Lee Hagipantelis admits that Wests Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe still has the "full support of the board" despite the club's poor performances in the last two seasons and the departure of Tim Sheens.
Hagipantelis' defence of Justin Pascoe, despite more than a decade of failure, which has yet to see the club reach the finals, comes after a banner reading 'End the Pascoe Fiasco' was taken down by security at their game against the Dolphins at CommBank Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
โJustin has the full support of the board,โ Tigers Chairman Lee Hagipantelis told The Daily Telegraph.
โI accept that he's been the CEO of a club that has performed poorly for a decade. That can't be denied, but is that sufficient grounds in itself?
"There's no argument Justin has been here a long time and we haven't had success for a long time. What role has Justin played? The board appoints and terminates coaches, not him. Recruitment and retention are the coaches.
โThe coaches made the decision to move (Jackson) Hastings on, not Justin or the board. He gets the blame for things in areas where he has no authority.
โThere are no assurances or guarantees in life, but at the moment Justin is fulfilling the expectations of the board in the role that he plays.โ
Speaking on himself, Hagipantelis revealed that he would not quit his position at the club until the Tigers reach premiership success
โUntil we see this through and enjoy premiership success, I'm not going anywhere,โ he added.
โI've never quit in my life. Getting the first wooden spoon in our history was bad enough, let alone compounding that with a second. We take heart that other clubs have managed to turn it around very quickly.
โThe Broncos won the wooden spoon in 2020. They made some strategic changes and now they are competing for a premiership. There's no reason to suggest we can't do that ourselves.โ
ABC Radio called the decision to remove the sign as “soft”. Hard not to agree.
We all know when a powerful group announces their leader has their “full support” it is the virtual signal that the knives are being sharpened. Happens in politics. Happens in criminal enterprises. Happens in corporate board rooms. We’ll see what “full support” means soon enough here.
As for this, โUntil we see this through and enjoy premiership success, I’m not going anywhere,โ what can you say? Said like someone who has organized a very safe little sinecure and whose ego outweighs logic and reality. On the positive side, he obviously expects to live a very long life!
The NRL really needs to step in and make an ultimatum. We have not got a presence in the biggest NRL nursery and growth area in Australia. Move to the Macarthur on a permanent basis or lose your NRL licence. If the Tigers refuse to comply, the licence will be offered to the Western Suburbs Magpies.
That is the elephant in the room. The one everyone associated with WT seems to want to avoid. The joint venture is being kept alive in this form seemingly only to provide very good livelihoods for certain people. The power structure and immovability would have made Mussolini proud.
As for blaming the coaches? What can you say? Who appoints the coaches? Who decided to make the position a convenient scapegoat and a revolving door?