Correct me if I’m wrong but Simon Cook is the most senior executive at HBG right? The board are part timers and likely outsource a lot of stuff. I assume Simon was the guy who got the review over the line and set the terms. He spent time on WT board so would have a fair insight into the issues.
CorrectCorrect me if I’m wrong but Simon Cook is the most senior executive at HBG right? The board are part timers and likely outsource a lot of stuff. I assume Simon was the guy who got the review over the line and set the terms. He spent time on WT board so would have a fair insight into the issues.
The Board of HBG is. I believe Tony Andreacchio is the current Chairperson. But if you are asking who is the CEO of HBG, that’s Simon Cook. He would also make a great CEO of the Wests Tigers but is too busy in his current position.Lee really is the loosest chairman around! Continually unprofessional in his behaviour.
Can someone tell me, who is actually the boss of the HBG?
Thanks mate. It does seem like Cook is a good operator but agree he would have his hands full with HBG.
sponsors will be queuing up to sign on with tigers
IF there is a cleanout and IF the right appointments are made and IF Lee takes his bat (sponsorship) when he leaves the club then yes, I agree that finding a million-dollar major sponsor might not be too hard!
Lee is treating our club like his own personal train set…. And no one else is allowed to play.
How the board ever thought getting a major sponsor to be chair was a good move is beyond me.
Time to end the clown fest in Tiger Town.
Lee is treating our club like his own personal train set…. And no one else is allowed to play.
How the board ever thought getting a major sponsor to be chair was a good move is beyond me.
Time to end the clown fest in Tiger Town.
I’ve said it previously, he is renting the ownership of our club (sponsorship in return for chairmanship). We are selling this great club out and it is an existential issue. We have become so focused on “financials” that we let amateurs play around with key issues like home grounds and recruitment. Out in that context we need out of that role asap
TIGERS BOSS PREPS FOR BOARDROOM BRAWL
Wests Tigers directors could have a taste of the independent review into the embattled club as early as this week as they brace for a boardroom showdown over the future of chair Lee Hagipantelis.
The Tigers have a board meeting scheduled for October 23 and Sport Confidential understands that Hagipantelis has every intention of being there as he prepares to stare down those calling for him to step aside.
By then, the club’s majority owners the Holman Barnes Group could be armed with early feedback from the review process, which is nearing its conclusion after a petition of more than 2,000 supporters called for change.
The review has largely centred around the running of the club in response to a decade of disappointment – the club last played finals football in 2011.
Those in charge of the Tigers have come under fresh scrutiny in recent weeks after it emerged that Hagipantelis was asked to stand down by fellow director Tony Andreacchio, acting on behalf of the Holman Barnes Group.
Hagipantelis politely declined and remains defiant in his desire to continue at the helm of the club as Tigers officials brace for the completion of the independent review – it is understood the full review could be completed by the end of the month and in the hands of the Holman Barnes Group by mid-November.
The review has already interviewed more than 40 people including Hagipantelis, chief executive Justin Pascoe and head coach Benji Marshall.
Surprisingly recruitment boss Scott Fulton hasn’t been among those interviewed. Sport Confidential understands that Fulton, who joined the Tigers earlier this year from Manly, was not asked his views of the club by former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford and Gary Barnier, who are conducting the review.
It is understood they felt that the review was more concerned with the club’s governance and given Fulton was relatively new to the Tigers, there was little he could add.
The Tigers are likely to be in position to act on the review next month and most interest will centre around the impact it has on Hagipantelis and Pascoe.
Their futures could have a ripple effect for others at the club. Fulton, for example, was championed by both men and has had well-documented battles with Marshall since joining the Tigers.
It is understood the two men were at odds most recently over the pursuit of Manly forward Sean Keppie. Sport Confidential understands that Fulton was keen to bring Keppie to the club but Marshall wasn’t as interested and the front rower opted to join South Sydney.
As a result, the club kept Alex Twal.
Top 8 2023
Chammas: Tigers fans are furious with the club. They’re furious with you and they’re furious with Justin. Is there any chance you resign as chair of the Wests Tigers?
Hagipantelis: Not at all. I serve at the pleasure of the board. As long as I retain the confidence of the board I will remain in this role. The same could be said for Justin. He fulfils the expectations of his role as the CEO.
Chammas: Tigers fans are furious with the club. They’re furious with you and they’re furious with Justin. Is there any chance you resign as chair of the Wests Tigers?
Hagipantelis: Not at all. I serve at the pleasure of the board. As long as I retain the confidence of the board I will remain in this role. The same could be said for Justin. He fulfils the expectations of his role as the CEO.
He just forgot to add: even if I lose their confidence I will remain in the role….
Surprisingly recruitment boss Scott Fulton hasn’t been among those interviewed. Sport Confidential understands that Fulton, who joined the Tigers earlier this year from Manly, was not asked his views of the club by former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford and Gary Barnier, who are conducting the review.
Scott Fulton is clearly the source of this news article. He'd be only person who'd be "surprised" that he wasn't interviewed.
Pretty pathetic from him.
Also if Fulton is going to cry to journalists every time Benji knocks back his recommendations he won't last long in the role.
We have more than enough Tartak clients in the top 30 as far as I'm concerned.
Brent Read taking a shot at others on the board. He's spot on in my opinion. There's no justification to keep any of the current board.
NRL news: Benji Marshall the real winner from Wests Tigers review needs
Nobody is denying the need for the underperforming Wests Tigers to undergo a review, but rather than target the face of the club change needs to start elsewhere, argues BRENT READ.
https://twitter.com/brentread_7
"Why are we doing this" Elias on Tigers
NRL: Ben Elias shares his thoughts on the Wests Tigers fiasco after it was released that they had re-signed Lee Hagipantelis despite consistently being at the bottom of the ladder.
NRL
I spent nearly an hour on the phone to the Wests Tigers independent reviewers earlier this week. Won’t reveal everything that was said but it wasn’t as bad as you think.
I certainly didn’t sense it was a witch-hunt designed to lop off the heads of chair Lee Hagipantelis and chief executive Justin Pascoe, as some have suggested.
Yes, there are problems at the Tigers. They have been in free fall for a decade. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.
For starters, at least from my end, there were lashings of sympathy for Hagipantelis, who just wants to see the club succeed and has poured millions of his own money into making it happen.
Yes, Lee is in the media a lot but someone has to stand up and explain the club’s direction to the fans. Someone has to take charge and front the fourth estate as the club lurches from one crisis to the next.
If not Lee, who? Now his own board has turned on him after a request for him to stand aside as chair. It got me thinking about the Tigers and the faceless few who make up their boardroom. Maybe that is where change needs to start.
Wests Tigers board chairman Lee Hagipantelis. Picture: Getty Images
They’ve turned over coaches and players. Perhaps it is time to look at the people who preside over them. Toss them out and start again.
Bring in some who are more qualified and attuned to the modern game. Real estate agents and former players don’t really cut it any more.
You need to have a boardroom with a specific set of skills and being a member of Wests Ashfield shouldn’t be the overriding factor.
So if we’re going to make changes at the Tigers, let’s start at the top. Lee, as an independent director and significant backer, shouldn’t necessarily be cast aside but others certainly should.
There needs to be change within the club as well. The sense is that Pascoe is on borrowed time, but even if he stays, the Tigers need to hurry up and appoint a head of football to give Benji Marshall the support he needs.
They are being left behind, a point Marshall no doubt made in his interview with the reviewers. Marshall was among the club officials who fronted the independent review. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.
Benji Marshall is the winner Wests Tigers need. Picture: Getty Images
He apparently wowed them with his take on the club and his plans for the future. He looks set to emerge with more power than ever, and so he should. Marshall is a winner and if anyone can save the Tigers, it is him.
When all is said and done, this will be Benji’s club. Marshall needs to be backed to the hilt and there is a private belief among many that as much as this is about shaking up the club’s leadership, it will also end up confirming Marshall as the man with his hand at the tiller.
The ripple effect will be interesting. Recruitment guru Scott Fulton was brought to the club in the main by the board, and more particularly Hagipantelis and Pascoe. If they go, the obvious question is where does it leave him?
All will be revealed soon enough. The results of the review are expected to be handed to the Holman Barnes Group at the end of the month and could be made public as early as mid-November.
Should make for interesting reading. Big changes are coming and while some have criticised the review, my only sense is that it has arrived too late. Maybe it should have been done years ago as the club wallowed in mediocrity.
The hope is that the review can create some blue sky for a club that has been shrouded in dark clouds for too long. If the Tigers can get it right, they will explode. For all their incompetence in recent years, they are a huge club.
They need to nail it and the review will hopefully set them on the right path. Not sure whether my thoughts will make the final cut, but I was happy to help.
@mickb interesting take from Read he’s correct the whole board need to be reconsidered but he’s reasoning for keeping Lee is flimsy in the context of the article. I’m sure most on the board want the club to do well and he hasn’t really poured money in without anything in return. If those are his criteria Harry T should be chair as he meets those criteria yet stays in the background.
I can't justify Lee being on the board but I don't really think the other board members should be exempt from criticism. The ones that have been their the longest should be the first out the door in my view. This is what I take the Brent Read article to mean?
I was listening to this Woods/ Brooks interview and they ran through the whole Jason Taylor departure from WT from 2017.
In the interview they go through the whole Farah / JT fight in 2016. You'll recall the board sided with JT only to sack him 3 rounds into the next season. This is an example of truly incompetent management.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhktelftAEU&themeRefresh=1
Lee was not around in those days. The bad smell around the club will not subside if Hagipantelis is moved. It's the other losers on the board.
Lee is like some nasty fungal infection, extending into every area he can
