already .... he will build a carpark with one parking spot to save some cash
 
Gronk

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Tabakov got a Walkley Award last night for "scoop of the year".

#merkin
 
Eelementary

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Gronk said:
Parramatta salary cap scandal: Eels backer’s HQ searched

Nick Tabakoff, News Limited
November 25, 2016 12:00am



THE plot has thickened in Parramatta’s salary cap scandal, with the NSW Police Fraud and Cybercrime Squad have executing a search warrant at the Sydney CBD headquarters of a company involved in third-party payments to former Eel Anthony Watmough.

The Daily Telegraph understands two officers from the Squad’s Strike Force Rhodium, which was set up to investigate the Eels scandal, turned up at the offices of online investment group BlackCitrus in Alfred St with the warrant.

BlackCitrus is run by Stephen Moss, son of prominent Eels fan and former Macquarie Bank director Bill Moss.

Police sources confirmed the execution of the search warrant, and that they took away several documents.

“It was very low key and the office was very co-operative,” a police source said last night.

Strike Force Rhodium is investigating whether some Eels officials misappropriated funds from the Parramatta Leagues Club to facilitate third-party payments to players through false or inflated invoices.

In 2015, BlackCitrus signed a four-year contract worth in excess of $850,000 for it to provide IT services to the Eels.

Additionally, the NRL’s final breach notice against the Eels found that BlackCitrus paid Watmough a third-party agreement, worth $75,000 a year.

The Daily Telegraph understands that under the warrant yesterday, copies of the BlackCitrus contract with the Eels were taken, along with time sheets showing work done by BlackCitrus.

When contacted late yesterday, Stephen Moss said: “We are fully co-operative and committed to bringing the NRL and the NSW Police some transparency to the table.”

He declined to comment further because of what he described as “ongoing litigation” with the Eels.

The NRL’s final breach notice included text messages in which Mr Moss told former Eels CEO Scott Seward of problems with the contract with the club and pressure from Watmough’s manager over the slowness of the third-party payments.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...d/news-story/f67aaa4d866f3490915e3c3b0bc91808
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f**k.

Seriously - does nobody ever proofread shit any more?

Fmd. What a joke.

/rant
 
Gronk

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Parramatta expect to have Anthony Watmough's salary dispute resolved in the new year as they prepare to consign the rampant tribalism of the past to the dustbin of history.

After a calamitous 2016 NRL season when they found themselves the subject of unwanted headlines all too often, their chief executive Bernie Gurr is upbeat about their future and declared them open for business.

The club is in the middle of negotiating a payout for former Origin and Australian star Watmough following his injury-enforced retirement midway through the year.

"It's still being negotiated. I've met with his manager a couple of times since I kicked my feet under my desk," Gurr told AAP.

"It's on-going. We're hopeful of resolving it early in the new year."

Watmough retired one year into a four-year contract which was due to expire at the end of 2018.

He claims he is owed his contract money for 2018, because the clause for that season was in his favour, however the club argues that he was incapable of playing and therefore not entitled to that portion of his contract.

In a wide-ranging interview Gurr was eager to talk up the club's position after a litany of scandals this year including the salary cap saga, Kieran Foran's exit to address personal issues and domestic violence allegations against Semi Radradra.

The Eels will on Monday reach a major milestone in their governance reform process when nominations for independent board members close.

The Parramatta board was sacked in the wake of their salary cap breaches and an independent committee is set to appoint five independent directors, with the Parramatta Leagues Club to hold the other two chairs.

"They're going to bring terrific expertise and end the factionalism-driven activities that have been around Parramatta's board for about 15 or 20 years. That's an absolutely key brick in the wall," Gurr said.

The Eels are also on the lookout for a new sponsor with Gurr describing them as a sound partner despite recent woes.

"I think we're one of the most compelling major sponsorship propositions in Sydney," Gurr said.

"When you look at the economic development that's happening in western Sydney at the moment ... We're ahead of the Panthers, Bulldogs, Tigers, Greater Western Sydney Giants, Wanderers - no matter what metric you look at, we are still the No.1 in western Sydney.

"We had 23,000 members last year, the most we've ever had and that was in the environment of two years of calamitous headlines."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/33399543/eels-prepare-to-solve-watmough-standoff/#page1
 
Gronk

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Parramatta chief executive Bernie Gurr has revealed the club will be based around the core values of integrity, respect and excellence as he seeks to rebuild the Eels, while at the same time fending off the growing threats from rival codes in western Sydney and filling the gaping space on the front of the team’s jersey.

Gurr, still in his relative infancy at the helm of Parramatta after joining the club five weeks ago, is intent on ensuring the club realises its promise and becomes a powerhouse on the Sydney sporting landscape.

“We have analysed our club and what sort of club we want to be,” Gurr said.

“We have put a few bricks in the walls across the entire club. We are all on the same page as to the values about how we will behave around the club.

“That doesn’t guarantee success but it guarantees some solidity in the foundations and what type of club you want to be. No matter what value you come up with, all roads lead back to honesty, respecting people and excellence in everything you do.

“Pretty much all roads lead back to those three so we decided on those.

“I think it’s important to have organisations you can revisit when you’re making decisions. We had a meeting with everybody in the club and they have bought into it.

“It is very difficult to argue with those core values.”

The Eels are still recovering from a salary cap scandal that decimated the club and prompted sweeping changes to the administration and playing roster.

Despite the controversy that has enveloped the club in recent times, Gurr was quick to point out they remain the No 1 sporting club in western Sydney in terms of supporter base, broadcasting reach and online recognition.

They also have the largest female supporter base in the NRL and the largest junior reach.

Nevertheless, the club remains on the lookout for a major sponsor, but Gurr won’t be selling the Eels short as he looks to find a partner befitting of their jersey.

“We have such a compelling proposition for a major sponsor,” he said.

“With all the economic development going on in the west, by any metric we are the No 1 professional sporting franchise in the fastest growing economy in Australia.

“We want to get the message out that we are a new Parramatta, a united Parramatta, and from a business perspective, I don’t think any other club in the league has the proposition we have, particularly in the region that is western Sydney.

“We need a reputable company. There are a lot of companies that should have an interest in partnering with us in this economy out here.

“It’s been mind-boggling for me to come back from (the US) and see what is happening in western Sydney — it is absolutely awesome. There is a lot more good stuff happening inside our club than people perceive from the outside. It’s quite exciting and pretty compelling the proposition we have from a footy point of view and a commercial point of view.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...d/news-story/cda2d90d2f2f826534abf03d464f3d2e
 
hineyrulz

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Feel the Bern baby!!! Just a small improvement on the last 3 or 4 clowns who have been running the club the last few years.
 
El Diablo

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http://www.afr.com/business/account...ferrier-hodgsons-max-donnelly-20161130-gt1eo4

Football just another a business for Ferrier Hodgson's Max Donnelly

by John Stensholt

When Max Donnelly of Ferrier Hodgson walked into NRL club Parramatta after being appointed as administrator in July, he got a quick reminder of how the business of sport can differ to the corporate world.

"When I started the coach did ask if I would go into the dressing rooms," Mr Donnelly said. "I wasn't sure so I said only if I was invited. But that isn't what I'm here for. He asked if I would suggest who should be in the team and who he should recruit. I said no, though I would say who he couldn't recruit if we couldn't fit them in the salary cap."

The Eels were in a state of perpetual crisis when the Parramatta Leagues Club board was sacked and replaced with Donnelly after officials were accused of using inflated invoices to secretly pay players. The Eels had by then been fined by the NRL for cheating the salary cap, had competition points deducted and some officials were deregistered.

Meanwhile, the thriving leagues club had pumped about $30 million into the football team over four years to keep it afloat, and the board – which included some ex-players – had been providing advice to the coach about tactics and player recruitment.

"About 90 per cent of my problems have been related to the football club," Donnelly told The Australian Financial Review. "And while I've said I should not be judged on results on the field, I probably will. There's not much I can do to avoid that."


Donnelly has previous rugby league experience, first as the receiver at the Cronulla Leagues Club in the 1980s – "we fixed that up by putting a disco in there" – and then of the doomed North Sydney Bears. "The difference with Parramatta is that this is not an insolvency appointment. We have a leagues club with money here. The Bears had no money and no [football] licence."

Unique challenges

But the Parramatta job has its complexities and is one of the more unique challenges Donnelly has undertaken in a long career that has included the turnaround of the Magic Millions horse sales business and high-profile bankruptcies such as Christopher Skase, Robert Trimbole, Geoff Edelsten and the estate of Lang Hancock.

Donnelly, who was appointed by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, has appointed a new chief executive, Bernie Gurr, and extended coach Brad Arthur's contract. He is putting a new Parramatta board together and in an effort to get past the mess of recent years is insisting candidates have not worked for the club for three years and will not consider any previous directors. Despite that, he has been inundated with applications this week.

"I've got 80-90 applications so far and there's a lot of solid ones in there, so I think we'll get a quality board. We'll probably have 25-30 interviews and try to get that done before Christmas. Then we'll do check for the last 10 or so and hope to have five independents in place by February."

Donnelly has also found himself siding with the other NRL clubs in its fight to oust Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant. The ARLC has pulled an offer to fund the clubs for 130 per cent of player payments from 2018 onwards, additional money that Donnelly said would have helped Parramatta.

"The additional money would help. We lost $12 million this year, will halve that next year and it will probably be a $3 million loss in 2018. This is why the additional money is important for the club."
 
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