An article titled 'Mestrov moving Manly' by Adam Lucius in the August issue of "Peninsular Living" magazine which some may find interesting:
"One year into the job, Sea Eagles chief and Bayview local Tony Mestrov wants to bring back the love of Manly.
Back in the day, every time Tony Mestrov saw a kid walking around the Northern Beaches in a football kit that wasn't maroon and white, it would eat away at him. Following the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles was a religion when he was growing up in Mona Vale and attending Brookvale's St Augustine's College - just a 40-20 kick away from 4 Pines Park.
"Everyone in the area once supported Manly," the freshly minted Sea Eagles chief executive office (CEO) tells Peninsular Living Pittwater from his office overlooking Brookie Oval. "I'd see kids walking around in different clubs' colours - or a different sport altogether - and wonder where that love for Manly went. "One of my aims is to restore what we had back then."
Mestrov played soccer until he was 15, but there was never any real doubt where his real passion - and destiny - lay. "I hadn't made any rep sides, but I knew I wanted to play first grade for Manly," he says.
"I left school in 1987, made Jersey Flegg (junior reps) in 1988, and the next year I played under 21's before debuting in first grade in 1990." Old school-mates erected a makeshift "Tony Mestrov Stand" on the Brookie Hill to mark the occasion, and a long career at the Sea Eagles appeared certain.
But a deilitating illness, the arrival of some big-name recruits, and a lust for new experiences limited the young prop's stay to just 17 games. Mestrov then enjoyed two successful seasons at South Sydney before heading to England, where he spent the next seven years playing for the London Broncos (in two separate stints) and the famous Wigan club.
"It was pretty limited back here. You'd finish the season, have a few weeks off and then be back into training. That was boring for me," Mestrov recalls.
"I'd never travelled, but was always looking outwardly. Travel opened my eyes. I met different people from different countries and walks of life. I realised there was more to life than football. I wanted to travel more and seek more knowledge, and I think that helped in my CEO life later." Only problem was, Mestrov didn't immediately know how to get to his ultimate destination.
He was employed in sales at the Sea Eagles and Radio 2GB when he returned from England, but admitted his work career, at that stage, was 'pretty under-whelming'. Then came a left-field opportunity that set him on a path in sports administration.
Hockey NSW was conducting a root and branch overhaul of the sport and took a gamble on Mestrov being the man to deliver that change. A return to rugby league as chief operating officer with Gold Coast followed before the biggest of all challenges - heading up Greyhound Racing NSW.
The sport had been abolished by the State Government following a damning report on greyhound welfare, before being given a stay of execution on tight new regulations. "It was a really tough but successful five years," Mestrov says. "The biggest thing I learned is that being a CEO isn't a very popular job. You have to make some tough decisions."
The 53-year-old, who lives at Bayview with wife Alex and daughter Bella, has not resiled from those tough calls at Manly. Des Hasler was removed as first grade coach amid much acrimony and others shuffled on - and new faces brought in - to facilitate change at every level.
"All my decisions have been made in the best interest of the club, not me personally," Mestrov promises. "It was all about setting a culture to take the organisation forward and also improving our competency in a lot of areas. "That's all the way from the boardroom to the boot room."
On a personal level, I've never, and I mean ever been more.disconnected from the club. My kids wouldn't know what colours Manly wear and couldn't name one player now. For the first time in forever, I'm choosing Avalanche / Chelsea membership over Manly (and I was a Jane Try Stand season ticket holder and member.)
We will likely win the same amount of games as Des won last season before being axed, finishing the year with 4 wins from 19 games (and I get there's a mass of excuses , like there were last year).
The team is so un-interesting, un-enjoyable, uninspiring and boring to watch, it's a chore sitting through 80 minutes. Many of the players are outright unlikable (Aloiai and others , looking at you). I won't be watching the last two games - no point.
Going to next year, the backline is exciting no doubts. But it's the same crap in the forwards that has lead us to a decade of mediocrity. No ex-fsctor, spark or speed from dummy half. Slow, lazy, over weight, lumbering, under performing, no leg speed, no desire forwards - that unlock the skilled backline.
We still have way too many constantly rehabbing players like Turbo, Lawton, Aloiai, Schuster and others who spend most of their time as observers rather than partakers.
We've also used up cap space giving jobs to the boys rather than focusing on winning a title with every cent available to maximise our return on investment.
We have a passive owner who's interests lay elsewhere, disgusting recruitment, and a CEO and Coach who are deluded when considering where our team is presently at. I mean, ****, we have one coach spending most of his time improving another team and getting into tug-of-wars over next season's coaching staff with his current employer! That's messed up.
A lot of our fanbase has given up. They go into games (or consider our end of season finish) with very low expectations , so resign themselves to praising losses and jeez, there have been MANY - since the pride jersey winning only 20 something percent of our games, yet many expect positivity to be falsely rolled out to placate their tender hearts.
All this leads to apathy. I'm expecting a huge drop in memberships, gate numbers and buy in next season (with **** house recruitment evident). I'm shocked at how when Cuzzo puts something from a big club up on Twitter, he gets no replies. If Chelsea / AVS put something up, they get literally thousands of responses. And it never used to be that dead for us, something has happened. I personally think people are done.
Has Mestrov done a good job? There's still infighting , media leaks, the teams stagnated in mediocrity, the outlook is average, and we are getting mired with one player agent who's bog average players almost sunk The Broncos before Ben Ikin was brought in to fix the joint.
2/10