I just wanted to show people how pretty much the exact same story, reworked can paint a totally different picture and have rewritten today's Daily Telegraph story to more accurately reflect the current situation. This uses all of the same information from the story, minus the last par, which he would have gotten if he'd of actually made any effort to get the board's actual view on the matter.
EXCLUSIVE: Board change halts plan to move games to ANZ
The former Eels '3P' board entertained the option of moving more games away from Parramatta Stadium, with ANZ Stadium examined as a host to a greater number of fixtures from 2014.
Having already reduced the number of Eels home games by four - three this year are being played at ANZ and one at Mudgee - Parramatta under the leadership of chairman Roy Spagnolo was considering even more games being moved away from the club’s spiritual home ground, the Daily Telegraph has learned.
With grand ambitions to reach 40,000 members, CEO Ken Edwards in April sought advice about playing more games at ANZ from club solicitor Brian Belling - who yesterday declined to comment.
Spagnolo, while chairman of the club, repeatedly justified decisions to move games - including the controversial late shift of Nathan Hindmarsh and Luke Burt’s swansong - to ANZ as being good business.
However, any plans to move those games away from the Stadium are now on hold , following the recent election which saw the ParraFirst ticket comes to power and chairman Spagnolo lose his place on the board.
New chairman Steve Sharp vowed that Parramatta Stadium would remain home of the Eels during his successful election campaign last month.
Edwards admitted that the club had, prior to the recent election, investigated moving more games to ANZ and said that “there is a possibility that we will play more games at ANZ Stadium”.
However, with the change of board, the club’s strategies were now being reviewed.
"We've got a new board in place and we're reviewing all those things at the moment,” said Edwards.
He also stressed that "we have every intention of honouring our agreement with Parramatta Stadium."
The Daily Telegraph understands that the board has made securing an upgrade to Parramatta Stadium its number one priority, a move that would secure the Eels future at the Stadium for the foreseeable future.
Replies
no doubt it was just another case of 3p sht stirring - using their mates at the telly to write up crp!
like with sticky i'll give them a yr to shake out the cobwebs/legacy issues and see where they take us!
The only actual news part of this story - we all knew that the former board wanted to move more games to ANZ - that was common knowlege, is where this story leaked from.
This is a high-level boardroom issue. The only people who would have known about this are Edwards, Belling, and the former board. I'm pretty sure Edwards didn't leak it. And so I think if we ever wanted proof as to where the media leaks have come from over the past four years, this pretty much settles it.
At the AGM after the football club when I pressed Roy on the issue of regional voting options, Roy said to the entire AGM. "Phil you lost the election, it's time to move on". Well, somebody should be taking their own advice.
This blatant attempt to destabilise the club, at a time when a lot of people to do with the club are doing it really tough and hurting - I can't even begin to express my disdain for this.
Number 1 priority, get Parra Stadium enlarged in partnership with Western Sydney Wanderers. Contingency, if the stadium is not made larger, move more games to ANZ.
It is in the Eels' best interest to get as many fans as possible to as many games as possible.
Orange - agree on the priority. To be honest, I'm not even convinced at this stage, we have to even think about the contigency. We aren't even going close to selling out our Stadium - there is no need at this point to be looking at taking games elsewhere. You don't scale before you grow.
And given the Leagues Club supposedly is making buckets, lets take the profit hit to satisfy the single biggest wish item of almost every single Parramatta member.
Steve Sharp needs to haul Edwards into line then. His tweets this morning are clearly at odds with the future direction of the Sharp Board.
Ken Edwards
@kenedwards12 26m@parramad66 Wendy. Parra always our home. Can't stand still though. Planning for future. Blue & Gold Army will b 40,000 Members by 2017.WENDI HODSON
@parramad66 20m@kenedwards12 sorry Ken but ANZ is backwards we need a home at Parra ANZ ok 4corp bxs shit 4 us to watch games & 1/2 filledANZ stadiumWENDI HODSON
@parramad66 18m@kenedwards12 put that decision to a members referendum us the one who attend games can tell u the answer nowKen Edwards
@kenedwards12 12m@parramad66 Wendy. Relax. No decisions have been made. Everyone will get a chance to be heard and listened to. Planning 4 future.#goparramatthew tate
@Matthew_Tatey 9h@kenedwards12 is the Daily tele website true? Are we looking to move more games to ANZ next year?Ken Edwards
@kenedwards12 1h@Matthew_Tatey planning 4 future. Eels 2 b no.1 NRL Club in Sydney by 2017. 40,000 Blue&Gold Army. Parra Stadium 20!#GoParra@TheParraEelsSamphors Duch
@DontDuch 8h@kenedwards12@TheParraEels whatever you do, keep parramatta stadium "our home" not anz.Ken Edwards
@kenedwards12 1h@DontDuch@TheParraEels Parra spiritual home! Not negotiable. Plan for future though. blue & gold army 40,000 in 2017. 20,000 only at PSJimmy, I agree. And as I've said elsewhere, this is going to cause the issue to come to a head - and my hope is that the club can once and for all, put the issue to rest.
But really the key tweet in there is: "
@parramad66 Wendy. Relax. No decisions have been made. Everyone will get a chance to be heard and listened to. Planning 4 future.#goparra"I reckon Sharpie would still go alright actually and we do have a shortage of second rowers now. He has a big ticker, and he's still in pretty good shape. Get out there on the field Sharpie and pull your weight, for crying out loud.
LOL Fathead. That is the issue though, if we were winning and Parra stadium was a sellout every week you could understand talks about a move to Homebush but like you said we will struggle to fill a phone booth the way the teams been going.
Anyone got access to what the crowd figures were like during that 2009 run, and then early in the 2010 season when the glow would have still been on. That would give a better indication as to what membership targets are possible (in terms of STHs) anyway
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