We Missed out...AGAIN

[Ronnie Dobbs]

gee to hear the change of attitudes here is quite something

yesterday we were desperate to pick him up and now all i see is people convincing themselves we got lucky by missing out

the fact of the matter is our club is an absolute joke. its an embarrassment

to think weve had wicks of our books for months and have only just given willie a thought after club after club turned him away is diabolical. it is a disgrace

we have a coach who no one has ever heard of. has coached a handful of games. he was signed up becuase it was the easy option and it kept the boys happy. and why on earth would a top player wanting to reignite his career take a punt on that?

face facts guys, this it yet another example of our club missing out on a quality signing because we are seen as a poorly run rabble and as a club without direction. we're destined to miss out on many more of these signings in the years ahead unless we see huge changes.

As an impartial viewer of the Knights, I say you are spot on. Newie is a jobs for the boys, cliquey, old school club. I remember when Comrade Butterfield went on the footy show after you hired Smith saying he feared for the clubs culture! ie - The Locals run the joint and Joey can do what he wants. I knew you were up against it at that point.

Newcastle IS Rugby League. I fear for your future at the elite level. Especially as I believe there will be more that comes out of the Wicks ordeal.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Somethings definately got to be done about the perception of the club that people have.

Sadly enough current management have proven themselves incapable of the job.

 

[macavity]

A challenge for b-dos and baron vo typo

What would you do better?

Not pie-in-the-sky stuff.... what concrete things would you do differently to the current admin approach, and how would they improve the club?

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Macavity dont have time @ the moment but will do a write up over the weekend.

 

[B-dos]

A challenge for b-dos and baron vo typo

What would you do better?

Not pie-in-the-sky stuff.... what concrete things would you do differently to the current admin approach, and how would they improve the club?

this is a loaded question

im an observer from the sidelines. i dont have the in depth knowledge of the club to suggest specifics that need changing

i can however express my dissatisfaction with the current predicament based on my observations as i have done

to throw a few suggestions out there i would argue the club needs to privatise and adopt a far more business orientated approach to its operations and this would include identifying key opportunities as they arise - not fumbling about until were in a race to make an offer in the last week as we have done

its the general fumbling about that is the problem mac. losing smith and the hiring of stone as a replacement was a joke. it is yet another in a long line of episodes of mismanagement

honestly im not sure what needs to happen. it seems quite clear that the current board and management team are failing. theres a starting point.

 

[Serc]

Will the hiring of Stone be a joke if we continue our march up the ladder of recent seasons? Yeah I know that it appeared that no other coach got a look-in and they didn't go perform a thorough search (which I guess is your point), but will it matter if he proves to be the perfect man for the job? You can't call it mismanagement until it fails.

The Dogs are doing pretty well with one of their own in Kevin Moore...

 

[B-dos]

Will the hiring of Stone be a joke if we continue our march up the ladder of recent seasons?

he is yet to be tested. this season will be his first and i genuinely hope he is successful

Yeah I know that it appeared that no other coach got a look-in and they didn't go perform a thorough search (which I guess is your point), but will it matter if he proves to be the perfect man for the job? You can't call it mismanagement until it fails.

yes that is my point. it was simply another display of the amateurish nature of our clubs operations. losing smith was the first f*ck up. the week or two that followed which included the stone signing was the icing on the cake

The Dogs are doing pretty well with one of their own in Kevin Moore...

i dont dispute this however i dont restrict our problems to the coaching one. i think in addition to those issues its quite clear the dogs, with greenberg in charge are a very well run club - something we are not.

 

[macavity]

im an observer from the sidelines. i dont have the in depth knowledge of the club to suggest specifics that need changing

So you don't have the insight to fix things, only the insight to criticise.

Got it.

This "cheerleader" is as disappointed at us missing out as anyone.

I honestly thought, and had every reason to believe, he was committed to turning over a new leaf here.

While I agree that we could have handled things better, the management handling of the issue is really way down the list of reasons he didn't come here.

We couldn't force him to sign, and at the end of the day we did our best to get him here, in the circumstances.

He saw another option as more suitable.

I guarantee you that while a lot of factors would have been considered, he didn't not sign with us because he thought our marketing wasn't up to scratch, or our sponsorship department could do a better job..... and again, in the current climate how can we criticise the club for having behavioural standards? We might not agree with them, but they are politically neccessary.

 

[macavity]

i think in addition to those issues its quite clear the dogs, with greenberg in charge are a very well run club - something we are not.

Add a rich leagues club to the Knights, and *nice person* suddenly we are a very well run club too.

What some suggest are management problems are simply cash problems.

We need to fix those, not get rid of the guys doing a decent job with the little we have.

And it is ultimately the board's job to fix those cash problems, which are in essence 2 fold - structural and political.

And by the sounds of it they are on track to do that.

 

[B-dos]

So you don't have the insight to fix things, only the insight to criticise.

Got it.

i have made observations mac

i do not know the full extend of the internal workings of the club

i has assumed your loaded question was designed to provide you with the answer you just gave me.

predictable

This "cheerleader" is as disappointed at us missing out as anyone.

I honestly thought, and had every reason to believe, he was committed to turning over a new leaf here.

While I agree that we could have handled things better, the management handling of the issue is really way down the list of reasons he didn't come here.

to be fair, if we had tabled an offer earlier i think its quite likely we had a far better chance of securing his services

this is managemetns fault plain and simple

I guarantee you that while a lot of factors would have been considered, he didn't not sign with us because he thought our marketing wasn't up to scratch, or our sponsorship department could do a better job..... and again, in the current climate how can we criticise the club for having behavioural standards? We might not agree with them, but they are politically neccessary.

im not convinced the clauses, however restrictive, were the sole reason he barred us.

again, if we were proactive instead of reactive (eg: "oh look no one wants him, do we?") we would have stood a far better chance of success

this is not about the mason failure on its own mac. its the consistent examples. its the fact we have made no solid signings in god knows how long. its the fact the every year we shake our heads at these things,. its the fact that nothing looks like changing...

 

[Yosh]

Well haven't read what everyone has written.. But to say the least I am gutted. Who cares about the future. I'd rather win a premiership this year and do nothing for the next 4 years then come top 4 for 5 years straight without a win... Jesus.. I truely believe if Mason joined us we would have been a damn good chance to win this year... F**K!

 

[macavity]

I will make sure to dredge up this thread when we make our next big signing.

 

[B-dos]

I will make sure to dredge up this thread when we make our next big signing.

ill happily eat my words.

but does the forum keep threads that long? ;-)

 

[macavity]

I see us signing someone very good for 2011 - might be the pom poms in my eyes though.

 

[Hanscholo]

Great day for the club, mind you, it doesnt excuse the fact that we tried to get him. For that, the executive and stone, need to have a good hard think about what they are doing.

 

[TooheysNew]

Great day for the club, mind you, it doesnt excuse the fact that we tried to get him. For that, the executive and stone, need to have a good hard think about what they are doing.

In your opinion.

 

[perverse]

throw some money at a half in 2011. it's that simple. the way i see it, rogers and scotty should have another 5-6 months to cement a spot... and if they don't, then we throw some money at either a gun junior half, or one of the young guns from the UK. i really like the look of sam tomkins and richie myler. they are both small... but have all the skills and are both very young. kyle eastmond also impressed me a lot at the 4 nations... he always looks dangerous and threatening, and has a bit of size about him too... but is more of a 5/8th/utility than a halfback.

i'm not overly worried about our forward pack, but maybe replace cross with a pack leader that is going to be on the park a bit more. at his best and most focused, willie could have been that... but it would have been high risk. i think it was hard not to get a bit excited, because it's the first big name our club has even looked sideways at in a long time... but it's hardly a bloody catastrophe. i think we need to put away the razor blades and just wait and see what happens for the rest of the year.

 

[Alex28]

The club can't be blamed here. We made an offer, stuck to our guns and our beliefs and the player didn't like what he heard. Are we supposed to bend the conditions that all of the rest of the team plays under for a guy who has a less-than-average track record just because he is a "marquee player"?

In all reality it was an opportunistic signing which would have been great for a year or two, but what we need is the marquee signing that will be around for 4 or 5 years. Willie was never going to be that guy.

The club can't be blamed for not being able to sign a guy who didn't want to follow our rules. After everything the club has been through suggesting we could have been lenient on Willie Mason just to get him playing for us for a year or two is ridiculous. We would have been the worst people in the world when something went wrong, and would be completely sending the wrong message to the rest of the players.

 

[macavity]

We have a half coming up through our juniors that may well solve our half problems.

Tyrone Roberts.

Got all the skills, and he will be physically mature enough for it soon too. Worth it to get there early this year (looking at you mate) and watch him go around.

 

[perverse]

We have a half coming up through our juniors that may well solve our half problems.

Tyrone Roberts.

Got all the skills, and he will be physically mature enough for it soon too. Worth it to get there early this year (looking at you mate) and watch him go around.

people were saying similar things about the stig 12 months ago. lol.

i'm sure i'll see plenty of him this year, though. how old is tyrone?