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.
“Justin has the full support of the board,” Tigers Chairman Lee Hagipantelis told The Daily Telegraph.
“I 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.
“The 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.
“There 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.”
Speaking on himself, Hagipantelis revealed that he would not quit his position at the club until the Tigers reach premiership success
“Until we see this through and enjoy premiership success, I'm not going anywhere,” he added.
“I'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.
“The 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.”