2 weeks ago Chairman voted in by all board members ! What’s happened in 2 weeks .. a reality check maybe !
I cant believe that anyone would be so brain dead and tone deaf that after so many years of failure, culminating in successive wooden spoons that they would either accept the Chairmanship whilst a review was taking place or not step down if asked by the board.
Gone off a bit early there.
Firstly Lee is the incumbent Chair and the Board still requires a Chairperson. So if not Lee, someone else would be appointed and it wouldn't make sense to change the Chair whilst a review was occurring.
based on what? What date was the end of the term? By what date did a new Chairman need to be appointed? Does this privately owned company have an AGM? What is the minimum term for a new Chairman?
Seems like a few assumptions made. The most common sense thing would not appoint ANY board positions pending the result of the review.
Just an FYI that I have merged the Petition/Review thread into this one now that the review is taking place.
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Meeting to determine fate of Wests Tigers bosses as Lee Hagipantelis, Justin Pascoe face review
An independent review could determine the fate of under fire Wests Tigers bosses Lee Hagipantelis and Justin Pascoe, as the club’s most influential figures fight to retain their jobs.
Brent Read,David Riccio and Michael Carayannis
An explosive meeting on Friday morning is set to determine the fate of Wests Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis as the club’s most influential figure fights to retain his job along with his right-hand man, chief executive Justin Pascoe.
In a major development that has created renewed instability for rookie coach Benji Marshall as he prepares to launch his head coaching career, Hagipantelis will take part in an independent review meeting on Friday.
Pascoe will follow in coming days as their positions at the helm of the embattled club hang by the barest of threads amid fresh talk of internal bickering.
The Tigers’ majority owners the Holman Barnes Group ordered an independent review into the club last month following yet another season of bitter disappointment, which culminated in a second successive wooden spoon.
There was speculation at the time that the review would bring about the downfall of Pascoe and Hagipantelis, the latter having ploughed more than $10 million into the club through sponsorship.
Those fears appear to be coming to fruition despite the review still in the throes of completion. The respective roles of Hagipantelis and Pascoe were expected to be central to the review, which was ordered by the Holman Barnes Group after a group of fans secured more than 2,000 signatures on a petition calling for change.
Remarkably, speculation over the future of Hagipantelis comes only weeks after he told this masthead that his tenure as chair had been extended for a further three years.
It is believed some other members of the board are now disputing those claims. Their argument is that his board position was extended, not necessarily his role as chair.
Hagipantelis will speak to the former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford – one of the two men chosen to conduct the independent review – on Friday morning.
He is unlikely to hold back given the sense that the review was a witch-hunt designed to claim the scalps of the chair and the chief executive, who are closely aligned.
The review was expected to speak to more than 40 figures from across the game about the Tigers as the club sought answers for nearly a decade of mediocrity. Change has already taken place on the coaching level – Tim Sheens parted ways with the club at the end of the season, with Marshall stepping into the head coaching role a year ahead of schedule.
Sheens’ loyal lieutenant David Furner also left the club while they are exploring the appointment of a head of football, having sought out former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika and Parramatta’s Mark O’Neill.
Talks with Cheika are yet to advance given his World Cup commitments and the ongoing review, which is due to be completed as early as next week. The board of the Holman Barnes Group will then digest the findings before deciding on the best way forward.
The sense is that Hagipantelis and Pascoe may not be part of the new guard. Pascoe has been chief executive for nearly a decade, a time when the club has made strides off the field but gone backwards on it.
Hagipantelis has been happy to take the bullets for his chief executive while pouring millions of dollars into the Tigers. Money, however, is not an issue for the club given the financial might of the Holman Barnes Group.
Looks like Lee and Justin will be the scapegoats.
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
I cant believe that anyone would be so brain dead and tone deaf that after so many years of failure, culminating in successive wooden spoons that they would either accept the Chairmanship whilst a review was taking place or not step down if asked by the board.
Gone off a bit early there.
Firstly Lee is the incumbent Chair and the Board still requires a Chairperson. So if not Lee, someone else would be appointed and it wouldn't make sense to change the Chair whilst a review was occurring.
based on what? What date was the end of the term? By what date did a new Chairman need to be appointed? Does this privately owned company have an AGM? What is the minimum term for a new Chairman?
Seems like a few assumptions made. The most common sense thing would not appoint ANY board positions pending the result of the review.
You are the one making assumptions that they should not be awarding or accepting a Chairmanship at this time. They have done what they did under their own rules; I am not the one suggesting they should have done something different without having any concept of their Charter, governance norms or dates of tenure.
Yes I did make one assumption that all Boards require a Chairperson - pretty standard to have that role. I didn't make any assumptions about tenure, I just said it makes at least as much sense to renew your Chair than to have nobody in the role.
The SMH article in fact suggests that Lee may have been extended to keep the minimum number of independent board members required as per charter. And specifically this article suggests that Lee may not in fact even be the ongoing Chair, in which case he was retained as an director.
Meeting to determine fate of Wests Tigers bosses as Lee Hagipantelis, Justin Pascoe face review
An independent review could determine the fate of under fire Wests Tigers bosses Lee Hagipantelis and Justin Pascoe, as the club’s most influential figures fight to retain their jobs.
Brent Read,David Riccio and Michael Carayannis
An explosive meeting on Friday morning is set to determine the fate of Wests Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis as the club’s most influential figure fights to retain his job along with his right-hand man, chief executive Justin Pascoe.
In a major development that has created renewed instability for rookie coach Benji Marshall as he prepares to launch his head coaching career, Hagipantelis will take part in an independent review meeting on Friday.
Pascoe will follow in coming days as their positions at the helm of the embattled club hang by the barest of threads amid fresh talk of internal bickering.
The Tigers’ majority owners the Holman Barnes Group ordered an independent review into the club last month following yet another season of bitter disappointment, which culminated in a second successive wooden spoon.
There was speculation at the time that the review would bring about the downfall of Pascoe and Hagipantelis, the latter having ploughed more than $10 million into the club through sponsorship.
Those fears appear to be coming to fruition despite the review still in the throes of completion. The respective roles of Hagipantelis and Pascoe were expected to be central to the review, which was ordered by the Holman Barnes Group after a group of fans secured more than 2,000 signatures on a petition calling for change.
Remarkably, speculation over the future of Hagipantelis comes only weeks after he told this masthead that his tenure as chair had been extended for a further three years.
It is believed some other members of the board are now disputing those claims. Their argument is that his board position was extended, not necessarily his role as chair.
Hagipantelis will speak to the former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford – one of the two men chosen to conduct the independent review – on Friday morning.
He is unlikely to hold back given the sense that the review was a witch-hunt designed to claim the scalps of the chair and the chief executive, who are closely aligned.
The review was expected to speak to more than 40 figures from across the game about the Tigers as the club sought answers for nearly a decade of mediocrity. Change has already taken place on the coaching level – Tim Sheens parted ways with the club at the end of the season, with Marshall stepping into the head coaching role a year ahead of schedule.
Sheens’ loyal lieutenant David Furner also left the club while they are exploring the appointment of a head of football, having sought out former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika and Parramatta’s Mark O’Neill.
Talks with Cheika are yet to advance given his World Cup commitments and the ongoing review, which is due to be completed as early as next week. The board of the Holman Barnes Group will then digest the findings before deciding on the best way forward.
The sense is that Hagipantelis and Pascoe may not be part of the new guard. Pascoe has been chief executive for nearly a decade, a time when the club has made strides off the field but gone backwards on it.
Hagipantelis has been happy to take the bullets for his chief executive while pouring millions of dollars into the Tigers. Money, however, is not an issue for the club given the financial might of the Holman Barnes Group.
What a rubbish article, 100% speculative. At least the SMH article requests and quotes key persons. This DT article simply guesses that Lee H will clash with the independent reviewers during his meetings because it has been suggested that the review should aim to replace the Chair (which nobody has ever said).
Looks like Lee and Justin will be the scapegoats.
define “scapegoats”
The two people who are blamed and punished.
To absolve others...
“(in the Bible) a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it (Lev. 16).”
I would suggest that if they are booted it would not be because they are symbolic of what is wrong with the club. It would be because they are what is wrong with the club in no small part. There will likely be many recommendations from the review but removing the talking hat man seems like a pretty easy one
The priority must be to get a high calibre/skilled board.
A high calibre board would recognise themselves if they had a below calibre CEO and make the change.
Gary Barnier has a few gremlins in his closet by the looks of it.
This is honestly like a comedy show
I could be mistaken but reading between the tea leaves on the last 24 hours:
- HBG are going to spear Lee H and Pascoe and use a review conducted by a questionable character in Barnier to deliver the message.
- If this transpires we'd be left with 6 directors on the board and of those remaining only Danny Stapleton and John Dorahy are not aligned with the majority shareholder, Holman Barnes
- Holman Barnes will need to top up the board because James Myatt and Lee H will have departed. They are pushing for Barry O
Farrell and John Coates to fill the remaining board seats
- In the background to all of this, Holman Barnes Group Directors are themselves up for election next March when Wests Ashfield votes on its directors. This means that Tony A, Rick Wayde, Julie Romero (who are pushing these changes through right now) could themselves be out of the picture by Rd 1 2024?
it would be great to hear from James Myatt or a Mick Liubinskas (resigned from the board this year also) to confirm who is running the show? Otherwise it would also be great to learn more about the Wests Ashfield board vote to know if Tony A and Rick Wayde are a chance of being removed? Maybe someone like Shannon Cavanagh would know more about this?
e.g. do you need to be a debenture holder in Wests Ashfield to stand for a board spot or is the only requirement that you have been a club member for 3 years?
The priority must be to get a high calibre/skilled board.
A high calibre board would recognise themselves if they had a below calibre CEO and make the change.
Gary Barnier has a few gremlins in his closet by the looks of it.
This is honestly like a comedy show
I could be mistaken but reading between the tea leaves on the last 24 hours:
- HBG are going to spear Lee H and Pascoe and use a review conducted by a questionable character in Barnier to deliver the message.
- If this transpires we'd be left with 6 directors on the board and of those remaining only Danny Stapleton and John Dorahy are not aligned with the majority shareholder, Holman Barnes
- Holman Barnes will need to top up the board because James Myatt and Lee H will have departed. They are pushing for Barry O
Farrell and John Coates to fill the remaining board seats
- In the background to all of this, Holman Barnes Group Directors are themselves up for election next March when Wests Ashfield votes on its directors. This means that Tony A, Rick Wayde, Julie Romero (who are pushing these changes through right now) could themselves be out of the picture by Rd 1 2024?
it would be great to hear from James Myatt or a Mick Liubinskas (resigned from the board this year also) to confirm who is running the show? Otherwise it would also be great to learn more about the Wests Ashfield board vote to know if Tony A and Rick Wayde are a chance of being removed? Maybe someone like Shannon Cavanagh would know more about this?
e.g. do you need to be a debenture holder in Wests Ashfield to stand for a board spot or is the only requirement that you have been a club member for 3 years?
Only 2 of the Holman Barnes Group board seats are voted for by the general members of the Holman Barnes Group. You need to be a member for 3 years to run or vote for these positions.
The other 5 seats of the Holman Barnes Group come from the 20 debenture holders.
In memory of Geoff Chisholm (1965-2022)
