SEA Eagles godfather Ken Arthurson has expressed his exasperation at the latest drama to hit the club he is so passionate about and said it placed an unfair burden on coach Geoff Toovey.
"To say I am devastated by what I have read would be putting it very mildly," Arthurson said.
He has spoken out after reports that star trio Brett Stewart, Anthony Watmough and Steve Matai had all asked for releases from the club.
"During my time at Manly the thing I always instilled into our club and the thing that has stood by us all these years is that any disputes we had were always kept in house," Arthurson said.
"We never washed our dirty linen in public and whoever is giving out these stories I think is doing the club a grave disservice."
His philosophy was that administrators were there to administer, coaches to coach and players to play.
Arthurson read that the current controversy came about because Glenn Stewart is leaving the club.
"All I can say is not only is he a great bloke but he has always been and still is one of my favourite players," he said..
"But they wouldn't have let him go unless they had to, I am certain of that because I know how highly regarded he is."
Arthurson said he would be absolutely staggered if Watmough would even contemplate moving from the club.
"He is Manly, he is part of Manly, he always has been," Arthurson said.
"He is a Narrabeen boy and his whole family have always been so loyal to the club."
Arthurson stood very strongly behind Toovey's appointment as coach.
"To have him going through all this is very unfair," he said.
He said the fact that Toovey has been able to keep the side playing terrific football with all that going on was a credit to him.
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Jon Geddes
Manly Daily
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/ken-arthurson-slams-disunity-stirrings-at-his-beloved-sea-eagles/story-fngr8iii-1226997590643