Probably because I've already posted it here 20 times previously. But since some are a bit slow on the uptake:
- Fronted the members in May 2018 to be honest about what they had inherited and pulled no punches that 'we could not be competitive again until 2021' (I was in the room when they said this).
- Negotiated a settlement with Hasler to avoid long and costly legal action over the contract the previous Chairman committed then rescinded on (and no, the settlement was nowhere near the amount often speculated on here).
- Negotiated to release early M'Bye, Woods and Klemmer to other clubs to help bring us back under the salary cap we were massively over due to signing Foran and Woods on dollars we couldn't afford which was on top of already committed back-ended contracts, some with ratchet clauses, making our cap position even worse.
- Began to release expensive players at the end or heading towards the end of their careers (Eastwood, Moz Brothers) to maintain cap management whilst other back-ended/ratcheted contracts kicked in/up, raising our player salary costs.
- Instituted various forms of corporate governance so a mess created by the Three Amigos could never happen again (because it absolutely STUFFED our club as we've all seen in the past 2 seasons).
- Set up two partnerships to re-start pathways for juniors into our system (pretty much abandoned by the previous administrators and coach who believed you bought big to win, not bothered to develop players).
- Recruited who they could with what little money was available (particularly for 2019 and 2020) to keep us cap compliant whilst the rest of these back-ended/ratcheted contracts matured (the last of those this year).
- Retained just about all sponsors (yes, some on lesser deals) for a team that was clearly not going to win the competition any time soon - when they could've easily walked (and no, KIA did not walk, they downgraded, in case you weren't aware).
- Convinced a business to part with $2m in discretionary spend to become major sponsor in an already rapidly cooling economy (pre-COVID, but post bushfires) - only for 2 selfish former employees to screw that up (not to mention damage one of the above partnerships which the board is now working on restoring faith in).
Shall I go on?
The fact is it was ALWAYS going to take time to repair the massive damaged state the club was left in by the previous administrators. They never shied away from it, provided a timeline to fix it and have stuck to it.
So maybe we can have a discussion in 6 and again in 12 months about how 'inept' they really are. Maybe you'll change your mind when some upcoming roster changes are finalised and announced.
Will we still see you, your daughter and cleaner on Monday? If so, call 0406 650 430 on your arrival at Belmore. Ask for Rej. Cheers.