Let me preface this by saying I like Steve Sharp as chairman. He's up front and doesn't try to hide anything. However I believe this is hurting him a little in terms of his interaction with the media.
Sharp has made a point of trying to be transparent with the media, trying to be as truthful as possible. In that I see him as being a little naive when it comes to the media.
Just today he pretty much said Brad Arthur will take over as coach for next season. Now whilst I prefer an announcement like this coming from someone in management rather than a leak to the Mole or Josh Massoud, he really should've just kept quiet.
The media have really just been throwing names into the mix ever since Stuart walked out in the hope they'll get one right. Sharp really has only commented on Brian Smith, Taylor and Arthur with the rest of the names simply being splashed out in speculation.
This is where I believe Sharp is doing something behind the scenes to begin plugging the leaks. However if that is to work then I think Sharp needs to pick his moments a little better in dealing with the media.
Or better yet refer all journalists to our CEO. The CEO should really be dealing with everything in the media and leave Sharp to deal with the board.
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We need professionals at the moment, instead once again, we look like a bunch of amateurs.
One must wonder what professionals like Todd Greenburg or Mark Bouris / Nick Politis would think of Steve Sharp.
It's a joke and an embarrassment.
What we needed was a professional, hardnutt CEO like John Qualye to take control of this situation. He wouldn't be worried about putting Sharp in his place that's for sure. I'm not saying Scott Seward wont be a great CEO one day, but we need an action man not one of Sharps puppets.
Sharp is a dickhead who wants full control of our club.
He should be the CEO as well he loves giving quotes
Haven't we got a media manager? That's who should be speaking to the media 90% of the time, not the Chairman nor the CEO; they only get to speak when it is a dead-cert good news story.
Hopefully Sharp is just messing around with the media..
Steve Sharp promised an invisible board. Right now, he's being quoted more than all of the other NRL chairman and directors combined.
Our club now has a CEO. He should be the only person talking to the media going forward. I don't want to see any of our directors quoted in the media until its election time.
Having worked pretty closely with Steve during the last election, I'm sure he has good intentions. But being a journalist, I also know that the footy press corp. would just be lapping up a chairman of a high profile club, who's so willing to speak to them and they don't have our club's best interests at heart, they're interests in moving papers and generating clicks.
I'm hearing a lot of really good things about Scott Seward, and the board now needs to get out of his way and let him prove what he is capable of, and that includes handling the media. Because as many others have said, this latest round of stories is just embarrassing for the club.
Steve, there was a time when it was acceptable for you to step up and take some of the pressure off the club, but now we need you to deliver on your promise of that invisible board and let the people our club is paying good money too, do what their being paid to do. The last thing we need going forward, is a board that micromanages the place and is constantly in the headlines.
Well said.
Clearly a job for the CEO.Steve is setting himself up as he will have to leave the job to the CEO at some stage.Will be in a terrible pickle if Arthur isn't the pick.
Can you give him a call ? No seriously , does he actually realise the massive damage that he has done by speaking to the media at this time ? Or is he so bull headed that he doesn't care or would refuse to acknowledge that he has done wrong.
What sort of advice is he getting ? You are a businessman, a lot of us on this site are professional people who have served on boards and corporations and are absolutely appalled by his actions.
He can't just say that he was surprised by the backlash or the media for printing his quotes. This is not the first time Steve has fed the media intricate details of what should be closed business decisions.
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