Sometimes we can judge a man by whom he pisses off.
On this account John Grant is succeeding wildly. I would count it as a badge of honour if News ltd. went after me with the vigour with which they are pursuing him. The beauty part is Grant gives every indication of fortitude, and I'm certain they will select a candidate for CEO that has the same quality. Attacks from the DT will be deflected easily and eventually they will fall into line, reeds in the breeze that they are.
Under this stewardship, our game is going to go from strength to strength
And an extra one for having an underrated musical genius in your avatar!
That was a great article. The new commission is a joke. They're effectively directors of the competitition and as such have no right to be so active in decision making. That's what management is for.
Umm, directors DIRECT, and managers MANAGE. Directors make directions about things - managers manage things. Think about which of those 2
roles is about making decisions about what is to be done, and which is about just making sure the decisions are actually done.
Why else would company directors get paid squillions? Why would managers be answerable to a board of directors?
And dyou you for one second believe Gallop was NOT answerable to the NRL board, and therefore answerble to Murdoch ultimately? Think about it - it was easy to punt Souths and Norths (before Gallops time admittedly), and impossible to bring the Bears back - even with a sure fire guarantee at Gosford. Ye it was impossible to punt Melbourne - or even stop throwing coin at them!
I liked Gallop - I think he was a good man with a genuine concern for the games good. Yet, when the invisible leash from Hartigan's office yanked back, he fell into line quicker than a well trained cattle dog.
It was easier to accept a cheap TV rights deal than piss off the boss. It was easier to blame AFL's longer tedium compared to our 80 minutes of quality.
It was easier to strip Canterbury and Melboring of premiership points and titles. Much harder than conduct an inquiry that might show elite players in a bad light - and subsequently any knowledge/condoning/funding higher up the News Ltd hierarchy.
Very much upset that Gallop got axed.
My views are reflective of the majority of league fans. All you need to do is look at the polls on Fox Sports and newspaper websites where there is resounding support for Gallop's job performance to realise that all of you tin foil hat posters are very much in the minority of society.
To be in the majority of society means one works for Railways India, follows soccer and lives in poverty. Living in Australia, above the poverty line and enjoying Rugby League (even if, in my case, that means only 3 wins all year) is better than that.
I'm happy to be in the minority that is above average. Quoting Murdoch's own polls is like getting a video ref to ask a player "Well, did you score it or not"?
News Ltd did irrepairable damage to Rugby League - and continued to do so. Cheap TV rights deals, of which the first $10 million per year went back to News Ltd. Post Super League, News Ltd would have peeled, what, $500 million out of the game?
Gallop, for all his skills, success and nice family guy ethical smile-and-his-teeth-gleam qualities, was always nothing more than News Ltd's man.
If you are grieving the loss of News Ltd from our game, you are either:
1) Union troll
2) AFL troll
3) Rooting a News Ltd exec, or
4) Brain dead.
