Daniel Anderson's win could have saved job

Phil Rothfield From: The Daily Telegraph August 14, 2010DANIEL Anderson is the last person Parramatta chief executive Paul Osborne wanted to sack.Osborne and the besieged Eels coach have struck up a close friendship over the past 18 months despite constant boardroom pressure to remove Anderson from the job.Earlier this year, Osborne approached the board and tried to extend Anderson's contract but directors rejected the request when the Eels won only one of their first four games.Pressure mounted as the Eels continued to underperform and two directors sent emails demanding Anderson's sacking after the recent thumping loss to the Warriors.Osborne refused to react and, with the support of chairman Ray Spagnolo, resisted pressure to look for another coach in the hope Anderson could repeat last year's charge to the grand final. Last week's loss to the Gold Coast at Skilled Park forced Osborne to act.Under instructions from Spagnolo, Osborne secretly boarded a flight to Melbourne for talks with Craig Bellamy's assistant coach Steve Kearney. The irony of the talks on Monday is that Kearney was originally interviewed for the job by former boss Denis Fitzgerald before being overlooked for Anderson.To protect his friendship with Anderson, Osborne was determined to keep the talks with the Storm assistant coach secret and even booked the flight to Melbourne without any of the football club staff knowing. He met with Kearney to sound him out as a "Plan B" option if the Eels failed to make the grand final.The Parramatta board see New Zealand Test coach Kearney as the ideal type to handle the large Polynesian element at the club.He is extremely well regarded by The most influential figures in the game, including Bellamy and Wayne Bennett. Cashed-up Parramatta are prepared to offer Kearney one of the richest coaching deals in the NRL to make it happen.But Eels board members are understandably anxious to get off to a flying start in next year's premiership because they are under pressure to be re-elected at the annual meeting next April.Eels boss Paul Osborne flew to Victoria on Monday to meet with the Storm assistant coach about taking-over from Anderson after this season, and also the club's now-futile bid to sign Melbourne half Cooper Cronk.The majority of directors feel it is too risky to stick with Anderson, in case Fitzgerald's old supporters mount a campaign to get rid of them.

I'm glad someone else picked up on how that line was constructed. It makes my blood boil that faceless board members politically positioning themselves and using DA as the scapegoat. These individuals should put their names behind the cause as I'm sure most right-minded parra supporters and members would be gunning for them before DA!!

I have to say that with all of the tough decisions that DA has made I agree with. Now he is under pressure for more then likely in some of those cases doing their bidding.

I have no inside news, so I don't care to worry about treatment of players polynesian or not. I expect regardless of race any person should be able to take criticism and praise as a man.

At the absolute least have the conviction of standing by the terms of his contract, the gormless bastards okayed that and now want to rescind that too!!

Replies

Jpav August 14, 2010 at 1:41am

sounds like this is gunna get messy,
Paul August 14, 2010 at 2:36am

Unbelievable they are going to sack a good coach so they don't get voted out next year
i can't believe it
and replace him with a coach who has not been a head coach of an NRL side
Fuifui August 14, 2010 at 8:43am

I'm glad someone else picked up on how that line was constructed. It makes my blood boil that faceless board members politically positioning themselves and using DA as the scapegoat. These individuals should put their names behind the cause as I'm sure most right-minded parra supporters and members would be gunning for them before DA!!

I have to say that with all of the tough decisions that DA has made I agree with. Now he is under pressure for more then likely in some of those cases doing their bidding.

I have no inside news, so I don't care to worry about treatment of players polynesian or not. I expect regardless of race any person should be able to take criticism and praise as a man.

At the absolute least have the conviction of standing by the terms of his contract, the gormless bastards okayed that and now want to rescind that too!!
JJM August 14, 2010 at 8:51am

Very bad form by the board. Instead of supporting DA they are undermining him.
Eeldarado August 14, 2010 at 8:59am

ONE WORD THAT SUMS THIS ALL UP IS ...................................... UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It stinks to the highest order that the eels continually search for excuses to their poor season it has nothing to do with the coach it has everything to do with ATTITUDE the players showed ATTITUDE last night and reaped the rewards!!!

The problem was we were lacking a quality half now the problem is the coach whats the next problem / excuse???????

The only problem I see that is plain as daylight is the team lacks consistent ATTITUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dennis August 14, 2010 at 9:20am

It's a tough one in my opinion, ando no doubt Is a very good coach, and his run to the gf last year was a master stroke on a coaches behalf, but once again with our inconsistent season u as well as I have to ask ourselves why with our roster are we inconsistant this year.. Now I agree it's all about attitude.. The board must be thinking next year we have to start well( or we face the sack ) like ur blog stated!! And to start well do we think ando is the man to do considering what's happened in the last 2 seasons, and yes I know Ppl are gonna say this is not the team ando wanted, it's the team he has been given... But the board to keep there job don't look at it like that... They know it's important to start well, and must weigh up if ando is the man to do that!! It's a cruel business!!I say let him see out his 3 years and go from there!!
Parra-all-the-way August 14, 2010 at 10:39am

What an absolute joke if true, we have aquality coach, let him do his thing and let him see out his 3 years at least.....i know my opinion doesnt count to the board, maybe a protest could help...lol
Dennis August 14, 2010 at 10:48am

Agreed parra-all-the-way.. Gotta let him see out his contract... We've had 4 different coachs since 06.. Smith, Taylor, hagan , and ando. And before that we had a coach for nearly 10 years in smith, but the board wanna keep there jobs, and wins will keep there job at the begining of the year considering when the election is!!
Jpav August 14, 2010 at 12:35pm

if ando won the comp this year he should state that he wants the board sacked that would be funny
Daneel August 14, 2010 at 1:17pm

Regardless of whether Parra won or lost, Daniel Andersons position is not under threat.
This is nothing more than a paper selling beat up. Fact!