Well, Parramatta Eels fans, here we are again.
We’re back in turmoil – the type that causes mass changes, and then brings us someone new promising us success. The type that gives Parramatta fans hope, and then rips that hope straight from underneath us.
It’s a constant cycle.
I could not believe my eyes when I got an email from the club regarding the Kieran Foran saga and read the words “…clauses within his contract that were previously undisclosed to the board and senior football management”.
At what other reputable company would a board member come out and blame someone else within, or anyone who had previously worked there?
The answer is no, it would not happen at another company. Instead, they would release the statement as a whole and the accountability would be held at a company level, not at an individual level.
At the Eels, no accountability is ever taken. It’s always straight to the blame game.
What Parramatta needs is sports administration and corporate experience, the club needs to be run like a business again and not an agenda-driven circus.
The worrying sign is that if this forces massive changes, which I’m sure it will, the club will now enter its fourth rebuilding phase since 2010. The past dramas have made the club and its fans impatient. We’ve been starved of success for so long that we want success right now.
If we get rid of the current board, the fans aren’t going to want to wait two years to rebuild, they want success straight away.
That in itself is a dangerous situation. It sends the club and its fans into a panic and people get sacked. Then, the vicious cycle starts again.
Parramatta needs stability; the fans need patience – providing they can find the right people to do the job. We need someone who is going to come in, make plans and stick around for the full implementation of those plans.
I find myself asking as a fan: When will this stop? Will we ever have stability? At the moment it seems like this will never cease and we will never have stability.
I have been let down so many times that it’s hard to trust the club again. They give me hope, then take it away.
I’m starting to believe that my beloved Eels will never have success.
A fan should always believe in their club. I believe in the playing group and the coach, but have no faith in the administration or the way the club is being run.
If Brad Arthur goes following this new debacle, I will be furious. I will never turn my back on the club I love, but they’re really testing my loyalty and patience. If I don’t stick through the bad times, then I don’t deserve to be there for the good times.
Maybe that makes me a fool.
Or maybe, one day my loyalty will be rewarded with success.
Twitter: @hayles_maher_
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