From a Roy Masters article in SMH online: "His (Sheens) $1 million settlement is the major contributor to the Wests Tigers’ 2023 $1.4 million deficit, along with termination payments to his partner, who worked in administration, and the club’s former recruitment manager, Warren McDonnell."
I think I'll abandon my intense dislike of Tim Sheens and join his merry crew to top up my own superannuation on his next venture. Team performance and results obviously don't matter so my knowing very little about NRL won't be a problem.
$1.4M in dept. So much for Pascoe’s good financial management… that myth just went out the window.
Pascoe is not and was never a good financial operator. He's a marketing guy, zero financial background whatsoever. The myth of his financial aptitude was started by himself, publishing slides showing we were in profit. The slides had no numbers, weren't audited, nothing. But everyone seemed to believe it.$1.4M in dept. So much for Pascoe’s good financial management… that myth just went out the window.
The guy couldn't manage a school canteen let alone an NRL club.
in reality the whole lot should go tbh
Agreed. We don’t need anyway hanging around bringing with them the last 12 years of failure and embarrassment at all levels
100% right.
If the past decade didn't give us enough of a sample size, the amount of leaking they've all done against one another over the last month should put the nail in the coffin. Zero idea as to how to run a supposed elite sporting organisation, and only in it for their own individual benefits.
This 🎯
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Pascoe is not and was never a good financial operator. He's a marketing guy, zero financial background whatsoever. The myth of his financial aptitude was started by himself, publishing slides showing we were in profit. The slides had no numbers, weren't audited, nothing. But everyone seemed to believe it.$1.4M in dept. So much for Pascoe’s good financial management… that myth just went out the window.
The guy couldn't manage a school canteen let alone an NRL club.
Pascoe claims he takes the values off the graphs for ‘confidentiality reasons’ however it just makes them meaningless as you can’t compare anything.
I posted my piece in this section of the forum as it was a governance decision that led to Sheens being appointed in the first place, despite lots of evidence (multiple ESL sackings) that he was well and truly past his prime.
But his Shifty-ness shone through; getting his "partner" a job in admin and his fellow besty has-been, Warren McDonnell, back on the WT payroll.
Then of course, he led us to consecutive wooden spoons while collecting a $1 million pay out (as per the article) and the club with a $1.4 million deficit. The man's a genius, for want of a better word.
What an embarrassing failure by Chairman Mouth, Pascoe and Board.
It is almost impossible for an NRL club to go broke today, given the ARL Commission effectively pays the players’ salaries and provides $5 million to each club for administration expenses, but Wests Tigers have finished the 2023 season $1.4 million in debt.
It won’t push the wooden spooners into bankruptcy, especially not while they are backed by the rich Wests Ashfield licensed club, which can fund any deficit.
But if the ARLC was to suddenly reduce the annual grants to NRL clubs or the Wests Ashfield directors were to lose control of the board and the money dried up, the football club would retreat to where it was nearly 50 years ago.
Back then, when the Magpies played at Lidcombe Oval and club president Bill “The King” Carson was at war with the Wests Ashfield board, the annual grant from the licensed club would have funded the salary of just one top player.
The discord was such that when the Magpies secured a major sponsor from lawnmower company Victa in the late 1970s, the Wests Ashfield board cut the annual grant by the amount of the sponsorship.
The arguments over funding continued when Wests merged with Balmain to form Wests Tigers in 1999, with the two foundation clubs having equal numbers on the then 10-director board of the NRL’s new joint venture. Any call for cash to meet a shortfall required Balmain and Wests to contribute equally
However, Balmain resisted this because they were broke. They were able to stall the inevitable because they dominated the Wests Tigers board via the representative of Wests League Club at Campbelltown, who traditionally voted with the Tigers.
So, Wests Tigers operated with fewer funds than other NRL clubs because Balmain couldn’t contribute.
The Tigers were coached by Tim Sheens from 2005-11 and though he may have worked for less back then, he received a reasonable payout when he left this year after a second stint as head coach.
His $1 million settlement is the major contributor to the Wests Tigers’ $1.4 million deficit, along with termination payments to his partner, who worked in administration, and the club’s former recruitment manager, Warren McDonnell.
Those payments are unusual and Wests Tigers, like all NRL clubs, are expected to post a surplus next season. That, however, assumes club grants remain the same and projects such as the Las Vegas extravaganza remain cost-revenue neutral.
This brings us to Tuesday night’s Wests Ashfield board meeting, which followed fan dissatisfaction that culminated in an online petition calling for an independent review of Wests Tigers.
The Wests Ashfield-commissioned report, prepared by former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford and businessman Gary Barnier, is near completion, with Crawford saying: “We took the board of Wests Ashfield through the process, explaining our thinking, and will then move to other key stakeholders, such as Balmain and Wests Magpies. The final report should be completed inside a month.”
It is likely the report will recommend the addition of independent directors to the present seven-person board, which Wests Ashfield currently dominates via an entity known as the Holman-Barnes Group.
However, there will need to be safeguards to ensure Wests Ashfield doesn’t cede control and, therefore, refuse to fund future deficits in the event of the ARLC cutting back on grants.
One director, speaking anonymously because discussions had been confidential, said Wests Ashfield would never “sell off the farm” but could choose to carve out essential reserve powers, take a back seat and allow directors with specialist skills to make football decisions.
To be fair, Wests Tigers would have broken even this year if they reduced their ramped-up spending in the south-west of Sydney, but this region is their long-term source of players and fans. It is, therefore, their future, especially if the mega-rich Wests club at Campbelltown rejoins the Wests Tigers board.
Top 8 2023
Bizarre angling in the suggestion that a relatively minor annual loss could potentially end up with the club in bankruptcy. I would imagine plenty of clubs would post similar results, and have their benefactors (i.e. leagues club or similar) make up the shortfall, so it's hardly newsworthy.
The stuff about Sheens costing is $1m, however, is extraordinary if true. Particularly given Lee was telling all and sundry that Sheens had initiated discussions about moving on early.
What an absolute disaster of a decision that was.
Bizarre angling in the suggestion that a relatively minor annual loss could potentially end up with the club in bankruptcy. I would imagine plenty of clubs would post similar results, and have their benefactors (i.e. leagues club or similar) make up the shortfall, so it's hardly newsworthy.
The stuff about Sheens costing is $1m, however, is extraordinary if true. Particularly given Lee was telling all and sundry that Sheens had initiated discussions about moving on early.
What an absolute disaster of a decision that was.
just another disastrous decision in a long line of disastrous decisions. In fact, it’s the only thing this group of leaders does consistently well.
The whole sheens thing is a disgrace and reeks of reactionary decision making with no due diligence or long term consequences considered.
I can say with absolute honesty that if there is not massive change at the top my 50 years of support will end. I’ve had it with these clowns.
I am now 65yo. I have been a Balmain Tigers fan from the age of 8yo. Until the appointment of Sheens, I had been a multiple WT Gold and then Platinum member for more than 15 years. I stopped my memberships in 2023 as a result of WT giving, IMO, totally unwarranted authority and trust in Tim Sheens to return the NRL team to some semblance of competitiveness after passively guiding the club to its first wooden spoon in 2022. He then assumed the head coach role and took the team to consecutive NRL wooden spoons, albeit to a lower ranking (17th) than in 2022.Bizarre angling in the suggestion that a relatively minor annual loss could potentially end up with the club in bankruptcy. I would imagine plenty of clubs would post similar results, and have their benefactors (i.e. leagues club or similar) make up the shortfall, so it's hardly newsworthy.
The stuff about Sheens costing is $1m, however, is extraordinary if true. Particularly given Lee was telling all and sundry that Sheens had initiated discussions about moving on early.
What an absolute disaster of a decision that was.
just another disastrous decision in a long line of disastrous decisions. In fact, it’s the only thing this group of leaders does consistently well.
The whole sheens thing is a disgrace and reeks of reactionary decision making with no due diligence or long term consequences considered.
I can say with absolute honesty that if there is not massive change at the top my 50 years of support will end. I’ve had it with these clowns.
And, of course, the selfish manipulation of WT by Sheens continues in the desperate hope that his anointed one, Benji Marshall can become a credible NRL coach. I'm not holding my breath. And I sure as hell am not parting with my cash to renew memberships
But, hey, Timbo added another $1 million to his retirement fund and propped up those of his "partner" and McDonnell and Lambkin in the process.
Sheens continues in the desperate hope that his anointed one, Benji Marshall can become a credible NRL coach.
I can promise you that Benji Marshall wasn't Tim Sheens anointed one.
In memory of Geoff Chisholm (1965-2022)
Eddie Jones is available now. Reckons he has no job to go to, not going to Japan.....just saying
Eddie Jones is available now. Reckons he has no job to go to, not going to Japan.....just saying
Cheika is apparently again on the radar.
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Waratahs were 11th in 2012, the year before cheika took over. In the 3 years he was coach they went 9th, 1st then 3rd. The first year after he left back to 10th. He then went to coach the wallabies and took them to the World Cup final (despite being ranked poorly). He has since coached Lebanon to their best league World Cup performance and just now Argentina to the rugby World Cup semis. This guy is an incredible coach
