Recruitment: Bring back Mark Hughes?

[mixa79]

Just a thought what about bringing Mark Hughes back

 

[rogueflare]

Done. Let's do it. You call him or shall I?

 

[dogluva]

Just a thought what about bringing Mark Hughes back

Another poster raised this exact question but I think he still is working for Penrith. Would it not be so ironic if the Hughes clan renewed their relationship with the club to help out after handing in their life memberships and effectively disowning the club in the fallout of the disastrous sacking of Gary Hughes back in 2004.



http://www.sharksforever.com/forums/showthread.php?34169-Hughes-family-divorces-Bulldogs
Canterbury's royal family - the Hughes clan - have surrendered their life memberships in protest at the club's decision not to extend the honour to the club's former hooker Corey Hughes and its refusal to apologise to his father, Garry, who was sacked following the 2004 Coffs Harbour debacle.

Five members of the Hughes clan - whose head was the late Bulldogs patriarch Peter "Bullfrog" Moore, the father of coach Kevin Moore - handed in their life memberships in a letter the club received early this week.

The five include Moore's nephews, the trio of brothers - Garry, Graeme and Mark Hughes - who played in the Bulldogs' 1980 premiership team, together with two of Garry's sons, Steven and Glen, also former Bulldog players and brothers of Corey.

It is believed to be rugby league's biggest single mass resignation of life membership, one of the code's greatest honours and privileges.

Chief executive Todd Greenberg, already reeling from the loss of two points for the Bulldogs being caught with 14 men on the field in a win over Penrith last week, described it as "a real shame".

He said the club, the only NRL franchise without a principal sponsor, was successfully managing a makeover and needed all its past greats to reposition the Bulldogs in the eyes of a sceptical public. "We are at the start of an exciting journey for the club, and I'd like to think we can have the Hughes family on board but it's something we will have to accept," he said. "Because the letter arrived [on] Monday, I haven't tabled it at board level yet."

Asked the basis of the Hugheses' grievances, Greenberg said: "I've met with representatives of the Hughes family on a number of occasions and told them the current board can't undo the events of the past."

It would seem the focus of the Hughes family anger is president George Peponis, the captain of the 1980 team and a former Australian skipper.

Peponis escaped any public censure following the sexual assault allegations in Coffs Harbour - subsequently dropped - which cost the administration careers of the Bulldogs' greatest ever player, then chief executive Steve Mortimer and the popular football manager Garry Hughes.

Although Garry Hughes reached an out-of-court settlement with the Bulldogs over his wrongful dismissal, he has sought to clear his name with a public mea culpa from the club. The board has refused, saying it would breach the terms of the confidential settlement.

The Bulldogs' official line on why Corey, now at Cronulla, was not extended life membership is that he has not finished his professional career. They point to former half Brent Sherwin, now playing in the English Super League, who has played more games than Corey and is yet to receive life membership.

But in the turmoil which followed the Bulldogs' election last year, when Graeme Hughes missed a seat on the board, the Hughes family believe Corey was the victim of a vendetta.

Graeme Hughes, a broadcaster with 2SM, also filed a defamation action on March 6 against the Bulldogs and former chief executive, Malcolm Noad.

In an affidavit lodged with the District Court of NSW, Hughes contends he was the victim of an email sent from the club in March 2006 when 2SM was challenging rival radio station 2GB for the NRL radio broadcasting rights. The email, although not identifying Hughes, referred to a drunken rant against NRL officials at Star City Casino, and was read on radio by 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley, who forwarded it to NRL chief executive David Gallop.

Gallop believed it identified Hughes, and emailed him to complain, only to be told by Hughes the information was incorrect and he suspected the original email was spurious.

Hughes, with the subsequent co-operation of Hadley and Gallop, has claimed to have forensically sourced the email back to the Bulldogs RLFC firewall gateway, for which Noad, as chief executive, had ultimate responsibility.

Graeme Hughes refused to comment on the legal action or the mass resignation of life memberships by his family.

Should Corey be offered life membership when his playing career concludes, it is highly unlikely he will accept.

The Bulldogs, who are on an alumni program to identify all 710 past players with an individual number, are desperate to return to their 1980s image as the "family club". But behind the scenes, their squabbles resemble the dramas of the cast of TV's The Brady Bunch.

 

[chuckynemo]

The board kicked that family club ideology out the door the second they hired haslers team. I don't think Hughes would even bother

 

[Spoonman84]

He won't be back here while the current board and CEO are here there's plenty of bad blood there. He left Penrith this year aswell.

 

[_G-Dog_]

I a fan of the Hughes clan.. was a disgrace Garry Hughes was sacked after Coffs

 

[WestBeast]

That bridge is well burnt down , never happen

 

[D- voice]

Be assured there was a lot more to the Gary Hughes drama than what the general public know and most probably will not, let's just say some people made mistakes during the power struggle that led to making undesirable decisions.
Together we Stand...Divided we Fall.

 

[EXPLORER]

The Hughes clan, along with Mortimer and More clans including in laws like Anderson and Folks should never have been pushed out of the club
Guys like these and the likes of Dr George know exactly how to make the Bulldogs successful OUR WAY.

The club has clearly been on the decline ever since Bullfrog passed away.
It's like the true bulldog spirit died with him.

Where to now for the Bulldogs?

Do we try to recapture that era?
Or do we try to reinvent ourselves with a new era?

I don't really care, as long as we do it right and maintain success.

We are a strong financial club.

Abdolutly no reason we are not succecful

Shit house clubs like the Sharks can win a premiership.

Why can't we?

 

[D- voice]

REMEMBER ALL THE NAMES: MOORE, MORTIMER, HUGHES, GEARIN, ANDERSON, FOLKES, PEPONIS, ROBINSON some of the most colorful names of the seventies and eighties, Read between the lines together we stood, divided we fell

 

[Juicydog]

Gone are the days of our greats

Sad times ahead

 

[LFC Bulldogs]

I'm not sure how much of the following is true but I was told all the Hughes clan including the 3 brothers who played for us in the 80's and the next generation who played for us in the late 90's were a destabilising force at the club on and off the field.

 

[timetopisshasleroff]

Yes , mark hughes should be back as our recruitment officer.
Kevin walters as coach.
Josh morris as captain.

 

[D- voice]

I'm not sure how much of the following is true but I was told all the Hughes clan including the 3 brothers who played for us in the 80's and the next generation who played for us in the late 90's were a destabilising force at the club on and off the field.

Sadly the problem is they think they are The Royals