Interesting questions have been raised (constantly) about our club and a SCAPEGOAT to blame.
Personally I am usually quick in seeing obvious problems and when you look at the period my experience covers, I have seen most of the things that only Parramatta supporter's can lament and relate to.
This particular one is a quandry, I think MONS needs to go, but I don't actually blame him for any of the events that recognise the damage that has been outlined. I think he could be sitting back in his arm chair asking how he ended up in this mess?.......... I don't think he has ever been the final decision maker on most of the things we would like to blame him for.
The other protaganist and yes Scapegoat is Jim Saratinos? So I am going to critique both him and MON's and explain why they have been blamed
The pathways coaches are recognised for their strong roles in rescuing the situation post Covid and I see no blame evolving there (unless it is still evolving).....the fan base tend's to overate them (our juniors) because we should be so strong in this area, yes we are a Development Club and we do provide a lot of players.....we would it seems not be overly good at bringing through the ones that we would like to claim. Maybe we are just victim's of that process as we have struggled to obtain balance with juniors and recruitment and in endeavoring to satisfy that equation.......Fcuked up Both!
Reverting to MONS you need to go back to his recruitment, he probably was never the right guy to table as General Manager Football whereas the reality is that the first grade coach in both BA's and JR's terms have been the final arbitar in almost all decisions outside of the financial impact of cap and policy. I think MON's has probably done a fine job in structuring and recruiting pathway coaches, even the women's coach.
So this leads me to the final "scapegoat" Bernie Gurr! What!! you say....the guys the best thing to happen post the renaissance!.... yes that's true! he did a great job...but did he finish it?
I blame Bernie because he recruited MON as a General Manager Football, a role that he showed was pretty toothless because BA's power was at its peak and he (BA) really was the guy, making the decisions on recruitment and retention. Yes the position (GM) was part of the review, but a more constructive process would have allowed the person to grow into the role where the structure allowed it to.
MON's went about his business developing pathways and faciltating people in lower level's behind First and Second Grade and executing signings made for him. Never really empowered in the primary sense..
Jim Saratinos inherited Bernie's role, Jim is obviously a fine administrator and financial manager.....as a CEO empowered to be much more decisive about football matters, he simply wasn't !
Based on his inexperience in that role which he basically stayed out of and during the initial period that he came in, he saw/ recognised that BA had things under control and was content to leave it at that.
Intelligent people do quickly learn just the same and all the time this was happening Jim was learning heaps about the football side and I can only presume making judgements of the relative incumbents. He never had the football background or experience that Bernie had, who would have maybe acted very differently if he chose to stay on.....he left for greener pastures in the states, but is to this day still a passionate Parramatta supporter.
So we were left with our primary scapegoats and to evaluate the thoughts that come through this forum, we need to understand better than we do that things are not as Black and White to just go out and attack individuals for the perception of their failures.
Too many people on here put themselves in a position of decision makers, whereas they have no real understanding of how business works or things happen, everyone is entitled to an opinion, not saying that, just saying that the intelligence and actual judgement of making these things happen are stuffed up in a lot of busineses without thinking the guys have no fcuking idea!
I can only think of our politicians in comparison, but just remember, you put them there as well!!!
I don't have the answers BTW but Iam writing this so an understanding of the pieces that make up the "Parra Lament" are understood better. Everyone seems to have the answers by "sacking MON and JS" without understanding how pieces fit and what needs to be done......My initial reaction is that MON needs to go, because his credibility has now got huge question marks and that JIM needs to stay as I think we need a CEO like him but with the understanding of having proper GM Football who reports through him.....the GM Football needs a lot of thought because I would actually have Ryles also reporting to him, with a clear defintion I might add. Obviously that person needs to be very "powerful" to command such a role!
An after thought by the way and not a recommendation, is that Jason Ryles could be a great GM Football and he appoints a coach to work under him! Early days for such a move, but I think that's where a lot of these processes need to head in the sense of how a coach is perceived......Foz's example of a coach and what he is achieving is an example that the modern day coach can keep it simple and the GM does the slogging!
An heirachel structure at Parra could be GM Football runs all Football Matters.....reports through CEO for Finance & Administration Matters...... . First Grade Coach reports through and appointed by GM Football,........ Manager Pathways and Administration reports through GM Football.
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No worries mate, I always enjoy your challenges and learn by them as well.
Blue Eel, your story about Brown and his manager laughing about clauses they had accepted does in fact suggest the negotiator made the wrong call. Fair point. But it also suggests Brown is telling fibs when he says it was not about the money. The club refused to increase his pay so he took those clauses and ran, and it is a bit too unbelievable those clauses were thus not thrown in originally to give himself the means to go after more money.
The other way of interpreting the Brown saga is that if he took what was already a SEVEN figure salary he had a contract until the end of 2031. That is a tremendoous commitment by the Eels as a club, and Brown dudded them for cash.
All true, disrespected the negotiator, disrespected the club. Its always about money and when it isn't , it is but they don't know it.
'Some people earn respect, some command it, some want it and never get it, others never want it and have it in bucketloads.
Blue Eel, the thought that kept coming back to me about Dylbag$ was that I didn't think the player options were clearly and simply bad negotiator failures. I understand they were weaponized and so we can now say "bad idea" (same Luai!). But the club basically said to Brown, at a young age, we know you're probably thinking "do I decide this huge future thing now". Brown was obviously immature at the time, just look at his later behaviour off field. So player optioins in a away were saying "we are placing some trust in your".
For those saying that is a crazy idea, why are platey options placing trust, well because an absolutely essential feature of trust relations are vulnerability relations. You want someone who you are not sure or know does not trust you to trust you? Be vulnerable to them. It's called a form of bootstrapping to get from no trust to trust. So the Eels were a bit vulnerable (player options), gave security to 2013 at seven figure amounts, and I think thery were saying to Brown that he could trust them. Brown then stabbed them in the eye.
If MON truly is just basically an EA / receptionist to the Head Coach as you describe Pops, then I hope he's on sub $60k/year because we could go grab someone straight out of Year 10 who would happily do that function for that pay.
MON is regarded by the agents as intelligent and approachable but with no final say or power. he is actually well respected.
That's not respect then Pops, that's indifference. This genuinely sounds like he's being treated like the receptionist. If MON has no power or say, I guarantee the Agents pay him the same lip service that you do the kid who takes your Starbucks order - smile, be nice, and forget them two minutes later.
From your description Pops it sounds like if we let MON go tomorrow, literally nothing of value would be lost (just forward his email, job done).
Cappy, you of all people are being disingenous.....receptionist/sub 60k/ year 10
Do you know a bus driver gets in excess of 100k a year now.....my guess would be that MON is probably on around 500k.....after that you could be expecting something more for a guy who acts no more than a conduit for all things football in the club but responds through to a coach who makes final decisions on the most important part of his activities.....I did say in the post how I was told it works, so I am not going repeat that.
Of course Cappy I would take a different stance and said I would not have placed him in that job, I won't repeat myself again because that was what the "scapegoat blog" was about.
"MON is regarded by the agents as intelligent and approachable but with no final say or power. he is actually well respected. " thats not respect Pop's that's indifference..... i.e apathy,unconcern, detachment, disregard, not caring. On that basis I don't think we are in aposition to make that judgement, if I thought he didn't care I would sack him tomorrow. Of course you are summising from what I said is the indifference comes from the agents....I didn't feel that in the communication.
One of the words alternatively to indifference could also be aloofness....I think my blog could be aloof and your commentary rhetorical..... does it change anything to the meaning of what i am trying to say in the manner of scapegoats not resting on single thing, but a combination of arriving at these conclusions with an alternative, which I admitted I don't have the answer for.
See I can sound like a politician and baffle brains with bullshit as well LOL
Lol, fair call. Showing my age Pops. With inflation nowadays I'm surprised if we could get a large pizza for $60k.
Hope the shoulder is healing well! Read my response to Daz below too - I think that hits the nail I was trying to hit. I agree Mark isn't solely responsible, but he is solely accountable as per his job description.
I'm a bit before that it's not the negotiation but as pointed out is a downfall but for me as a club who are we who do we want to be I continue to ask this question.When you see the eels play football across all grades what do we as a club stand for.I've asked myself this for years.What is the clubs identity whose responsible for that.
I went to my grandchild's school assembly the other day and had only ever been to one but I left there understanding who ran the show even though he said very little.He empowered his year 5s and 6s to run and adjudicate that assembly only ever spoke when he needed to and kept all 300 of his students in-line without saying a word unless really necessary.
I wanted to know more I got to talking to my grand daughters teacher and he mentioned the schools culture was everyone is inclusive zero bullying old look after young.The principal is out there in the rain making sure his kids can cross the road safely everydayrain wet or shine.He knows everyone of his kids by there first name.Spends an hour a day in every part of his school year 1 to year 6.No doubt about whose boss no doubt what he wants his school to look like and how he wants it run.Here's the kicker he's turned over 1 teacher in fifteen years they don't want to leave and the teacher that did leave retired.
I was taken a back how confident these kids were to stand up and perform tasks in front of an assembly of 300 & parents.All because of a leader at the top who understands how important that any of what we are talking about has to be driven from the head honcho no one else.
So I go back to my original point whose driving that here and is it coming from our leader/s of our club.
Richardson was appointed Tigers CEO in December 2023 (interim first 6 months then contracted to July 2028). The Tigers had won the spoon in 2022 and 2023 and they won it again in 2024. So Richardson's first year yielded another spoon.
Richardson started with a bang, signing Luia early 2024 for a 2025 start, and also recruited Jack Bird, Jeral Skelton, Royce Hunt, Sunia Turuva and Terrell May. In 2025 Richardson oversaw the Tigers losing Galvin and Da Silva, both of whom had been ear-marked as the Tigers future spine players, and in early 2026 Luia dumped the Tigers to sign for PNG in 2028, activating the player options Richardson left in his contract.
Oh and Richardson resigned from the Tigers in December 2025. The Tigers had finished 13th, behind the Eels 11th.
Anyone is free to claim Richardson is needed at the Eels but if we swapped "Eels" for "Tigers" in that short history then half of 1EE or at least every R&R Expert would be calling for Richardson's head! Or I can ask another way: if Richardson was Eels CEO and the Eels lost their first string and marque halfback, their chosen five-eight, and their future starting hooker, all in basically one season's worth of effort, what would most Eels fans say?
Ha Daz, I was hoping you would come into this blog as you have been quiet discerning in your own way about the "scapegoat" theory.....I am happy to apply it anywhere in this very appropriately titled "lament".....Oh there is that Hubris again, "will someone not rid me of that arrogant prick" ....Henry the second for the unwashed! Lol
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