ARU politics

[Gagger]

With the review due any day now, thought I'd get this moving.

Anyone else catch the end of this article from Growden earlier in the week?

O'Neill yesterday issued his full support of Deans, who was criticised after the World Cup. O'Neill argued it was pointless to speculate if Deans would remain head coach from 2014 onwards.

''Robbie is the coach for the next two years, but there are clearly others who have ambitions, which is pretty normal,'' O'Neill said.

''If you're a Super Rugby coach, and don't have ambitions to coach the Wallabies, it would be unusual. But two years is a pretty long time in rugby. And it's not very useful to have a whole lot of speculation about what is going to happen sometime at the back end of 2013. Attaching odds on whether Robbie will stay on, versus Ewen McKenzie, Michael Foley or whoever taking over is just pointless.''

''It is also pointless to be campaigning when you should be concentrating on your day job. There's no point hitting the tom tom drums and saying you're ready, when a decision is two years away.''


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/wallabies-await-arus-staff-report-20120206-1r1xj.html#ixzz1lnI4EsD8

Who's he referring to? I haven't been hearing many tom toms - I thought the Reds had done the opposite saying Link was out till 2014?

 

[kiap]

Has Kevin Rudd finally embraced rugby? Or are Link's tom toms being practised in the garage?

Foley, Graham and Hill are still building their careers as head coaches. White has done it but he wouldn't expect to be in the frame straight off (he's only just got his current gig).

If you include ex-super coaches, then maybe there's Nucifora...

 

[spooony]

''Robbie is the coach as long as Australia performs well, because there are clearly others who have ambitions, which is pretty normal,'' O'Neill said.

Fixed

 

[Gagger]

Oh dear, a little embarrassing

What was the line about keeping your head down and focussing on the job in hand?

O'Neill misses out on one of world's top jobs as Man City boss

JOHN O'NEILL has just missed out on one of the biggest jobs in world sport - chief executive of English Premier League leaders Manchester City.
The Australian Rugby Union boss was told at the start of the month he had been overlooked for the post, which instead has gone to a Spaniard, former Barcelona general manager Ferran Soriano. O'Neill was the second choice for the position.

read more http://www.smh.com.au/sport/footbal...top-jobs-as-man-city-boss-20120208-1rf0q.html

 

[meatsack]

O'Neill should just be in broadcast rights negotiations. Its clear he doesn't really care about Rugby growth, just short term results for his resume.

 

[Sandpit Fan]

Oh dear, a little embarrassing

What was the line about keeping your head down and focussing on the job in hand?

Maybe the first sentence was a Freudian slip... Nice try for a recovery in the follow up.

 

[redstragic]

Is it just me or does JON has a high opinion of himself now. Was he always like this, I remember him differently from 2003?

 

[redstragic]

I just can't get A vision of Mr Burns as a Howard Hughes type casino owner out of my head whenever I read anything about or by JON these days.

 

[p.Tah]

If there was a dislike button my comment may well break records, but if JON was headhunter for this role and came close to getting it, it highlights the level of respect he has as a professional sports administrator by those outside Australian rugby.

 

[Jnor]

With the review due any day now, thought I'd get this moving.

Anyone else catch the end of this article from Growden earlier in the week?

Who's he referring to? I haven't been hearing many tom toms - I thought the Reds had done the opposite saying Link was out till 2014?

My gut feeling is Nuci for some reason, although I don't know if JON would criticise him likee that in the (semi) open. Unless Link or Foley have been beating very quiet drums.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Wow! That was a close-run thing. We almost lost a national treasure, the Mr Fix-It of Australian sports administration.

I refer of course to the article mentioned above by Gagger titled “O'Neill misses out on one of world's top jobs as Man City boss “. Gagger’s source was the Sydney Morning Herald but Michael Cockerill’s story was co-published in the Goondiwindi Argus – I am not making this up – where this morning it has been the only item of conversation among the town’s movers and shakers.

Manchester City have been on a global search for a new chief executive since Gary Cook was forced to resign in disgrace last September, ​

O'Neill was headhunted while in New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup,​

​

That of course is the bare bones of the story but Cockerill missed out on the human interest angle. At Dunedin’s Carisbrook Stadium during the Cup while John was standing at a urinal one of the two people to whom he handed his business card turned out to be a member of the worldwide Man City search party. How spooky was that?

O’Neill ...was interviewed via Skype many times by club directors before a key interview with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak shortly before Christmas.​

Apparently that was the thing that finally told against John. Given the state of the ARU’s finances he probably thought he was being frugal in suggesting that negotiations be conducted via Skype, the broke person’s sad alternative to video conferencing. But Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who has sunk $2 billion into the bottomless pit that is Man City, was clearly less than impressed by the sight of John peering into the webcam of his laptop. What the Sheik would not have realised was that John had summoned his personal stylist to make sure his hair was neatly coiffed before his big interview.

Cotterill did not go into the issue of John’s somewhat free-range attitude towards contracts. In his first period as the CEO of the ARU, his contract was due to terminate in December 2004 but he decided to leave in January instead. His explanation: "I said during the [World Cup] Tournament that I would take a family holiday and think about my future over the Christmas, New Year period. Since then, I have had the chance to reflect on the Tournament ... and have decided that now is the best time for Australian Rugby and me to move on with Rugby at such a high point." Damned decent of him to think of what was best for his employer.

Within a week of leaving the ARU John was appointed CEO of the Australian Soccer Association. Perhaps he just happened to bump into Frank Lowy at the trough.

This time around he still had two years to go on his ARU contract while he was negotiating with the Sheik. But apparently hidden among the fine print in every ARU contract is a clause – which will hereafter be cited as the Man City clause – entitling the official or player to rip up the contract if they get a better offer.

 

[fatprop]

Oh dear, a little embarrassing

What was the line about keeping your head down and focussing on the job in hand?

So you have never applied for a better job?

 

[Crow]

I think I would be more concerned if I had a manager with neither skills that were valued by others or the ambition to chase opportunity.

 

[Schadenfreude]

I'm more concerned you're reading Growden.

 

[suckerforred]

And here I was thinking that if you signed a contract then you stuck it out. Silly I know, but loyality still has some sway with me.

If there was a dislike button my comment may well break records, but if JON was headhunter for this role and came close to getting it, it highlights the level of respect he has as a professional sports administrator by those outside Australian rugby.

If you are being head hunted you still have to 'apply' for the job. The first question in a head hunting conversation is usually - 'Are you interested in moving from you current position?' The reply has to be 'Yes' for it to progress. And that is waaaaaaay before the interview stage.

 

[Gagger]

So you have never applied for a better job?

My point was the unfortunate timing of his proclamation that Super coaches should pull their heads in about thinking the same

 

[Gagger]

Unless Link or Foley have been beating very quiet drums.

There are quiet drums?

Why put a quote in the papers unless you think there's something out there?

 

[darkhorse]

Oh dear, a little embarrassing

What was the line about keeping your head down and focussing on the job in hand?

I can see o'neill doing something like that but , that article is a load of shit. O'neill was never considered. I wouldnt be surprised if he threw his name out there for the media beat up.

David Potts, who was a chief executive of tesco's, was considered to be the second choice of man city.

 

[fatprop]

My point was the unfortunate timing of his proclamation that Super coaches should pull their heads in about thinking about the same

Like it was leaked by one the drum beaters even ...

 

[suckerforred]

I have read this before somewhere - think it might have been the Red's thread perhaps???????

Still burrs me up. I am fairly sure the JON was directing it at Link. I am also fairly sure that the ARU is grooming Nuci to take over from Deans, but recognise that he is not the 'popular' choice among the rugby public and therefore went to try and pour oil on the waters. Thing that discust me is that JON, as CEO, is a) entering into the discussion about the appointment of a coach when it is done and dusted for the next 2 (?) years, b) that he is having said discussion in the public, c) that he is bringing the ARU politics into the public eye. FFS we all know that there are politics within the ARU and that said politics cause more trouble then it is worth, but he is in the position that he sould be internally trying to get the politics out and not fanning the flames in the media.

Then again I might just be bitter that I applied for a job with the ARU and they didn't even give me an interview.....