Jason Taylor’s position at the Wests Tigers had become untenable once the club discovered it had endured almost five years without a contract payout.
The coach was coldly given his marching orders following an emergency board meeting yesterday, consolidating the club in its favoured position of complete and utter disarray.
In a traditional move, the board opted to sack Taylor with immediate effect and grant a full payout of his contractual entitlements.
This ensured the Tigers remained compliant with its charter of paying people large sums to do anything but work for them.
Taylor will now take his place alongside Tim Sheens as a former employee with a fully-funded investment portfolio that could’ve been used to return Balmain Leagues back to solvency.
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A straight-laced, gawky fellow, whose hats never seem to fit him, Taylor arrived at the Tigers looking to simply bring stability to an organisation with a lengthy history of bad ideas.
The tenure began in trademark Tigers fashion when the coach arrived for pre-season training to be greeted with a pin-less grenade.
Predictably, predecessor Mick Potter left Taylor to inherit a flunky list, factions and rotting facilities, a working environment described by the board as “healthier than usual”.
But from the outset, his desire to instil the club with professionalism put him immediately offside with those in power.
Under an administration struggling to retain everything from personnel to decorum, Taylor’s calm demeanour and lack of a drinking problem did nothing to add to the Tigers’ penchant for public exhibitions of self-harm.
After months of toil and trouble, many believed his cards were ultimately marked following the Robbie Farah saga.
The fashion in which Taylor continually failed to yield to the hooker’s regular baiting was viewed as disrespectful to the club’s unwritten law of keeping nothing in-house.
This left Farah with the unenviable job of making up the shortfall caused by Taylor’s public civility, forcing him to generate twice the amount of turmoil by provocatively staging multiple farewells.
Despite winning a small amount of support at board level after he unknowingly oversaw the Tim Simona saga, in the end Taylor’s steadiness was too much for the organisation to bear.
The board’s decision was also brought about by whispers emerging from the contract talks of James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses, Aaron Woods and Luke Brooks, most notably the star quartet’s concerns for “what lies ahead at the club”.
In response, with the four seeking a glimpse into the future, the board decided honesty was the best policy.
So they sacked a coach.
3_Hats SSTID 2014
Roar Rookie
This latest Wests Tigers debacle leads me to ask the same old question. DO we really need the Tigers in the NRL competition? This Club Merged from two clubs not used to doing business the professional way was never ever going to work. I am not one to advocate to get rid of any clubs but surely everyone has had enough of this ROT. Sydney has probably 2 teams too many, Brisbane needs another 1 or 2 teams and so does NZ need another team. Perth, Central Queensland, the list goes on. It is time and a good opportunity for the NRL to reduce the amount of Sydney Clubs. Jason Taylor did his best to instil discipline and professionalism to that club but was obviously obstructed at every turn. Their inept board seem to be doing business in the antiquated ways of the 1970s. GROW UP TigPies! Or go bust!
Craig
Guest
Agree completely until you threw Norman into the mix. He has exceeded all expectations at the eels, but he's still a fairly average half in the scheme of things.
Mark Young
Roar Guru
This is diabolical. Tim Sheens had to leave, he had been there so long that the players simply needed a different voice screaming at them at training. Nothing the matter with Sheens at all, he had just been there so long that he had given the players every piece of help and advice he had! So the board signed him up to a long term contract, when they then had to pay out, and then let rumours fester that he was punted by Benji. So in comes Mick Potter - Its your team they told him, do as you need, they told him. He made the tough calls, benched Benji, forcing his hand and ultimately moving our greatest player on. He got through the tough times and a year later things were going well! But then, Gordon Tallis reveals a private conversation he had with Rob Farah OVER A YEAT AGO!!! DURING THE HARD TIMES where Farah was critical of Potter. So the board punts Potter, despite his results turning around and good footy being played, and giving every dolt and clown on cyberspace a great reason to start hating on Robbie. So in comes Jason Taylor - Its your team, do as you need, don't get intimidated by any player ANY PLAYER AT ALL!!! And he takes on Robbie. Clearly the guy is terrible, rumours flow that he gets really sulkey when the Tigers get thumped! Because the best thing for morale is having a captain who doesn't care when they lose by 40 points. He finally gets rid of Rob, and has the team he want and not surprisingly, the squad struggles and gets thumped. So the board punts Taylor, because the same kids, and I use that word purposely, the same kids have a colossal sulk about him not being a good coach (newsflash) and they want to play for their mate Todd. At every single step, the board has done the wrong thing. We have been robbed of farewells for the two greatest stars we every had. Two young men who gave us our greatest every moment and played their hearts out for us. Not only that, they have allowed Robbie Farah to become one of the most hated players in the game. Robbie Farah, whose biggest crime is that he is grumpy and privately criticised his coach to a 'friend' who turned out to be a dog. In a sport where we have wife beaters, eye gougers, referee abusers, drug takers, charity thiefs, gambling cheats and Violent criminals running around, Robbie Farah is apparantly the worst. Worst NRL club and arguably the worst run club in Australia, if not the whole world.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Don't forget the other alternative. bring Robbie back as coach. All problems solved.
Jacko
Guest
There are lots of other Sydney clubs that should relocate before the Tigers. The Tigers did the Merge BS and look where that got them
John
Guest
His manager is one smart cookie. He managed to create a union of sorts, and just because he managed to tie 3 passengers to Teddy, so their value has shot up from association, so overall more money for the group and ultimately more money in his pockets.
TigerMike
Guest
Well said mate The halves can't kick or tackle, or catch even. Easy for me to say yeah but check the score boards
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Hard to argue with a lot of that.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
They should train at Campbelltown and play all their games at the new Parramatta Stadium. 1 or 2 at Leichhardt.
Matt
Guest
Well a left field choice of coach would be to sign Hasler and Foran on a package deal and then sign Woods and Tedesco. After that you would pick up a decent half to go with Foran just through the Hasler factor. The game of bluff that Isaac Moses has played with the Tigers would then be over.
Matt
Guest
Casper the thing is though, the players you mentioned earned their stripes before asking for the big money. Taumololo is only twelve months older than Brooks and Moses. Yet he's played test football, finals football, won a premiership and a Dally M. He has earned the right to say I am worth this much. Yet Brooks and Moses are asking for top dollar. Taylor gave them the team last year. All they had to do was repay the faith and win their last game and they would have played finals footy. What they dished up was barely NSW/QLD Cup standard. Ben Hunt has played test football and led his team to a grand final. The Dragons have at least bought someone with the runs on the board. The Tigers are looking at having to pay big money to players who haven't delivered and may never will. I would rather be the Dragons with Hunt, Eels with Norman, Cowboys with Scott and Taumololo than the Tigers paying big money to Brooks, Moses, Tedesco and Woods.
GC Dave
Guest
Mate the coaching job at Tigerland is a career killer
GC Dave
Guest
The club needs a root and branch clean out. Salary cap pressures saw them shop Simona around and it was their good luck he was sacked. To have that list with those performance and a real lack of depth is a disgrace. Wait until they get an injury or two, or indeed Tedesco and Woods play for the state. Their NSW cup team gets beaten by cricket scores, their Under 20's are being beaten by Cricket scores and their NRL team are the same. Tigers are in real danger of grabbing a triple wooden spoon. Their recruitment and retention department is a disaster. We can't keep talking about how good players are (THE BIG 4) When 2 of them are playing garbage. What he Tigers need is a recruitment and retention department that know a little about their role and talent. They need to have a ban on mirrors and a media blackout. These Players don't need to be told they are part of the big four, they need to be told the team is playing crap. What we need is a Ricky Stuart type who walks in and puts three columns on the board...required....not required....playing for a contract. He was booted from Parra, but they only went one way when they stopped playing overs for rubbish players. I doubt the Tigers would be top of the ladder in the NSW cup the way they are playing. Tigers always look on the bright side look at the kids coming through. They can;t develop them like other clubs. Moses and Brooks from high up on NSW thinking to bottom of the ladder. This nightmare needs to end for the poor old Tigers fans.
Matthew Russell
Roar Pro
Tigers need to totally move to Campbelltown. its an expanding area with a good size stadium. Train there, spend time in the Camden /Leppington area. Over the long term they will be successful and have a lot of support. play 2 games at Leichardt. As for a coach, im not sure who would want it apart from Todd payten, but what they need to do is pay big overs for Des Hasler, Craig Bellamy type coach
steveng
Roar Rookie
Not only that, but Go and Pascoe had an answer for every question asked, as if they already have it worked out 'their way' which seems (to them) the right decision(s) made at the West/Tigers last year and this year. perform or your out. There are allot more problems at the West/Tigers than what their simplistic answers entail, the club is in disarray and in trouble and it should be approached not only in a monitory aspect but in an overall look at the culture of the clubs management. or as "Birdy' said 'New contractor takes over , sacks everyone on site and re hires. Even the cleaners are punted" and I presume by the 'cleaners being punted' he means get the management to clean the toilets, after a Sat or Sun night out at the West/Tigers club or game by the West/Tigers, lol
kk
Roar Pro
You gunned it Birdy.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
It's not just the media who talk them up. The club and it's fans do too. Yep. Everyone was calling him an Origin prospect after 1 game.
Birdy
Guest
In our discussion a few weeks ago Max, I was talking about the struggle being a Balmain supporter and putting up with this merger. Newtown got the best deal. They just lost their license see ya later.instant death. Norths live in the eternity of false resurrection. While the merged clubs are forever living in compromise. Much rather see wests become the magpies again and Balmain become the Perth Tigers.
Casper
Guest
For all the correspondents recommending the Walker brothers to coach the Wests tigers, had to look it up because of my fading memory but their greatest hits included "The sun ain't gonna shine anymore" and "Make it easy on yourself". Maybe they need to take the hint!
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
True, but his manager is part of the problem. Same manager for the Tigers 4. He should be testing the market, but despite this the only whispers we have heard is of Teddy and the Roosters and that wasn't much at all and they have since got Gordon, so seem keen on developing Mitchell. I have no doubt in my mind that Isaac Moses is extremely influential in this situation to the detriement of it.