Removal of Board

[absentee]

The thing about the independent directors is that they were willing to put their personal reputations on the line in order to do what they felt was best for the club.  Whether or not you agree with the court case, you have to admire that.  They have an emotional investment in the club that News Ltd does not and those are the kind of people I want in charge - or at least partially in charge.

[LESStar58]

You can't see the full document.  No one is allowed to see it because of legal reasons or so the Daily Telegraph tells us.  A copy of the released 12 pages (on Newlimited Letterhead) is on the Daily Telegraph/Herald Sun website and you can read that. 

I bet Bourbon Beccy has been privy to it's content given she is lima lima lima duck the boss of News.

[JAMIE]

Understand this LeSStar

The four directors are the voice of the members. Now you might not have agreed that court action was the right way to go, but I can assure you that you are in the minority. The majority of the members, as well as the players and coaching staff all wanted this. Don't forget that fact either - The playing group and coaching staff were all behind this. The four directors who indeed did out their reputations on the line were representing us. And of course themselves, because they love this footy club and they know, as most of do, that the process the NRL followed was flawed. Of course News Ltd were going to back the NRL for reasons stated in ealier posts, and they advised the directors to drop it. But the directors showed mettle and a driven desire fueld by the fans and players culminated in them launching legal action. They represented me but now they've been sacked, so as a member -I will now represent them.
Believe me, this isn't over by a long shot, and News Ltd, know it.
Monday August 2nd - We'll all be at court. I suggest you join me.

[LESStar58]

Understand this LeSStar

The four directors are the voice of the members. Now you might not have agreed that court action was the right way to go, but I can assure you that you are in the minority. The majority of the members, as well as the players and coaching staff all wanted this. Don't forget that fact either - The playing group and coaching staff were all behind this. The four directors who indeed did out their reputations on the line were representing us. And of course themselves, because they love this footy club and they know, as most of do, that the process the NRL followed was flawed. Of course News Ltd were going to back the NRL for reasons stated in ealier posts, and they advised the directors to drop it. But the directors showed mettle and a driven desire fueld by the fans and players culminated in them launching legal action. They represented me but now they've been sacked, so as a member -I will now represent them.
Believe me, this isn't over by a long shot, and News Ltd, know it.
Monday August 2nd - We'll all be at court. I suggest you join me.

Jamie;

First of all, champ; I love this club as much as you or anybody else. Second of all, fair play to the the (ex) independent directors for having the balls to take it as far as they did. I may not have supported the action but I was prepared to tilt my hat to Moodie and co. for taking the fight to News and the NRL.

Again mate; in my opinion the best thing that could have come out of the independent directors winning the court case was that the NRL's review process would have to start again. I didn't agree with it because it simply would have meant the process stareting again even though the end rseult would not have changed i.e. the stipping of our 2007 and 2009 titlles.

I'm not a lima lima lima duck idiot;

* News half own the NRL
* News own the Melbourne Storm

Is there a major conflict of interest? lima lima lima duck YES! I'm the first to acknowledge it.

My point is that as long as this conflict exists News' hand will remain invisible. They can put as much spin on this as Shane Warne can a flipper to hide their involvement.

I'm of the opinion that News had to have SOME knowledge (and maybe some CO-OPERATION) of this whole thing prior to 22/4 but as long as they control our club and half the competition we compete in we will never know the full truth as they are worried about their "corporate image". They cpntrol the biggest meida empire in the world. They can spin it however they want. This comes back to the point I made earlier and in other posts about News invovlement in the game stunting the code's growth and development; as long as this conflict of interest exits rugby league as a whole will suffer.

I've lived and breathed this game from birth and I feel for the rugby league communty as a whole.  Let's not beat around the bush here; us Storm fans are hurt by this because our titles have been taken away. But I've had a long enough affinity with this game to acknowledge that a lot of supporters of other clubs are affected by this whole lima lima lima duck up scenario as well.

It's not that I'm a pessimist, it's just that I'm a realist. If (and it's a MASSIVE if) by some chance we are offically awarded our tiles back I'll dance a feckin' jig in a fecking kilt on halfway at AAMI Park  as pre-match entertainment for our first home game of 2011 but as long as News have the ability to control what is made public I reckon we just have to take our medicine...for now anyway.

[Surandy]

All I can say is thank lima lima lima duck for Fairfax and The Age!

At least we can read about the bullshit and lies that Hartigan & Co are spinning us.

The independent directors were sacked for one reason and one reason only. To scuttle their court action on behalf of the club and members. The ex-directors had shown that they were prepared to pursue documents to support their cause, eg emails from Gallop and others.

Rest assured that they would have fought tooth and nail for the full report from Deloitte to be included in the court case. I am strongly of the belief that this went much higher than Waldron. Idiots like Paul Kent and Warren Smith keep harping on that the players must have known, if ANYONE knew the surely the Chief Financial Officer of News Ltd must have known that things weren't right with the Storm's accounts and should have reported this to his boss, John Hartigan.

John Hartigan says that this goes right to the top, the board is not the top dickhead! YOU ARE! So sack yourself!!!

[Stormtrooper9]

Completley agree, Dr Rob Moodie, Peter Maher, Gerry Ryan and Petra Fawcett all thoroughly deserved there spot on the board. The fact News LMT sacked them because of a pis* weak and pathetic excuse that they weren't trying to rebuild this great club is a JOKE !!

Those 4 directors, have bled purple throughout this debacle, and to sack them now, in particular when there innocent, reinforces the fact it's a JOKE !! They were sacked so that this tirade against the NRL would be dropped and now that it has been re-instate all 4 of them.

The Storm require whole-hearted board members whom will stick by them through thick and thin; Dr Rob Moodie, Peter Maher, Gerry Ryan and Petra Fawcett know all about the highs and lows of the Storm, therefore are the perfect candidates, and we should GET THEM BACK.

[LESStar58]

All I can say is thank *LIMA LIMA LIMA DUCK!* for Fairfax and The Age!

At least we can read about the bullshit and lies that Hartigan & Co are spinning us.

The independent directors were sacked for one reason and one reason only. To scuttle their court action on behalf of the club and members. The ex-directors had shown that they were prepared to pursue documents to support their cause, eg emails from Gallop and others.

Rest assured that they would have fought tooth and nail for the full report from Deloitte to be included in the court case. I am strongly of the belief that this went much higher than Waldron. Idiots like Paul Kent and Warren Smith keep harping on that the players must have known, if ANYONE knew the surely the Chief Financial Officer of News Ltd must have known that things weren't right with the Storm's accounts and should have reported this to his boss, John Hartigan.

John Hartigan says that this goes right to the top, the board is not the top dickhead! YOU ARE! So sack yourself!!!

I cannot agree more. I've said from day 1 that somebody at News or the subsidiary that owns should have picked up on somethign like the payments for the marquee "hire". Surely someone at News must have thought "wait a minute; we're meant to get this for free. Why are payments being made?" and investigated.

It's blatant incompetence and I reckon a few heads were rolling at News/subsidiary as a reult of this whole mess.

[JAMIE]

Leestar, if you're a realist, i would hope you'd be of the understanding of the following:

Melbourne Storm cannot continue with News Ltd owning the entire club and being solely responsible for the day to day running of the entire brand which is the Melbourne Storm. If this does continue, our club as much as it pains me to say it, will fold. The only hope for us in my opinion and with all the research I've done is if News Ltd see that the members of this club are indeed all so insensed with the News Ltd brand, that it starts to hurt it's public image. That would give them a valid reason for getting out, and then someone who loves this club could buy it and run it with the passion and a desire for success.

Many would be concerned about the financial state, due to news Ltd covering our large debt. But remember this - With the new TV deal set to be the largest recorded for any Australian sport, then our club would have secure funding for many years to come.

All I ask from members is to think long and hard, because this in my opinion is the most critical time in our club's history, and we, as members, can get the Melbourne Storm to where it needs to be.

[absentee]

Here's something I came across earlier - in The Age, no less.

-

Maher yesterday said the four directors that were removed by Storm owner News Ltd on Thursday accepted responsibility for allowing the large-scale salary cap breaches under their watch since 2006. However, he said each board member had specific responsibilities and it was Watt and Stanton, who have been retained as directors, who handled the financial aspects of the club. Maher has previously called for the pair to be sacked.

''Of course you've got to take responsibility, but there were specific roles and people like Watt and Stanton looked after the financial aspect of it,'' Maher said. ''The internal and external audits were their role. We all had our specific roles but we can't abdicate our responsibilities.''

News Ltd head of corporate affairs Greg Baxter countered by questioning Maher's credibility.

''If you're on a board of a company then you each have the same responsibility as the other directors for making sure that the governance aspects were appropriate in all aspects,'' Baxter said.

''I think he's looking around for all sorts of excuses to try and point the finger at other people, he has some serious questions to answer himself.''

http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-league/l ... 10e9a.html

-

So if Baxter says that all members of the board have the same responsibility, why wasn't the entire board sacked?

[JAMIE]

We have posted this very question all over our facebook pages. Very good article by Fairfax media.

[CooperCronk]

Excuse my ignorance, but as I understand it News Ltd. who own the Storm have a licence for the Storm to play in the NRL, which of course means they can choose to do with it as they like i.e. sell the brand, move it to another state etc.

Baxter said News would support the Storm for at least 2 more years.....then what?

[Blitzkrieg]

All I can say is thank *LIMA LIMA LIMA DUCK!* for Fairfax and The Age!

At least we can read about the bullshit and lies that Hartigan & Co are spinning us.

The independent directors were sacked for one reason and one reason only. To scuttle their court action on behalf of the club and members. The ex-directors had shown that they were prepared to pursue documents to support their cause, eg emails from Gallop and others.

Rest assured that they would have fought tooth and nail for the full report from Deloitte to be included in the court case. I am strongly of the belief that this went much higher than Waldron. Idiots like Paul Kent and Warren Smith keep harping on that the players must have known, if ANYONE knew the surely the Chief Financial Officer of News Ltd must have known that things weren't right with the Storm's accounts and should have reported this to his boss, John Hartigan.

John Hartigan says that this goes right to the top, the board is not the top dickhead! YOU ARE! So sack yourself!!!

So glad I took Media Studies at school many years ago & learned a lot about media ownership, but that's another story...

No one can deny that Moodie, Ryan, Maher & Fawcett were the only four members on the board who actually gave a flying lima lima lima duck about the club, the players, the fans. And they got punted - for what? Because they dared to speak out against the almighty Nazis UnLtd, knowing that to do so was to greatly jeopardise their positions on the Storm board.

And for showing such determination and courage to stand up to what is effectively a FASCIST REGIME, the four former directors are to be loudly and wholeheartedly applauded!

Seriously, Nazis UnLtd might as well have hired four cardboard cutouts as replacements & stuck Rupert Murdoch's face on each of them!!!

And of course that Nazis UnLtd. stooge Baxter is indulging in typical Murdoch-esque character assasination bullshit against the credibility of the ex-directors (specifically Maher in this case).

It all sounds very Orwellian to me... he probably would've written something like, "The two aims of News Ltd. are to conquer the whole administration of rugby league, and to extinguish once and for all the possibilty of independent board members."

lima lima lima duck NEWS LTD TO THEIR FUGLY FACES!!! FASCIST BULLIES, ALL OF THEM!!! THEY CAN ALL GO TO HELL!!!