No silvertail lining: Sea Eagles now on struggle street

[ManlyBacker]

MANLY will put another week of drama and controversy behind them tonight when they launch their seventh consecutive finals campaign against the Cowboys, but for all of the on-field success, the club is now one of the paupers of the NRL.


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[Darren]

sums it up boys, Penn has poured 20 million into us and says he is sick of propping us up. Let's get out of the crappiest ground and set up our future. I know there are people who love standing on a hill but the reality is that type of ground is over. We need to get a contract going asap with SFS or ANZ and get guaranteed cash. Start giving home games away as I want to have a club to follow until I die. Well done Penn and Perry. Time for massive shake up and coming into the new world. Silvertails tag is gone!!
I have read that Northern beaches people won't travel to watch us. Well, they haven't got the future of the club at hand. Many of us travel hours to get there.

 

[Wolfpack]

Go & ask Sydney FC how they feel about the SFS & dealing with the SCG trust. I like the SFS but the grass isn't always greener.

Move the club from the Northern Beaches & it will die.

 

[Darren]

Die? we are losing 1.5 million this year and nearly a million each year before that!! We still lost 250k when we won in 2008!!
In a business sense, that's a closure. Take Penn and Quantam out and the Northern beaches crowd will see their team die in record time. We get 14,000 home game and I bet half are travellers. Guaranteed crowd money and more corporate boxes is the way we will make dough. The club will still train at Narrabeen and do school stuff, they just get out of a ground that costs them money.

People said that Collingwood and Carlton would go down the gurgler when they left their home grounds. People won't go to the big old G every week!! Read the other day Collingwood is the biggest brand in Australia. We keep harping on about the 50-60 thousand supporters on that glorious 2008 day. I put it out there that with better facilities we would pick up loads of fans who don't want to sit on a hill.

 

[HappilyManly]

I live on the Northen Beaches and go to every game Manly play in (Moscow or Perth would be a stretch !). So that point is a patent cliche. However, the lack of infrastructure ie transport and Brookie facilities are never going to be addressed by the Polies, The major Shareholders should look at ANZ. It has a deal
with Sydney Transport that includes free transport to the Stadium and great Corporate facilities. The most important game that Manly play will be at ANZ as well.

I love Brookie, but the NE abomination proved that there is only one true Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

I also applaud Parry for actioning his Charter- it will ensure Manly's standalone participation in the NRL. Popularity does not equate to Profit.

 

[Phantar]

Also a move away from Brookvale might finally wake up Warringah Council, from their collective torpor, to get cracking on the sort of improvements Brookvale Oval really needs for an NRL team to play out of there. Similar to the Dragons experience with Kogarah.

 

[MPC75]

Just another media spin trying to derail our season. Don't buy into this **** too much. Sure there might be some issues, but every club has their issues. Look at the roosters with all their mess this year, hardly rates a mention.

 

[Darren]

good points happily Manly!! transport there is horrendous. I used to spend 3 hours one way as a kid getting a train, ferry and bus to Brookie and then head back. Great days though!! Not alot of people do that anymore.

Warringah Council and Kirsch would probably knock it down and sell it off. 1.5 million is losing 30 grand a week. Imagine evry Sunday night going there goes 30 thousand!!If you were Penn, long term you would be going there has to be change or I'm getting out. Who would blame him!!

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

Is that on the corner of Battlers Boulevarde and Ruined Road

 

[Dan79]

football clubs dont make profit... it is that simple..... Man United is one of the biggest clubs in the world with a 300 million pound debt.... The people who bought in to the club did not buy in purely to make money. Not saying that the club should spend recklessly, but you dont get rich off football.
This is just more media spin trying to paint the club in bad light. i dont like the conspiracy rubbish that people spruik, the way i see it is that it sells papers, people like to read that the eagles are in chaos, if they print enough of this, we will all believe it.

 

[bones]

It just goes to prove what masters Des and Crusher really are. The club has not bought a big name player since Josh Perry back at the end of 07, probably because we couldnt afford to, yet we find ourselves in second place heading into the finals four years later.

 

[Darren]

agree that the media are giving it to us but that amount of loss is a worry, media spin or not. What would happen if Penn or Quantam gave up the owneship? C'mon new tv deal, our saviour

 

[Phantar]

Or it could be the Club president indicating in no uncertain terms that David Perry has his (and the Board's) approval to make changes - like Peter Peters being made redundant.

People shouldn't kid themselves that this is a major beat-up. Not when Brad Walter (who I think is pretty even-handed in his writings) appears to have received full cooperation, in writing his story, from the highest placed official within the organisation. Nor should people kid themselves that the way we are perceived as a club, doesn't have a direct impact on our ability to attract sponsors, ground improvement funding, positive headlines etc.

Perry was headhunted for an obvious reason. He previously worked for the most financially successful RL club in the country - and one that doesn't seem to have much trouble achieving any of those off-field outcomes I just spoke of.

 

[DSM5]

The SFS for me. Not ANZ, it's to big and uncomfortable and difficult to get to. Look folks, I could have written that piece, and I've read just about the same stuff on this forum many times. I can see us playing three games at Brookvale, all on a Sunday afternoon, and the rest at the SFS. This sort of article is why we need a better media person. While I read plenty of feel-good stories about the Tigers and Dragons, there's none about our mighty team. Peters must take some responsibility for this and I for one am glad to see the back of him.

 

[The Eagle]

Tv rights deal needs to be done then we're safe forever

 

[Brookie4eva]

The major Shareholders should look at ANZ. It has a deal
with Sydney Transport that includes free transport to the Stadium

Not for regular season matches, only big events eg. finals and origin.

From the beaches via PT it's a long journey.

If it can't be Brookie Oval, it would have to be SFS. We will find out tonight how much we travel. If tonights game was at Brookie it would get 21 -22K. Will we get that at SFS ????

And as others have said, then loss is the reason why changes are being made. I have largely stayed away from the Zorba posts this week, but if you compare the media coverage Manly gets to say Illawarra, Tigpies, or Parra, we are way behind, and improving this may help get more money into the club.

 

[sheridanstand78]

I would love to see a compromise. For our 12 home games, play the out of Sydney teams at Brookvale and all major Sydney derbies at the SFS.

It is disturbing that the club is so behind and losing so much money. I love Brookie, ive been going there since the 70s. The ground is not going to be upgraded in the foreseeable future. Id like to see Manly bite the bullet, we need to open up our fan base, we have a great team.

The Melbourne AFL clubs decided years ago to play their derbies at their 2 main stadiums and its a huge sucess.

My fear is that if we dont change we will fold, its going to get even tougher if the leagues club grant is gone due to the pokie tax laws.

 

[tookey]

Does anyone know if Warringah council has even put a comprehensive request to the state and federal governments for funding?

 

[Darren]

heck, forgot about the pokie tax!! this tv rights is going to be big for all the clubs it sounds

 

[ManlyBacker]

ANZ is about the worst stadium i have been to.

That aside the position we are in, and all good I realise in hindsight, is that we had an ineffectual CEO signed off by the board who was incapable of gaining decent sponsorship, crippled the club's web presence, and couldn't resist antagonising the council that owns Brookvale Park and the government that hands out the lollies.

So it may be payback time but when the business plan sucks then the returns won't be there. The club needs to stop pissing off everybody from the NRL, Warringah council, State pollies, the press and some supporters.

I have seen some very good things coming through this year and they need to leverage on that good work.