Schwab's group is expected to front Casey within a fortnight and demand his resignation.
"I'm very worried about the on-going viability of the football club," Schwab said this week.
The 36-year-old, a lawyer and chief executive of the Australian Entertainment Industry Association, is believed to be strongly considering taking on the presidency if the group wins control.
Other names connected to the ticket include former players Peter Welsh and Bryan Wood, liquidation expert Michael Humphris and TAC executive Colin Radford.
Not a whole lot about how all of this is panning out gives you confidence that this new ticket could effectively change anything. If they think Casey is so unsuitable for the role then why are they taking so long to get things moving? Surely if things were that bad and these were the right people to take us forward, there would be greater urgency in the whole process. So I can’t help but see this as another case of ego getting in the way of common sense and logic.
What hasn’t been answered in any of this are the reasons why there needs to be a new ticket to bring about change. It hasn’t worked before and you have to doubt that it will work this time. If we want to change things then we aren’t going to do it by causing more divisions than there are already.
Casey has repeatedly said that he would step aside if someone suitable presented themselves. How this person would demonstrate their suitability is anyone’s guess, because even the best made plans can come to nothing, without people with the ability to carry out those plans. As no doubt Casey has found out.
Since the revelation of the budgeted loss for the year, there has been a negative spin on most things the Club has done, which is understandable. But how do you know who and what to believe and who and what not to believe? I guess it’s just a matter of choice.
Terry Wallace raised an interesting point on 3AW the other weekend and queried whether it was better to have a President to take the Club forward who has made mistakes and (hopefully) learned from them along the way, or whether it is best to bring in someone new, who still needs to go through the learning curve? So, it seems that, unless you have a candidate who has previous proven experience, there are no certainties with anyone at the helm.
And unless those on the Board now are of questionable character, have no business sense whatsoever and are just going to sink our Club further into the mire because of it, what could make us think that the new ticket will do better, when it seems that some of those on it have previously been at the Club through similar unsuccessful times.
The current administration has been a lot less conservative than previous ones and a combination of factors; one being a lack of understanding of the nature of the football industry, have seen things go sour. From what has been said, the Club went ahead with additional spending in the football department when it was recommended it shouldn’t.
Whether it was a case of a really high risk to take, an error of judgement, or just negligence, who knows, but we all know that if the footy department isn’t looked after then we can’t hope to be competitive.
To go ahead in business, there is a need to take risks; otherwise things are likely to stagnate. As happened with the previous administration, which seemed to be waiting for success to be achieved through the efforts made on the field. That approach may work to some degree, but what if the team isn’t successful, which is what happened and so it became obvious that there was a need for change.
I certainly don’t want anyone shady running the footy Club, or anyone who puts his/her own interests before that of RFC. Whether our losses are because of any of that isn’t clear. I tend to think it’s more a case of inexperience and a “go for it” type attitude. Maybe that’s wrong, but no one has come out and explained the resentment towards Casey. Clubs have made losses in the past and will continue to do so. So do you stop someone from attempting to change things or help him to correct what he is doing wrong? Casey seems to have the “go for it” attitude, but probably needs people around him to balance this, because the conservative approach didn’t work and now this approach isn’t working either. Probably somewhere in between would be the way to go.
But no one would see that. Least of all those forming the new ticket. If this is the dire situation that this sort of action says it is, why is it taking so long to do anything about it? You would like to think that if things were that bad that action would already have taken place. And the people we need to get things done wouldn’t be waiting around for the “right time”.
Doesn’t seem to me like these are men of action, but just talk. And it is this sort of ‘conservative’ approach that got us into this situation in the first place.
No doubt the ticket is being formed through concern, but to what degree is it concern and how much of it is ego? Because if that’s all this is then nothing will change long-term, if these people don’t have the ability to make the necessary changes that will make a difference. It will take some convincing that the people named on the ticket actually know how to go about doing that. But, the feeling is that they are just wasting everyone’s time and, potentially, the Club’s money.
