New Parramatta chief executive officer John Boulous has assured long-suffering fans that steps have been taken to ensure the bungled contract negotiations with Kieran Foran won't be repeated, promising "this will never happen again".
The development comes as Beau Scott's manager called a meeting with Eels officials to express his concerns about third-party arrangements surrounding his transfer, although the club is confident the matter will be resolved soon.
Boulous was reluctant to comment on the latest machinations, as the Foran situation was the remit of Parramatta's general manager of football, Daniel Anderson. But in his first interview since taking arguably the toughest job in Australian sport, Boulous said the club had agreed upon protocols to ensure there would not be a repeat.
"We will learn from this," Boulous told Fairfax Media. "Operationally, we are now set up better and we will certainly move through it.
"The structure we have put in place from here on is one where Daniel will be looking after [retention and recruitment] in his role of head of football operations, in conjunction with the appropriate committee in relation to all football responsibilities that sat within the CEO's office.
"It will streamline communication and allow a very consistent approach to the way we operate in the football side of the business. We also have the appropriate processes and approvals coming back to the board.
"Our role is to rebuild, learn from this and give our members and fans plenty of confidence this will never happen again.
"It has been a tough week but rest assured that, as an organisation, we are committed to working through it, learning from it and continuing to be a club the members and fans can be extremely proud of."
Knights recruit Scott has signed for next season, but his agent is concerned about third-party aspects of the deal, particularly given revelations several Eels haven't been paid their third party agreement entitlements. The matter will be discussed at a meeting with Anderson in coming days.
"Unfortunately, things like [the Foran contract bungle] happen, which we would prefer not happen, but it's what we learn from this and take out of it that counts. That's what we want to assure members and fans of. We're in a position where we will take this on board and use it to get stronger as a club."
Boulous said initiatives such as increasingly sending players into the community – Eels stars mixed with junior clubs throughout the week – would ensure the ties with fans remained as strong as ever.
"It's taken a few knocks, but it's a very resilient brand," he said. "We've been around since 1947 and will continue to be.
"We've got a resilient bunch of members and fans and the thing I want to get across is that our players and office is working hard to make everyone proud of it."
Replies
The amount of "management speak" has me very worried
Hey John, enough dribbling from you, just get the Foran deal over the line mate, do what ever you have to do but just get it done mate.
Thanks for letting us know we're going to learn from it John, who would have thought we would learn from it?
Is this all this blokes got to say for his first interview?
Whatever it takes, Snake? That's what caused this fucking mess. If Foran won't come for a fair price then he's better off not coming at all.
Unfortunately Snake they did whatever to seal the deal by inserting an absolutely ridiculous clause that was suggested by his manager no doubt. I'm over it, either Foran comes or he doesn't I don't care, but he was complicit in this farce! He walks away with shit all over the club (and rightly so for agreeing to the clause) but no shit on him!
Im talking about sexual favours Pou.....
As long as they don't count under the cap.
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