Manly face fan backlash over Toovey

[tookey]

MANLY will face an ugly battle with loyal, long-term fans if they decide to sack coach Geoff Toovey.
Toovey is under increasing pressure to retain his job, his under-performing side having won just one of six games this year.

It is quite bizarre seeing the annually successful Manly sitting last on the NRL competition table.

Manly fans though don't appear to be driven purely by results.

They just want Toovey retained and respected.

Fans have contacted me through the week saying they would walk away from the club if Toovey is sacked. And they mean it.

One wrote: "Count me out if 'Tooves' goes."

Another posted: "I won't retain my season membership if Toovey is sacked."

And another said: "He goes, I go."

NRL clubs know they cannot be ruled or bullied by emotional fans.

Manly management also know though that they don't want to alienate or torment fans that have helped drive the club to ten successive finals appearances.

There is no doubt Toovey has fans in his corner.

They love him, they love his toughness, his maroon and white heart, they love him as a club legend.

Punting such a widely popular figure would be dangerous.

Manly think though the fans may swing around against Toovey if the club misses the finals, which is looking increasing likely even at this early stage of the season.

Toovey has handled the innuendo with dignity. Even the opinions of fans from rival clubs, who generally hated the highly competitive Toovey, have turned around.

Manly fans were even talking about a march in support of Toovey.

Toovey played 286 games for Manly and Northern Eagles. He literally spilled blood in helping Manly to three grand finals and one title. He then guided Manly to the 2013 grand final as head coach.

No doubt Toovey is a Manly great. Sea Eagles officials will decide on their coach's future through results, tactics, recruitment and retention.

The club won't retain Toovey if they think he should go. It's a result-driven business.

But if they do punt Toovey, the club can expect one hell of a fight with passionate and angry Manly fans.

It could get ugly.

http://www.sportal.com.au/league/nr...acklash-over-toovey/1dtnscp7x9olxz57cp7sbcnps

 

[tookey]

The Penns will probably sack Toovey but it will be written he resigned for the good of the club.

If he does go then it will of course be a sacking and players like Stewart and Foran will be behind his demise all because of Toovey's failure to ensure gitfy was signed.

 

[MadMarcus]

The Penns will probably sack Toovey but it will be written he resigned for the good of the club.

I think Scott Penn foreshadowed this in his recent comments. He said something like "it won't be a sacking".... in other words, publicly it will be a resignation but behind the scenes it will be an old fashioned shafting. The fans will see right through it, whatever they call it and Penn has done himself a disservice by making those comments, which make it all so obvious.

 

[BOZO]

The more games we lose the easier it will be for the management to justify their actions .
We need to start winning !!!

 

[HappilyManly]

'.. For the good of my family...', 2V

Wish the Players fought for their Coach half as much as we Fans do

'Be Manly, don't be a Dog', B Stewart 2012

 

[The Who]

What's taken the media so long to pick up on the outrage of we fans?
They must start reading Silvertails more regularly. This should have been a headline story four weeks ago. Again, an example of lazy journalists who these days with a 24-hour news cycle must slavishly report every piece of gossip and innuendo on a fan forum immediately without checking any facts.

 

[Budgie]

What's taken the media so long to pick up on the outrage of we fans?
They must start reading Silvertails more regularly. This should have been a headline story four weeks ago. Again, an example of lazy journalists who these days with a 24-hour news cycle must slavishly report every piece of gossip and innuendo on a fan forum immediately without checking any facts.

Journalists? Ha! Just a story made through reading this Forum.
"Fans have contacted me..."
"Another posted ...."
May I suggesr no one contacted you Mister!

 

[Ryan]

If it means the players get their heads screwed on properly, and they all start pulling in the same direction, I'd be happy if Taylor Swift were coach. Seriously, come on now.

At the end of the day, it's the players that put in these pathetic performances. Yes, Toovey keeps selecting them, but they are letting him down, because he has lost them as a group.

It's the same reason The Sharks got rid of Stuart.

 

[mave]

Once a coach loses the playing group......it's all over

 

[Duff]

The club should not be listening to overly emotional fans as they are not the ones with the inside knowledge. It should also not be delivering every desire of the players, as they have a job to do and selecting the coaching staff is not a part of it.

What they need to do is act in the best interests of the club.
What they owe the fans is to make them comfortable that this is what they are doing. That they are not acting for personal, vindictive reasons. If we trust the board, we can respect their decisions, even if we don't like them. They have not built this trust. They have not delivered results in other areas and they have not provided an alternative candidate for coach that would be satisfactory.
What they owe the players is a work environment which maximizes the potential the club can offer. They are yet to show that they can do this.

That is all we want, journalist. That is all.

 

[dowdz]

Great post @Duff. Fans will and always do get emotional, especially with Manly as all we know is success..

 

[The Who]

Once a coach loses the playing group......it's all over

Didn't Tooves find the playing group shivering on a mountain top in the Snowy Mountains pre-season?

 

[Jatz Crackers]

Its a dean ritchie article. Means little or nothing to me.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

As thought he owners / board would listen to us!

At the end of the day we are purely a revenue stream, and compared to the NRL funds and sponsorship a minor one at that !!

 

[tookey]

Its a dean ritchie article. Means little or nothing to me.

Zorba's mouthpiece. Or perhaps harmonica?

 

[HappilyManly]

Didn't Tooves find the playing group shivering on a mountain top in the Snowy Mountains pre-season?

The omen we didn't heed - up the hill, without a paddle.
We are cursed !

 

[mjb136]

Rugby League Immortal Bob Fulton appointed Strategic Football Consultant
to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles


The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have appointed Rugby League Immortal Bob Fulton to the position of Strategic Football Consultant, which will support the Club’s football operations.

“We are extremely proud to have an Immortal, past Captain and Coach of the mighty Sea Eagles come back into the inner sanctum,” said Sea Eagles Chairman Scott Penn.

“Bob has won Premierships as both a Player and a Coach with the Sea Eagles, is currently an adviser to Laurie Daley and the NSW Blues, and is a current Australian selector.”

“Bob’s initial focus will be to support Head Coach Geoff Toovey and CEO Joe Kelly with our talent identification and recruitment program and to also assist in the development of a long term football plan that is designed to ensure sustained on-field success for our Club.”

Fulton expressed his excitement at the prospect of returning to his former team.

“I am pleased to be able to contribute to the Sea Eagles and provide support and advice to the Football Department. Whilst always remaining a passionate Sea Eagles Life Member, it is exciting to have an opportunity to help craft the future of the Club,” said Fulton.

CEO Joe Kelly is thrilled to secure someone of Bob’s stature to this key position which complements the additional resources that have been invested into the football department since November 2014.

“The success that Bob has achieved as a former player and coach of the Sea Eagles speaks for itself. Our Club is incredibly fortunate that someone of Bob’s credentials and standing within Rugby League has accepted the opportunity to assist with our football department,” said CEO Joe Kelly.

Coach Geoff Toovey welcomed the appointment of his former coach and mentor.

“Bob has an incredible knowledge of the game and I’m heartened to have someone of his reputation supporting the Club,” said Toovey.

“Bob and I have shared considerable success in the past and I look forward to reviving that formidable partnership.”

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

Who's this manly mike ringing talking sport discussing tooveys on his last legs.Mate why don't you register on this forum & have your say with real manly supporters.Not dickhead bulldog panelists.

 

[Jatz Crackers]

Zorba's mouthpiece. Or perhaps harmonica?

He sure aint no trumpet.

 

[HappilyManly]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...writes-paul-kent/story-fnp0lyn3-1227303870143

People are talking about who will replace coach Geoff Toovey at the Sea Eagles, writes Paul Kent

• PAUL KENT
• THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
• APRIL 14, 2015 6:00PM..

THE Anatomy of How to Blow It is currently being written at Brookvale.

The hard part is we all get to watch while Sea Eagles boss Joe Kelly puts it down in longhand, line by painful line.

Speculation about Geoff Toovey’s future has got to the point where nobody is talking about if he will be sacked but who will replace him when he is.

Nathan Brown? Trent Barrett? Was that Brad Arthur on the phone?

This might come as great news to Kelly, who walks into any room like he is leading a parade and who, just 11 days ago, guaranteed Toovey’s job for not only the rest of this season but next season as well.

“Geoff’s got a two-year contract,” he told Manly fans at a question-and-answer session in Albury, the day the Sea Eagles got rolled by Canberra.

“I absolutely expect to honour that two-year contract. I have no intention of doing anything otherwise, than seeing Geoff honour that two-year contract.”

They are exactly the kind of strong words Manly fans want to hear.

Yet Kelly had barely enough time to sit back and Google his name and all the positive words he expected to read around them when Manly chairman and owner Scott Penn countered his argument just six days later, saying the club is in a “results-driven business”.

“If we don’t have a good outcome this year then we will be having some serious discussions,” Penn said of Toovey.

So Toovey’s job was on the line again.

How the club has allowed the debate over Toovey’s fitness to coach to hijack the real issues is the real question that needs to be answered.

It is not Toovey’s fault, for instance, that the Sea Eagles have an injury toll that would topple the Russian army.

That explains the 1-5 start right there.

Where the club has failed Toovey is its inability to handle its recruitment and the fallout that followed.

Kelly has tried to disguise the loss of control as a media creation.

He told Manly fans in Albury that the club came out of a meeting with Daly Cherry-Evans’ management the week before the competition started and decided to put a deadline of midday Monday on his decision.

He said he didn’t want the negotiation to be a distraction and believed delaying it would remove that.

It was his first mistake.

Midday Monday came and went and at midday Tuesday, Kelly told the fans, he decided to act on it.

“What we said to management of Daly is we are withdrawing the offer, we’re taking it off the table, but we are prepared to start fresh negotiations once we get into the season.”

It was a catastrophic mistake.

Kelly failed to realise Kieran Foran was also deciding his future and what he might think when he heard the club had ceased negotiations with his halves partner.

What message did that send to Foran?

If a deal with Cherry-Evans was taking longer than expected the smart play was to put negotiations on hold while they announced they were concentrating on signing Foran.

“Unfortunately Geoff was then blindsided on [NRL] 360, live,” Kelly said.

Of course I work on NRL360 and Toovey found out seconds after we did. But how was Toovey blindsided if he knew 36 hours earlier?

Again, Kelly tried to deflect the fan’s concerns by turning focus elsewhere.

He segued from that “media creation” to his pre-season blow-up with Toovey, “the most documented disagreement in the history of mankind,” he told the fans. “Let’s be honest.”

Honest?

There, Kelly was disguising his classic new-kid-on-the-block mistake of the newly appointed CEO, who tries to make his mark publicly by immediately getting involved in player retention on arrival when it is just a fraction of the business.

Toovey, quite rightly, protested.

On Tuesday the Sea Eagles announced Bob Fulton as a new strategic football consultant.

And not a moment too soon.