Where to From Here? Let's Plan for 2021

[Thelmus]

My problem wasn't so much the decision (everyone makes mistakes), but the convoluted and frankly less than professional way they went about it.
To pretend there was anyone else in mind with interviews that lead nowhere, works of missdirection to all and sundry, and the lousy communication they had with players and staff, seemed thoroughly unprofessional, and bordered on a personal vendetta between Bennet and others.
If they do sack siebold, which I guess (like everyone else) is a matter of when, not if, they are upfront about it and hold him to predetermined expectations of success.
If as it sounds, they are backing him on some grand 5 year scheme, only to abandon it when it is inconvenient, they best follow him out the door.
One thing that needs to be demonstrated is honesty within any worthwhile working relationship. It has been called into question once. They should not be another.

 

[Kooly87]

in seibs case, they had a sub-commitee (made up of White, Morris and Lockyer) that made the recommendation to the board.

 

[The Strapper]

the board selects the coach.

in seibs case, they had a sub-commitee (made up of White, Morris and Lockyer) that made the recommendation to the board.

I don't know if it needs to be unanimous

So does this also apply to sacking the coach?
Did white, Morris and Lockyer make a recommendation to do that or because it appeared to happen so fast did just one person do it?

 

[1910]

It shouldn't ever come down to the owners needing to kick in a few bucks because we operate profitably year on year with a budget in excess of 50 million dollars annually (2020 aside) while the Storm, like basically every other club, aren't even remotely in the same ballpark financially.

We absolutely SHOULD have the highest paid and best Coach in the game because we operate the biggest budget by light years. Failing to use that budget correctly to recruit the absolute very best person in what is almost certainly the single most critical role in the entire club is simply inexcusable and without doubt just utterly dire management. If Melbourne could afford Bellamy and the success he brings without going balls up financially, then simple maths tells you we could have absorbed it like a blip on the radar.

Craig Bellamy is still in Melbourne because when the whips we're cracking they were run by better people who were more effective at getting the job done and getting their man, despite our ridiculous financial advantage over them.That fact is simply inexcusable and an indictment on the people running the Broncos.

I keep reading this Broncos can afford anything and can outbid anyone- this is the same club that just sacked 24 people because they couldn't afford to pay them.

If the Broncos, financial advantage was so strong, wouldn't they have sent those 24 people home- come back in May guys no problems?

 

[Kooly87]

I keep reading this Broncos can afford anything and can outbid anyone- this is the same club that just sacked 24 people because they couldn't afford to pay them.

If the Broncos, financial advantage was so strong, wouldn't they have sent those 24 people home- come back in May guys no problems?

Yes, right, their football department budget back in 2018 when they were making these decisions, a time where we were showing solid financial growth, banking record profits and enjoying record turnover, needed to be more conservative and skimp on the most critical staff appointment in the organisation because in two years down we knew there was going to be a stunning shutdown of the global economy for a health crisis that shut the game down and required us to lay off some staff. That seems logical.

You're point is a bizzare one to lean on anyway because relative to basically every other club in the game, even considering those layoffs our ability to financially withstand COVID is likely to be many, many levels greater than every rival club in the game, which only reinforces just how much financial might we have compared to the other 15 clubs.

Sorry, but if you're hearing 'Broncos can afford anything' then you've over-dramatised what I actually said. No football club can afford literally anything. But if you heard 'we can outbid anyone else in the game' then yes, on every possible financial metric that would likely be correct because our financials suggest we are several leagues in front of even our closest rival financially.

 

[1910]

Yes, right, their football department budget back in 2018 when they were making these decisions, a time where we were showing solid financial growth, banking record profits and enjoying record turnover, needed to be more conservative because we fast forward two years down the track to a stunning shutdown of the global economy for a health crisis that requires us to lay off some staff. That seems logical.

You're point is an bizzare one to lean on anyway because relative to basically every other club in the game, even considering those layoffs our ability to financially withstand COVID is likely to be many, many levels greater than every rival club in the game, which only reinforces just how much financial might we have compared to the other 15 clubs.

Seems pretty logical to me, if money was no object then I wouldn't expect a business to sack 24 people two hours after a shut down. I would expect 0 people leaving.

Your whole argument is based on Broncos can afford anything. I am not pretending to be business minded but seems to me 24 staff being sacked would mean you can't afford anything.

 

[Kooly87]

Seems pretty logical to me, if money was no object then I wouldn't expect a business to sack 24 people two hours after a shut down. Your whole argument is based on Broncos can afford anything. I am not pretending to be business minded but seems to me 24 staff being sacked would mean you can't afford anything.

I've never once said we could afford anything. Again, you've mis-represented what I said and gone with hyperbole instead.

What I said, nothing more and nothing less, is that as the richest club in the game by absolute miles, at a time (2018) when we were year on year growing and generating record revenue figures and turnover, we could quite comfortably have afforded to pay much more than Melbourne did to get the very best Coach in the game, which until the most recent decade or so, was something the Broncos ALWAYS did. Happened to coincide with the era where we nearly always won too. Funny thing that.

Yes, the pandemic hurt us, like it hurt all clubs. Luckily, with shed loads of financial clout up our sleeve, we'll absorb it far better than basically all our rivals, which really only reinforces my point. I'm not sure what 24 people represents in our overall staff numbers, but I bet it's a far better outcome than the other clubs in the game endured operationally.

I still honestly see absolutely no reason why an event in 2020 should have had any bearing on what was a prudent and sound investment in the club's future back in 2018. To make it clear how absurd you bringing it into the conversation is: Had the pandemic had never happened and we almost certainly went through 2020 as another year where the club operated with solid profits, would you still consider skimping on Craig Bellamy to have been a good decision?

I'm not suggesting we're Man City rich, flying our guys around in private jets because we obviously aren't, but nor do we need to be, because as the biggest fish by a long way in a very, very small pond, we only need to be richer than the Bulldogs or the Dragons or the Storm etc.

 

[broncsgoat]

If you are hoping that Ikin will come in and immediately sack Seibold, it would be foolish to get your hopes up because:

1) he hasn't actually got the job yet
2) he won't have any more power to hire/fire coaches than Paul White does
3) even he has said he won't immediately make changes until he is inside the organisation to see what changes are needed (and it may not be all seibs fault)
4) even if he does manage to have seibs sacked, there is a better than good chance the job will go to Paul Green (good mates with both Ikin and Lockyer) and he spent 2.5 years propping up the table before he "walked"

It doesn’t matter who comes in, they will want to fire seibola and the board won’t oppose them. We’re about to go through a season winning 3 of 20 games. There is literally no argument anyone could make to defend keeping him on board.

 

[Sproj]

It doesn’t matter who comes in, they will want to fire seibola and the board won’t oppose them. We’re about to go through a season winning 3 of 20 games. There is literally no argument anyone could make to defend keeping him on board.

Except THE board who are responsible for bring him on board and keeping him on board while the boats are burning.

 

[1910]

I've never once said we could afford anything. Again, you've mis-represented what I said and gone with hyperbole instead.

What I said, nothing more and nothing less, is that as the richest club in the game by absolute miles, at a time (2018) when we were year on year growing and generating record revenue figures and turnover, we could quite comfortably have afforded to pay much more than Melbourne did to get the very best Coach in the game, which until the most recent decade or so, was something the Broncos ALWAYS did. Happened to coincide with the era where we nearly always won too. Funny thing that.

Yes, the pandemic hurt us, like it hurt all clubs. Luckily, with shed loads of financial clout up our sleeve, we'll absorb it far better than basically all our rivals. I still see absolutely no reason why an event in 2020 should have had any baring on what was a prudent and sound investment in the club's future back in 2018. To make it clear how absurd you bringing it into the conversation is: Had the pandemic had never happened and we almost certainly went through 2020 as another year where the club operated with solid profits, would you still consider skimping on Craig Bellamy to have been a good decision?

I'm not suggesting we're Man City rich flying our guys around in private jets because we obviously aren't, but nor do we need to be, because as the biggest fish in a very, very small pond, we only need to be richer than the Bulldogs or the Dragons or the Storm etc.

An event in 2020 doesn't have any bearing on 2018 but what it shows is that the financial strength is not what you think it is for the football club. The football club would have been in a better financial situation in March 2020 than 2018 yet come 2020 they had to get rid of people. I don't think it's the rivers of gold you think and to highlight that I am using 24 staff being sacked.

I wouldn't skimp on a coach, but I think a million for the top coach is the limit in Australian sport and if the Broncos offered a million and Storm offered a million and he took Storm well then nothing you can do.

 

[Cult]

I keep reading this Broncos can afford anything and can outbid anyone- this is the same club that just sacked 24 people because they couldn't afford to pay them.

If the Broncos, financial advantage was so strong, wouldn't they have sent those 24 people home- come back in May guys no problems?

I get what you're implying, but wouldn't it be terrible business to continue paying 24 people who aren't allowed to show up to work for a few months? Were they even allowed to return in May? Did they know May was going to be when they could return? How would you know the funds the club has? Don't you work for the Jets? They're not even involved with the Broncos anymore, so are you still "in the know"?

 

[Gaz]

Regardless of current funds they are not offering to refund any 2020 seating tickets. Transferring to next year is the only option. So I guess it’s use it or lose it.

 

[Kooly87]

An event in 2020 doesn't have any bearing on 2018 but what it shows is that the financial strength is not what you think it is for the football club. The football club would have been in a better financial situation in March 2020 than 2018 yet come 2020 they had to get rid of people. I don't think it's the rivers of gold you think and to highlight that I am using 24 staff being sacked.

I wouldn't skimp on a coach, but I think a million for the top coach is the limit in Australian sport and if the Broncos offered a million and Storm offered a million and he took Storm well then nothing you can do.

I feel I'm being completely realistic in our limitations. $50 million plus dollars a year in turnover is almost entirely contingent on Rugby League and the NRL being a going concern, and yes, in March this year that was looking very much a like dubious prospect. I think it's fair to say at that stage there was a reasonable chance no more football would be played this year. As I said, we're not Man City rich, and with no NRL we likely couldn't pay our wages, much less be splurging on Coaches, so of course staff will need to be let go. But given these are absolutely extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances, I'm not sure they are something we should be using as any sort of yardstick for what the Broncos can or cannot afford under normal circumstances.

I guess I'm in the minority in that I see absolutely no reason why a million dollars should be any sort of ceiling for Coaching payments. Personally, I'd argue it's the most critical role in the entire organisation and along with the CEO, it's probably one of TWO positions you absolutely shouldn't be looking to keep a lid on costs on.

Simple economics would say that it's an odd thing to put a ceiling on. There are dozens of million dollar players available. In fact, there are probably at least one dozen guys who earn even more than that. Every single club has at least one million dollar player and many clubs have several. Compare that to elite Coaches, of which there are what, 3-4 maybe anywhere in the market? If you want the very best, the pool of talent is tiny by comparison to players and if you want to take the very best one from his presumably content employment in his current role, you almost certainly will need to put up the cash. If Bellamy had cost us $1.5 million back in 2018 the budget would barely have moved for us in the scheme of our overall turnover. In fact it would honestly have likely paid for itself in greater on field results which in tune drive greater financial results for the club.

Even at $2 million a season we might have noticed the costs a little more and I could see that getting some opposition from the bean counters, but it is still quite unlikely to be crippling to a club that turns over in excess of $50 million dollars a year and does so profitably year on year on year for decades now (one off, global catastrophe random events aside). In fact, given we profitably turn over almost twice what Melbourne do on annual basis, the Broncos paying a crazy figure like $2 million dollars for Bellamy is as a percentage of our overall operating costs almost exactly the SAME as Melbourne managing to sustain themselves all these years while paying him $1 million a season.

 

[The Strapper]

Regardless of current funds they are not offering to refund any 2020 seating tickets. Transferring to next year is the only option. So I guess it’s use it or lose it.

Currently you can get a ticket for the St. George game for $20 behind the goalposts.
I'll bet that is cheaper than the equivalent price for a season ticket for that area this year.
I will be very pissed off if that price structure continues next season and I have ended up paying more for my season ticket than I would have just buying tickets individually for each game.
If that happens the least the broncos could do is refund the difference otherwise it will be the last season ticket I buy.

 

[Kooly87]

Currently you can get a ticket for the St. George game for $20 behind the goalposts.
I'll bet that is cheaper than the equivalent price for a season ticket for that area this year.
I will be very pissed off if that price structure continues next season and I have ended up paying more for my season ticket than I would have just buying tickets individually for each game.
If that happens the least the broncos could do is refund the difference otherwise it will be the last season ticket I buy.

What on Earth up to this point has given you the impression that the Broncos are going to be remotely interested in you and your situation as a fan?

This is a club who just hosted an AGM that would embarrass most junior club chook raffles in it's lack of professionalism. A club who left several of its prominent shareholders publicly bagging them for a total lack of interest or accountability for recent performance and for making them feel like they were being ignored. Tell me, If the guys who have put hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars into the place feel like they're being ignored, what possible hope do you think the average fan or member has for being heard and their concerns addressed?

 

[The Strapper]

What on Earth up to this point has given you the impression that the Broncos are going to be remotely interested in you and your situation as a fan?

This is a club who just hosted an AGM that would embarrass most junior club chook raffles in it's lack of professionalism. A club who left several of its prominent shareholders publicly bagging them for a total lack of interest or accountability for recent performance and for making them feel like they were being ignored. Tell me, If the guys who have put hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars into the place feel like they're being ignored, what possible hope do you think the average fan or member has for being heard and their concerns addressed?

Well I guess I am just hoping that maybe with all the other shit that is going on they don’t want to financially piss off 20k or so members on top of everything else.
Most of us are already pissed of by on and off field performances we don’t need to be kicked in the wallet as well.

 

[Kooly87]

Well I guess I am just hoping that maybe with all the other shit that is going on they don’t want to financially piss off 20k or so members on top of everything else.
Most of us are already pissed of by on and off field performances we don’t need to be kicked in the wallet as well.

Unfortunately mate I think you’re about to be left bitterly disappointed then.

 

[Mustafur]

This club needs a coup d'etat.