Manly chairman Scott Penn says chief executive David Perry and the club's board will continue with their plan for the future, even after dual premiership-winning coach Des Hasler dropped a bombshell by confirming he will walk out on the club to join Canterbury after next season.
Penn says the board was unanimous in their wish to re-sign Hasler, despite allegations a board member viewed the man, praised by some as the greatest coach in the club's history, as "replaceable."
Hasler took the extraordinary step on Saturday of detailing his disagreement with the board as the reason for taking up a four-year deal with the Bulldogs from 2013
"Despite my discussions with the board for over 12 months regarding a new contract with the Manly club, we simply couldn't align our future thoughts," Hasler said in a press release issued from his personal email address.
Penn wouldn't comment on Hasler's feud with certain board members but was adamant there was no one at the club who didn't want Hasler to remain as coach.
Penn also backed Perry to continue in his role.
"Absolutely, he's here to do a job that's for sure and obviously he's had a pretty tough initiation but he's up for the challenge and we've got a big job to do," Penn told AAP.
"I can't comment for individuals, the board is a somewhat unusual board given its shareholder representation so (in the majority) it's not a voted on board and everyone's entitled to their opinion.
"But I think to be fair on retaining Des, everyone was on alignment in trying to retain him, there was no confusion in that sense, we were doing everything we could to retain him."
Former Manly media manager and club stalwart Peter Peters pointed the finger at the board and Perry in a radio interview on Saturday for "purporting" to be Hasler's friends.
"I told this guy, 'you might know your business but I know football and I know Des Hasler is irreplaceable at the Manly Sea Eagles,'" Peters, who was forced out of the club before the finals, told Triple M.
"He looked at me in the eye and he said, 'nobody is irreplaceable.'
"Some people in clubs don't like powerful people and Des is all powerful.
"Some people purporting to be his friends are not his friends and Des knew that, he's a smart man.
"He's told everyone that he wants to move on because he thinks there are problems in administration there."
Asked if he was referring to the board and CEO, Perry, Peters said: "Exactly."
Peters said Hasler's main gripe was the board's insistence last year he meet key performance indicators, despite the fact he's guided Manly to the finals for seven straight years.
Penn declined to comment on the KPI's, but said the main reason why Manly came late with an offer was because of the significant financial pressure the club was suffering.
Penn said they had no hesitation in retaining Hasler for 2012 and fellow former player Geoff Toovey was the frontrunner to take over the following season.
"We have a history of promoting from within and that's certainly our initial thinking," he said.
"We've got no choice but to move forward everyone's going to take some time to heal.
"Stability is going to be very important for us."
No comments:
Post a Comment