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Sharp reneged on BA extensions 3 times in 2 years.

Posted by Patsy Stone on May 4, 2016 at 8:38pm
By ANDREW WEBSTER How Eels can make playoffs Gould: What have we learned from Eels scandal Brad Arthur stands as the only man who can drag Parramatta out of this mess. It will comfort Eels fans to know he is also the best man. Why? He puts the club before himself. Advertisement Blue and gold heart: Brad Arthur. Blue and gold heart: Brad Arthur.Photo: Brendan Esposito Arthur does not like chairman Steve Sharp and when you learn Eels management has reneged on contract extensions with Arthur three times in the past two years you can understand why. No, that's not a typo. Three times. Wiser – or stubborner – men would have walked away the first time. On two occasions, he's had significant and more lucrative opportunities to coach elsewhere. The first was at the Dragons late in 2014 when the joint venture was uncertain about whether to give the job to caretaker coach Paul McGregor. The second was at Manly at the start of last year when Geoff Toovey was already on the nose and the Sea Eagles were desperate to keep off-contract stars Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran, both of whom had been coached by Arthur when he was an assistant at Brookvale. Arthur was seen as the silver bullet to all of Manly's problems. The Sea Eagles will deny it but there was $1 million waiting for him on the northern beaches. He just had to say yes. In the end, Manly didn't even get to meet him – just as the Dragons hadn't. And, in the end, despite Sharp looking Arthur in the eye and shaking on a contract extension, and despite a new deal being nutted out on a whiteboard in the office of former chief executive Scott Seward, Arthur signed a contract extension that was only slightly better than the $370,000-a-season he has been on and much less than the $500,000-a-season he had been promised. Arthur doesn't want to coach any other club. Not Manly nor the Dragons nor the Denver Broncos. He only wants to coach Parramatta, and he'll do it for less than he could get elsewhere or even what he's been promised in the first place. This is why he's the best man Parramatta have right now. On Wednesday, the 41-year-old missed the NRL coaches meeting at League Central to focus on cutting $570,000 out of the Eels' 2016 salary cap. Gripes about The Bunker and obstruction interpretation suddenly seem insignificant. Arthur didn't bitch and moan like other coaches might after learning his side had lost all of its 12 competition points for this season and wouldn't play for anymore until Parramatta's cap is in order. Instead, he was already talking up a Leicester City-like miracle. "There's still a bit of hope they are hanging on to," he said. "We have 15 games, we have to win 12 of them." Those who know Arthur are not the least surprised. His work ethic is legendary. According to those at the club, he hasn't had a day off since November. He doesn't watch his players do wrestling sessions – he does them with them. He learnt that from the best. When he was an under-20s and assistant coach at Melbourne under Craig Bellamy, the players nicknamed him "Tummyache" – a younger version of Bellamy, who is better known as "Bellyache". But ahead of all that comes the simple fact he bleeds blue and gold. A Seven Hills junior and then lower grader at the Eels, he watched Parra legends of the past from behind the picket fence at Cumberland Oval with his grandmother. On Tuesday afternoon, with his side's season in tatters, he was at Rouse Hill coaching junior footy. He bleeds blue and gold even if his club keeps punching him in the head. Sharp has barely made a right move since he became chairman but thankfully he fell arse backwards into getting the right coach. In late 2013, he and his board were so certain that Jason Taylor was going to be their man they asked him to record a video message for the fans. Then Taylor learned that former Eels coach Daniel Anderson was about to be appointed as director of football over the top of him and the deal was off. Arthur was sipping Bintangs in a pool in Bali when Sharp phoned and told him the job was now his. Since then, Arthur has been forced to endure more than most coaches should have to deal with – not least with the dark shadow of Anderson hanging over him in the background, waiting for an opportunity to become head coach once more. Arthur is one of the most intriguing coaches in the game. In the first two seasons, some players reported that he was too hard on them. Whenever this was suggested in print, Arthur would be on the phone and asking where it had come from. But, in the main, the players love him. Foran had every right to walk away from his deal with Parramatta last year when a $1 million get-out clause was withdrawn from his contract, but he kept his bargain out of respect to Arthur. "We went close to getting Kieran to stay," says one Sea Eagles insider. "But there was one thing we couldn't offer him – Brad Arthur." I texted Arthur on Wednesday about talking for this story and late in the day he texted back. "Very sorry, mate," he said. "I appreciate your opinion but it's not about me and never will be." And, like we didn't already know, Arthur showed why he's the best man for the job.
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  • Bruno May 4, 2016 at 8:41pm

    Ah here it is. I just posted the same article. This is the clearest picture yet, in my view, of the machinations and personalities at play in this sorry saga.

  • Cranky Brad is here!!! May 4, 2016 at 8:49pm
    I did feel that Sharp and the rest were just getting slaughtered by the media. Since now they have been proven guilty what a group of fuckwit. I backed them until proven guilty because I personally more so hoped that these tossers would always put the club first. Then to see this the one man in years that has single handily trying to build a unbelievable team not a frigging contract extension is the icing on the cake for me. If them 5 germs do try and stay on the board and we don't earn points for our wins then I'll be coming on a man hunt for your heads you fuckwit.
  • Yoshi May 4, 2016 at 9:00pm

    The beauty of this article is only matched by how tragic it is. Arthur's our guy, deserves way better treatment than this. I loved that the first thing he spoke about was 12 out of 15. Arthur wants finals footy and he wants a premiership, nothing else.

    Hearing that he's rejected huge money to stay shows how much he believes in and loves this team.

  • Rosemont May 4, 2016 at 9:24pm
    The agenda against the board is rolling. Arthur wants them gone simple as that. So does everyone else well mostly everyone. How bout all you fools that stuck up for Sharp gee so gullible. The media hates us boo hoo. Wake up and see what everyone else sees. Arthur deserves more coin but Sharp only spends it on himself what a wanker.
  • Snakey - Sack Dylan Brown May 4, 2016 at 11:54pm

    We need to double BAs contract TOMORROW, make that the first thing that any new caretakers or CEO do.

    If he is on 400k, GIVE HIM 800K TOMORROW.

  • Frank The Tank May 4, 2016 at 11:56pm
    Well you can't blame Sharp for doing that at the time.
    1st get the results then we will show you the money.
    As it currently stands BA deserves his pay increase now and a huge contract extension. Sharp should've got this done before this cap shit started.
  • Snakey - Sack Dylan Brown May 5, 2016 at 12:11am

    bwahahaha, ''here lies the dope who called Brad Arthur a bush coach'' hahaha

  • The Captain May 5, 2016 at 6:25am
    Coaches typically get pay increases and contract extensions when they show results on the field.

    I'm a huge BA fan and have been since the beginning, but he's yet to prove himself as a coach of the highest level. Don't get me wrong, he's on the right track... But we haven't played finals football yet. Not once. This year we've showed massive improvement but a lot of that has come from recruitment (take out Foran, Scott, Gordon and Jennings - do we still win as many games?). Those guys were all proven products before we got them.

    As for the contract talk, BA would know as much as anyone if it ain't written down it ain't worth jack. Nothing is an offer until it's in writing.

    This just comes across as a character assassination piece on Sharp. And it's full of unverifiable information printed as fact. It'd be nice if we could have some shades of grey in our black and white thinking... The world isn't made up of goodies and baddies.
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