@Ralphie , I have tried to add a bit of balance to your assessment below. Much of what you say is true, but you did leave a lot out. I think this is a fair summary of events now.
Fact: Toovey's short coaching career was relatively successful. In 2012 we were 1 game short of the GF. In 2013 we made the GF and almost won it. In 2014 we finished equal first in the regular season, but (as you say) went out with a whimper in the finals. In 2015 we missed the finals for the first time, with Toovey sacked well before that result was known. Overall, Toovey has a winning percentage of 58.1%. To put that in context, Hasler is at 59.6%, Bennett at 62.0%, and The Great Brad Arthur is on 42.6%.
Fact: Quantum controlled the Board when the Gift contract debacle occurred.
Fact: The Penn faction wanted to offer Gift a contract.
[One that was, by Scott's own admission "not a great offer". An offer so low that, if I recall correctly, it was the NRL that stopped us putting it to him. It was a difficult situation and I agree it was handled very poorly by those in charge at the time. Ultimately Gift probably would have still left even if the Penn offer was put to him, and the unrest may still have occurred anyway.]
Fact: After the Gift debacle the Team attitude collapsed and we exited 2014 with a whimper.
[Agreed. The Foran and DCE debacles were also starting to bubble away at this point and also had a negative impact, and we were unlucky on the injury front with the loss of Buhrer and Ballin in particular hurting us. Despite all that, the Bulldogs still needed golden point and a poor refereeing decision to knock us out.]
Fact: Gift failed to find any form in 2016 and spent a lot of time out injured. If viewed dispassionately, purely based on football ability at his stage of career, letting him go was clearly the right call.
Fact: New Management requested change and offered funds to do it.
[I'm not clear what they expected Toovey to do here - somehow overhaul the team mid-season?]
Fact: Toovey had to deal with Des' back ended contract fiasco throughout his tenure, which probably prevented him from any major overhaul. As this is the first year we have really been on the recruitment circuit in a long time, it would suggest that it has taken until now to wash through the system. Both Gift and Choc were on huge contracts during Toovey's time, as has been well documented. It would not have been possible to bring in a Myles or Taupau while Gift, Choc and others were taking up so much cap space.]
Fact: After 7 rounds of 2015 we were 1-7.
[We were never 1-7. After 7 rounds we were 1-6 and after 8 rounds we were 2-6. We also had the worst injury toll in living memory. We had a similarly poor start in 2009 under Hasler.]
Fact: The Penn controlled board botched the DCE negotiation. He had agreed terms with the old Board that Penn failed to honour and in the end we had to come up with more to retain him after putting up the DCE contract sideshow for a large part of the season, which was a fair contributor to our poor year in my view.
Fact: The new Management commissioned an external consultant (Bozo) to advise them on the best way forward.
[Agreed - a very smart move, and unquestionably the reason why we have been able to form a strong team for 2016. We are very fortunate to have Bozo at our disposal.]
Fact: The Penn controlled board's treatment of Ballin was poor, and is arguably worse than the previous Board's treatment of Gift. Ballin had a contract, signed only months earlier, and they forced him out.
Fact: The new management took the advice of that consultant and chose the path they are now on and paid out IN FULL the contract of the current coach.
[If they had not paid him out in full he no doubt could have commenced legal proceedings, which would have cost them more and generated bad publicity. It made good business sense to pay him out in full, and I assume that's why they did it. As you say, rugby league is a business after all.]
These are simple facts when viewed dispassionately. To conclude from these facts that one person or another has been wronged is to cease to be dispassionate.
[Equally, it must be said that the facts, as a whole, do not support a proposition that Toovey was a poor coach, that previous management was responsible for all our problems, or that we would not have had any problems if the Penns were in charge all along.]
Could things have been done better, yes
[agreed], but I have seen this precise process occur many times over when business get a new owner
[I imagine most people here have. The new owner traditionally lays the boot into the old owner about all the mistakes they made as well, to make the new owner look good and enables the new owner to take all the credit for turning the business around (which was my original point). That is clearly part of what Penn is doing here.]. NRL clubs are now a business whether or not we the fans like it. If an owner is going to invest $$millions then they have a right to set teh strategic direction and move forward with executing that plan.
[I agree 100% and despite extremely poor execution in some places and a lot of pain and suffering along the way, the plan ultimately looks good to me in terms of future success. We are fielding a very strong team in 2016. Penn would be better served to look to that future rather than dredge up the past.]
