One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on June 10, 2010, 05:23:17 AM
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Richmond president to play on
CAROLINE WILSON
June 10, 2010
RICHMOND president Gary March has declared his intention to remain at the helm beyond 2010, stating he has found a renewed enthusiasm at Tigerland and had not yet charted a definite succession plan.
March, whose term expires at the end of the season and who has been targeted by some outspoken former players, told The Age yesterday: ''Don't write my obituary just yet.''
''I have always said that if a suitable candidate came along I would happily step aside,'' added March, who took over from Clinton Casey at the end of 2005. He will have completed eight years as a club director at the end of the year.
''I'm constantly on the lookout for new talent and I always said that I would leave the club with a suitable succession. The fact that we haven't been spending too much time on that should tell you something.''
March is one of three board members completing their terms at the end of 2010. He hinted late last year he would consider stepping down, having secured Brendon Gale as chief executive and a new coach in Damien Hardwick along with the funding for the Punt Road redevelopment.
Both he and former club president Leon Daphne have sounded out top-level coterie supporter Mark Smith, a director of Toll Holdings and former chief executive of Cadbury-Schweppes, as a potential successor.
The search for a high profile, suitable candidate has proved a massive task in recent years.
Smith is understood to have indicated an interest in the top job but would not challenge for a board position later this season, rather hope to fill a casual vacancy which in March's view would see him spend some time first as a board member.
March has also been keen to promote the former owner of the South Dragons basketball team, branding and marketing executive Mark Cowan, to the club's board. March said any disenchantment with his position, which saw him consider quitting as president at the end of 2008, had dissipated.
March is no longer the club's key off-field spokesman as he was when Steven Wright was CEO. He has remained relatively silent despite some harsh criticism of the club from Kevin Sheedy, who has taken aim at the Richmond administration in his new role as coach of Greater Western Sydney.
At Neil Balme's charity tribute last month several former players, notably master of ceremonies Bartlett, went over the top - in the view of some in the audience - with their lambasting of the Tigers administration in recent years with March in the room. Bartlett though has remained strongly supportive of the team and coach.
Although he has been at the helm during a spectacularly unsuccessful era at the club, March remains confident the rebuilding of the football department with Hardwick and Craig Cameron at the helm has given Richmond a new sense of purpose.
''We'll make a profit this year,'' said March. ''We've spent $2.5 million in boosting our staff in a pure operational sense and we have some room in our salary cap which means we can be a bit aggressive in the market at the end of the season.
''To be honest I love working with this group. In the long term Mark [Smith] could succeed me and I think both he and Mark Cowan offer a lot to our board.''
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/richmond-president-to-play-on-20100609-xwte.html
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GARY MARCH SHOULD QUIT NOW!
HE SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER 2 OR 3 BOARD MEMBERS WITH HIM.
THE BOARD NEEDS SOME NEW BLOOD AND NEW LEADERSHIP.
LEAVE NOW!
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why?
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Good. I'm happy for March to stay on.
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GARY MARCH SHOULD QUIT NOW!
HE SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER 2 OR 3 BOARD MEMBERS WITH HIM.
THE BOARD NEEDS SOME NEW BLOOD AND NEW LEADERSHIP.
LEAVE NOW!
Any justification or just feeling like a bit of a rant ?
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Good. I'm happy for March to stay on.
x 2
And if someone else puts their hand up for the spot then I'm happy for the club to have to make a choice.
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GARY MARCH SHOULD QUIT NOW!
HE SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER 2 OR 3 BOARD MEMBERS WITH HIM.
THE BOARD NEEDS SOME NEW BLOOD AND NEW LEADERSHIP.
LEAVE NOW!
Sorry but that's just silly. Why have him just leave with no proper candidates in place to take over?
Much better to seek out some quality people first rather than just walking and having a bunch of nuff nuffs nominate themselves for the spot.
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GARY MARCH SHOULD QUIT NOW!
HE SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER 2 OR 3 BOARD MEMBERS WITH HIM.
THE BOARD NEEDS SOME NEW BLOOD AND NEW LEADERSHIP.
LEAVE NOW!
Any justification or just feeling like a bit of a rant ?
just abit of a rant at 7am in the cold lol ;D
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It would be much better for any club to have a smooth succession plan in place rather than challenges for the sake of it. Going by the article that seems to be the pplan and that's good
Also, IMHO the main players at the club (ie Gale & Hardwick in particular) want him there so I think it is a good enough reason for him to stay :gotigers
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GARY MARCH SHOULD QUIT NOW!
HE SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER 2 OR 3 BOARD MEMBERS WITH HIM.
THE BOARD NEEDS SOME NEW BLOOD AND NEW LEADERSHIP.
LEAVE NOW!
Any justification or just feeling like a bit of a rant ?
just abit of a rant at 7am in the cold lol ;D
lol
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Does anyone know anything about Mark Smith or Mark Cowan, apart from what is mentioned in passing in the article?
Has anyone heard any rumours about casual vacancies opening up on the Board? Why would they want a casual anyway? Why not run for office?
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He's a lightweight
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Good. I'm happy for March to stay on.
Yeah Me to, but stay out of the media Gary, It is definetly not your strong point.
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GARY MARCH SHOULD QUIT NOW!
HE SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER 2 OR 3 BOARD MEMBERS WITH HIM.
THE BOARD NEEDS SOME NEW BLOOD AND NEW LEADERSHIP.
LEAVE NOW!
Any justification or just feeling like a bit of a rant ?
just abit of a rant at 7am in the cold lol ;D
lol ya nut
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GARY MARCH SHOULD QUIT NOW!
HE SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER 2 OR 3 BOARD MEMBERS WITH HIM.
THE BOARD NEEDS SOME NEW BLOOD AND NEW LEADERSHIP.
LEAVE NOW!
Any justification or just feeling like a bit of a rant ?
just abit of a rant at 7am in the cold lol ;D
lol ya nut
I got up at 7am to go have a pee and then I came into the study and logged on, by this stage, I was freezing my nuts off, and I had come to OER, with nothing in mind to write, then I saw this thread and thought Id have a go, I was going to write a long rant, but I was freezing, so each paragraph, became a sentence, and then each sentence became a point, then by the end of it ... I was shivering from the cold, and I looked at my post, and I knew it was a poo post, but I didnt want to re write it, so I posted it and logged off, my nuts saved from the cold ;D
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................... I was freezing my nuts off, ........................................................ but I was freezing, ...................................... I was shivering from the cold, ................................................... my nuts saved from the cold.
Interesting concepts Ramps - you'll need to elaborate though, I have no idea what you're talking about! :P
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It's amazing how on our forum and others, that so many people express opinions on March and the board, both negative and positive, and yet they offer no evidence to back up their opinions.
Likewise, all the big noting attention seekers who claim to have the inside gossip and the ear of the likes of March and Gale.
I don't mean just here; I mean on all the forums.
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................... I was freezing my nuts off, ........................................................ but I was freezing, ...................................... I was shivering from the cold, ................................................... my nuts saved from the cold.
Interesting concepts Ramps - you'll need to elaborate though, I have no idea what you're talking about! :P
Basically I didnt give a poo at the time, all I wanted to do was shutdown my pc and go back into warmer part of the house.
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sheesh when he first ran for president i was totally against it.
imo hes made mistakes but they are outweighed easily by what has been done in his tenure,
i wont spell them out biut i invite any thinking person to do a bit of research and write down the pros and cons and the circumstances he has been forced to work in. i reckon most will give him a pass mark.
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sheesh when he first ran for president i was totally against it.
imo hes made mistakes but they are outweighed easily by what has been done in his tenure,
i wont spell them out biut i invite any thinking person to do a bit of research and write down the pros and cons and the circumstances he has been forced to work in. i reckon most will give him a pass mark.
Yep, agree totally Claw.
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sheesh when he first ran for president i was totally against it.
imo hes made mistakes but they are outweighed easily by what has been done in his tenure,
i wont spell them out biut i invite any thinking person to do a bit of research and write down the pros and cons and the circumstances he has been forced to work in. i reckon most will give him a pass mark.
as a member of the board for 8 years and president for 6 he has been part of the destruction of our club for most of that time.
The reality is wecouldve gone bust 5 years ago.
As a member of the board he - along with the entire board - shouldve resigned and taken responsibility for the sh1tstorm they created.
The overwhelming majority of people in management jobs wouldve been sacked in most industries.
He should be no different and is typical of the "me" generation that has existed at Richmond for far too long.
If this re-build works, it is because he didn't get involved - similar to his contribution during Clonton Caseys reign of debt generating strategies.
I think it's a disgrace that someone in such a position of authority can get away with such a pathetic record, get PROMOTED, consistently destabilize the club he leads in the media and continue to win the support of his club and it's members.
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as a member of the board for 8 years and president for 6 he has been part of the destruction of our club for most of that time.
The reality is wecouldve gone bust 5 years ago.
As a member of the board he - along with the entire board - shouldve resigned and taken responsibility for the sh1tstorm they created.
The overwhelming majority of people in management jobs wouldve been sacked in most industries.
He should be no different and is typical of the "me" generation that has existed at Richmond for far too long.
If this re-build works, it is because he didn't get involved - similar to his contribution during Clonton Caseys reign of debt generating strategies.
I think it's a disgrace that someone in such a position of authority can get away with such a pathetic record, get PROMOTED, consistently destabilize the club he leads in the media and continue to win the support of his club and it's members.
Totally disagree with this Y&B. As a new board member during Casey's tenure he would have had little or no impact in his first year or 2 and cannot be held personally responsible for the irresponsible largess of Casey. He offered his position up during the board election that saw him re-elected by a majority of our members (not me, I voted for the Macek/Schwab ticket) and from that point onwards the performance of his board has been very good. As you correctly pointed out, we were almost broke and to turn around our club's fortunes off field was paramount. Even though we had employed the master salesman as coach, the first priority of the board had to be to ensure the financial survival of our club and March and his board did just that, very very well. Then, as we became financially more stable, the board were able to start allocating resources to the basketcase that still was our football department. We were light years behind in that regard and in 5 years Wallace (for any number of reasons) was not able to achieve any on field success, however significant improvements have already been made and are now becoming obvious under the new football department. His biggest single failing has been his performance in the media at times but unless he commits hari-kari in the press then I don't think that is sufficient grounds to remove him. The Punt Rd redevelopment, ongoing profits, increasing membership, Craigieburn facility, board stability, football department stability - all positive indicators (and the legacy) of a board and a President doing a very good job.
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as a member of the board for 8 years and president for 6 he has been part of the destruction of our club for most of that time.
The reality is wecouldve gone bust 5 years ago.
As a member of the board he - along with the entire board - shouldve resigned and taken responsibility for the sh1tstorm they created.
The overwhelming majority of people in management jobs wouldve been sacked in most industries.
He should be no different and is typical of the "me" generation that has existed at Richmond for far too long.
If this re-build works, it is because he didn't get involved - similar to his contribution during Clonton Caseys reign of debt generating strategies.
I think it's a disgrace that someone in such a position of authority can get away with such a pathetic record, get PROMOTED, consistently destabilize the club he leads in the media and continue to win the support of his club and it's members.
Totally disagree with this Y&B. As a new board member during Casey's tenure he would have had little or no impact in his first year or 2 and cannot be held personally responsible for the irresponsible largess of Casey. He offered his position up during the board election that saw him re-elected by a majority of our members (not me, I voted for the Macek/Schwab ticket) and from that point onwards the performance of his board has been very good. As you correctly pointed out, we were almost broke and to turn around our club's fortunes off field was paramount. Even though we had employed the master salesman as coach, the first priority of the board had to be to ensure the financial survival of our club and March and his board did just that, very very well. Then, as we became financially more stable, the board were able to start allocating resources to the basketcase that still was our football department. We were light years behind in that regard and in 5 years Wallace (for any number of reasons) was not able to achieve any on field success, however significant improvements have already been made and are now becoming obvious under the new football department. His biggest single failing has been his performance in the media at times but unless he commits hari-kari in the press then I don't think that is sufficient grounds to remove him. The Punt Rd redevelopment, ongoing profits, increasing membership, Craigieburn facility, board stability, football department stability - all positive indicators (and the legacy) of a board and a President doing a very good job.
These are all key performance indicators of boards at other clubs that were implemented 10-15 years ago. You don't win by continually trying to catch up.
What does March stand for as a leader if he cannot have any influence as a board member?
Why even have board members if they can't challenge, influence or make a stand?
Do you think Jeff Kennett or Eddie McGuire (like or hate them) would stand by as board members and shrug their shoulders if they were in his shoes during that period?
Sorry Smoke, but there Gary March does not deserve your namesake blown up his backside, to me he is a link to the past that still requires cleaning out.
To say that there is no one else is up to the Presidents gig is pathetic - what kind of ego does this pr1ck have!
He is a bandit like Casey and our success will be despite his presence.
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The Punt Rd redevelopment, ongoing profits, increasing membership, Craigieburn facility, board stability, football department stability - all positive indicators (and the legacy) of a board and a President doing a very good job.
These are all key performance indicators of boards at other clubs that were implemented 10-15 years ago. You don't win by continually trying to catch up.
They aren't key performance indicators at all - they are a list of the more significant achievements of this current board - some of which were critical to our survival as a club and some of which have set us up to be far more competitive in our marketplace than we have for 30 years.
What does March stand for as a leader if he cannot have any influence as a board member?
Why even have board members if they can't challenge, influence or make a stand?
Do you think Jeff Kennett or Eddie McGuire (like or hate them) would stand by as board members and shrug their shoulders if they were in his shoes during that period?
I would counter, that going from newbie board member to President in 3 years says to me March was influential and did make a stand. You probably hit the nail on the head when you mention the names Kennett and McGuire. Both of these Presidents strike me as being very autocratic, as was Casey. The only difference in the 3 was that Casey had no clue on running a football club - the other 2 do. So for March to take over from Casey within his first 3 years on the board suggests very strongly to me that he was influential and prepared to stand up and take charge in our bleakest hour. And since he took over we have improved our position as a club every single year, starting with the most important things first - our actual survival as a viable entity - followed by the actual reason we exist - to win football games. It was never all going to happen overnight and as with most things Richmond, too many expect too much from too few too quickly. And before any of the "but we've been crap for 30 years and it's time for action now" brigade arc up - we are only 5 years down the track from our latest life-threatening disaster so anything beyond that it quite irrelevant to the reality of 'now'. 'Now' means we have been working for 5 years to shore up and stabilise the club, rebuild the team, and succeed on the field - an impossibility for any club, board or president coming from the position we were in. But we have achieved some of these goals and taken strong steps towards some others so by any account I say March has done a good job as President.
........ to me he is a link to the past that still requires cleaning out.
To say that there is no one else is up to the Presidents gig is pathetic - what kind of ego does this pr1ck have!
He is a bandit like Casey and our success will be despite his presence.
5 of the 8 current board members were appointed during Casey's reign (2 of them pre-March) - should they all go? And if we apply the same rules of guilt to them all as you do March then who has actually been responsible for turning our club around?
When did he say no-one else was up to it? I think he said if someone suitable put their hand up he would look at stepping aside - a very different situation in my eyes. My perception of "someone suitable" would be someone with business acumen, passion for the club, available time, enthusiasm, personality and focus among other traits. I would consider it reasonable that March (or anyone else for that matter) might think similarly, so if a person matching those criteria put their hand up then it might/would be time to look for change. The fact there is no push from within the board suggests none of the incumbents are interested so that makes March's statement entirely valid and not driven by ego at all.
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good debate. personally im not sure what role march played in the casey regime. i have no doubt he made mistakes and should take some responsibility.
to me one thing a new broom is and that is indiscriminate. it sweeps away those who have failed but those who who did okay as well.
surely good business practice is to retain the good and scrap the poor. if nothing else march has shown an ability to learn from his mistakes which imo is a good thing. to me at the end of the day this is all we can ask of anyone.
while i have been a big one in insisting we need to be debt free and am impatient with us still being in debt 4 mil plus i think march has balanced the need to reduce the debt the need to build infrastructure and the need to build the footy dept in a balanced and reasonably efficient way.
hes managed to weed out under performers aand put people in place who at least get most things right. it seems to me hes one who is willing to find the right person for the job and then let them do that job with adequate checks and balances. from the mickey mouse outfit we were under casey to what we are now well its chalk and cheese. i think he did well in finding a way to get rid of miller and wallace he was between the devil and the deep blue sea with that one.
anyway i to had and still do have reservations about him and some of the practices that went on.
as long as there are checks and balances and we continue to learn from our mistakes and continually improve our club i can live with march.
it may be we will need another to take us to long term stability and success but without doubt march has played a role in making us stable and supplying a platform and processes for any new person to follow and add to.
we are on the right path who can truly say that of any regime in the past 30 yrs other than daphnes.