Matt Orford looking dejected during the NRL Round 22, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Melbourne Storm at Brookvale Oval, Sydney, Friday Aug. 8, 2008. Storm won 16-10. AAP Image/Action Photographics, Grant Trouville
The forced resignation of Manly chief executive Grant Mayer last week revealed the ugly side of football politics, and illustrated how a club shouldn’t operate.
Scattered through the NRL are examples of how board structures and club cultures play a key role in the success of club’s on the field.
Manly’s defence of the NRL premiership has stumbled since they comfortably defeated Leeds in the World Club Challenge just two weeks before the season commenced.
But even before the World Club Challenge, there was news Mayer was on the outer at Manly with a 5-2 coup in the boardroom led by club co-owner Max Delmege to get rid of the successful football operator.
Mayer was a pawn in Delmege’s bitter political dispute with co-owner and chairman Scott Penn, who is a strong Mayer supporter.
Another Mayer supporter to suffer was coach Des Hasler.
Despite the club’s outstanding success under his reign, Hasler’s contract extension wasn’t as cut and dried as it ought to have been, and he was forced to accept the insertion of KPIs as part of his new deal.
In recent years Manly had finally recovered from a long slump that started with its 1997 grand final defeat to Newcastle. Off the field, financial stability had also improved after the club almost folded, and after it also endured a brief merger with North Sydney.
The main man behind Manly’s recent success was Mayer, who was head hunted by Penn after he successfully got the French-based Super League side Catalans off the ground and headed in the right direction.
Prior to that, Mayer was a senior executive and the driving force at the Bulldogs in the era after the salary cap scandal, and after his departure the Bulldogs experience a rapid demise.
Mayer shaped Manly for success, and when it came, all the club’s egos tried to take the glory and take potshots, rather than enjoying being top of the tree.
The core problem at Manly was that two people wanted power and control at all costs, resulting in the chief executive being undermined.
With all ego’s wanting an outlet, one must wonder whether Mayer supporter and Manly media manager Peter Peters use of the radio show he co-hosts as a personal soapbox for his agenda did more harm than good in Mayer’s public undermining.
The Bulldogs, described recently as a blueprint for how a club can be turned around and run successfully, offer a contrast to the division at Manly.
The club operates under the “one voice policy”, with CEO Todd Greenberg the only Bulldogs official to speak on management matters, and coach Kevin Moore the sole voice on all the football matters.
This blueprint was forged under Peter ‘Bullfrog’ Moore and Barry ‘Punchy’ Nelson’. Moore was given credit for at least 70 per cent of things he never did, but as chief executive it was his job to carry out the club’s duties and deal with the public.
Prior to Greenberg’s appointment, too many matters were passed onto chairman Dr George Peponis and former coach Steve Folkes that should have been handled by the chief executive.
An example of the “one voice policy” working is the recent developments with respect to plans to move back to Belmore Sports Ground in some capacity.
Despite a team of influential people working behind the scenes, the club has delivered a clear and consist message by ensuring that the only person making comments is the chief executive.
Fans and stakeholders understand clearly now what is happening. Unfortunately, some legacies of the pre-Greenberg era are yet to subside, with one individual ringing up journalists to get ensures he gets his name in print alongside that of the chief executive.
Such selfish attempts to “take credit” and put individual before club are the kind of behaviour that can divide a club.
It’s likely in the long run this individual is going to cause the clubs’ Belmore ambitions more harm than good. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, the “one voice policy” will continue to mitigate the risk of such harm in future.
As with the Bulldogs turnaround, Manly’s problems won’t cease by just appointing a new chief executive, or even having the one owner.
They won’t cease until the chief executive has full control of executing policies set by the chairman and the board of directors, and until everyone else stops looking to take credit and only one voice is heard.
Parramatta too is on the hunt for a new chief executive after finally cutting ties with Denis Fitzgerald, perhaps 20 years too late.
Fitzgerald built the Eels up to be his own empire and he became an out of control ego.
The Eels did only have the one voice, but the difference was that the board answered to Fitzgerald instead of Fitzgerald answering to the board. Fitzgerald loved the spotlight and was often distracted from his job leading Parramatta, instead talking about rugby league merging with rugby union, or pushing for the expuksio of Melbourne, Souths or Manly.
The Eels should forget about employing Tony Zappia, as speculated, and appoint Mayer instead.
With a new board in place Mayer may feel comfortable, but a few of the new football club directors need to change their ways a little. Former Eels legends Ray Price and Brett Kenny do love a quote or ten to the newspapers, but in their positions as directors they have to stop getting their name in print and leave all comments to the new chief executive.
The Sharks are in a holding pattern currently until the EGM to be held in July, when all board positions and the chairman’s position are up for grabs.
The Sharks need a clean-skin operator to take the reins, and more than just three new faces on the board to give the club a more vibrant and professional feel.
One of their new directors Damian Irvine is a successful businessman, has three young children and has always been a grass roots supporter. In his short time he has made a great impact there without losing touch with the fan base.
The Sharks need more people of his ilk that are successful in the corporate world, but have the common touch and passion for the place.
Wests Tigers is another club that has had three chief executives in a short space of time. Steve Noyce moved on after a long sting at the Wests Tigers and previously Western Suburbs and is now in charge of the Roosters, a club where the CEO is the main voice, but that is run firmly by Nick Politis and his band of businessmen.
The Tigers put Scott Longmuir into the main role and his time was short lived after he tried to implement key KPIs into the football operations. Coach Tim Sheens objected and Longmuir was removed.
Sheens has a tight grip of the football operations at the joint venture club and now former Balmain player Stephen Humphreys is the new chief executive, Humphreys follows his father Kevin Humphreys into rugby league administration.
It remains to be seen whether Humphreys or Sheens will have control of operations at the Tigers.
St George Illawarra is the most interesting of all clubs. In the days before the merger, St George had absolutely no leaks from anywhere.
Everything was kept firmly in-house.
The loud mouth antics of Anthony Mundine changed that culture as did appointments after that, including chief executive Peter Doust and coach Nathan Brown. The Dragons seemed leaderless, and now the most prominent voice on all matters is Wayne Bennett, with Doust taking a backseat role.
Bennett’s arrival has allowed the Dragons to fall back into the old St George ethic, and the Dragons now sport a return to the hard-working mentality, and the likes of Mundine, Trent Barrett, Lance Thompson, Mark Gasnier and Jason Ryles are well in the past.
Ultimately, Greenberg and Mayer are both fine operators, but people of their ilk won’t be successful unless the right boardroom setup and culture is firmly in place.
The Bulldogs board has allowed Greenberg to carry out policy and be the one voice within the club.
In contrast, Mayer was not allowed to be the one voice at Manly, and had to compete with Delmege, Penn and Peters who were all looking for their own media space.
Manly has made a huge blunder getting rid of Mayer, but the Eels and Sharks will begin their rise after removing Fitzgerald and Zappia.
Matthew O’Neill is a Director and Columnist with www.rleague.com
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