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sharks biggest suprise in 2015?

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  • sharks biggest suprise in 2015?

    CRONULLA Sharks group chief executive Lyall Gorman stood holding a microphone in one hand and the aspirations of the club’s success-starved members and supporters in the other.

    Over two nights last week, Gorman, the former CEO of the A-League, Central Coast Mariners and Western Sydney Wanderers, organised a forum for supporters and sponsors within the Sutherland Shire.

    This was nothing new for Gorman, only the location was different.


    The successful blueprint is a familiar one for the long-standing sports administrator having organised seven almost identical fan engagement and open-mic evenings during his reign in the early days of setting up the Wanderers and the Mariners.

    The difference is, unlike the two football clubs he previously ran, this time Gorman is faced with the task of redefining a brand, not creating one.

    Alongside Cronulla chairman Damian Keogh and coach Shane Flanagan, Gorman is also in charge of ensuring governance, faith and support is felt from the entire league community in the Sharks – a club desperate to put the most tumultuous 18 months in the joint’s 47-year history behind them.

    Last Monday and Tuesday nights, Gorman put his hard hat on and began the clean-up operation.

    A classy operator, Gorman is an outsider, who lives on the north shore and drives 70 minutes to the Shire each day.

    He wasn’t prepared to waste any time. So in front of a loyal band of members, he stood up.

    “Can we take this from an OK club, which I think it is today and don’t take that the wrong way, to a good club and then a great club?’’ he asked the floor.

    “Do I believe that’s possible? 1000 per cent I believe that’s possible.’’

    For the next hour-and-a-half, Gorman challenged those seated in front of him to ask any question, good or bad. To offer an idea, a thought or suggestion.

    What followed became less about the quality playing roster which Flanagan has assembled for the 2015 season, but primarily about the missing link from Cronulla’s chain since 1967 – sustained success, off the field.

    I SAID NO TO DEL PIERO

    Cronulla remain without a major sponsor for the 2015 season. The ASADA scandal crippled the club’s commercial appeal.

    Gorman told his members last Tuesday he would sooner have Paul Gallen run out in March with a blank front of a jersey, than sign-off on a deal to appease the bottom line.

    “To go back into the marketplace and secure the major sponsor we want, I believe we have to have a new narrative, a new story and a new vision to tell so that whoever we bring into that space is fully aligned with the direction we’re heading,’’ Gorman said.

    “If I give you an example of the Wanderers, I said no to a $475,000-a-year sponsor because they just didn’t fit. While the seduction of money was great, it would’ve hurt our brand.

    “We said no to (former Italian soccer giant Alessandro) Del Piero at the Wanderers because we had a brand out there that was raw and real and humble. I’m not saying that Del Piero wasn’t that, but he certainly wasn’t in the context of the way we wanted to bring that brand to life in Western Sydney.

    It wasn’t about one person, it wasn’t about a person who had their own dressing room, it wasn’t about a media circus every day at training.

    “With Christmas coming, we’ll go into the market in the middle of January with that new narrative and absolute clarity on how we’re going to get there.’’


    STOP THE PRESS

    One of the more poignant questions from the fans revolved around the club’s profile in the media.

    No other NRL club has dominated the headlines like Cronulla has over the past 18 months.

    As a result, the club’s relationship with the media has suffered.

    Not unlike former Canterbury chief executive Todd Greenberg’s olive branch to the media in the wake of the Coffs Harbour sex scandal (2004) and salary cap rort (2002), the Sharks are planning a presentation to all media next month.

    I see the media as a partner in any professional sport, not the enemy,’’ Gorman said. “We have to learn to work with them. We have to respect that they have a job to do.

    “In January-February, depending on the Nines, we’ll be bringing all the media into a forum like this and show them our vision as a club.

    “And I’ll ask them a simple question: ‘how do we work better *together?’ ’’

    GAME DAY

    The Wanderers’ RBB is the most recognised and vocal supporter group in Australian sport.

    Gorman says he senses the parochial Shire can replicate the red and black block, which is why he’s appointed the same membership consultant he has used for the past 10 years.

    With an estimated revenue stream of between $35 million and $50 million over the next decade from the adjoining Shark Park residential and retail development, Gorman believes the club has the funds and expertise to provide fans with more than just 80 minutes of footy.


    “Coming from the Wanderers you can probably guess I’ve got a passion for the game-day experience, from the precinct experience to the whole journey of when you get here until you leave,’’ he said. “Football is a product, but we’re really in the lifestyle and entertainment business and we’ve got to take that to another level.

    “If you speak to Wanderers members, they say they feel like they own the club, so this (forum) process was very empowering.

    “The game-day experience was critical. I know the success of buildings business, not just sporting organisations is linked to one of collaboration and co-operation and, in the case of a football club like ours – our members, our fans and our sponsors – we can’t do it without you.’’

    Sharks have great balance and depth coupled with the desire of vengeance..

  • #2
    I actually went along to the forum at the SUS club last Monday night.
    Gorman is a good communicator. Spoke well. Handled the fans questions and objections well.
    He is probably the best leader/CEO that club has and will ever have.
    They have a big injection of money coming when the development gets off the ground so unless that dies in the ar$e in the next year, they wont be relocated anywhere.
    He definitely gives the fans hope and is instilling belief over there.

    I still reckon the club needs to rid itself of the stench of 2011.
    Until Flanno and Gallen (at least) are gone, there will still be questions around doping and peptides.
    Member 2008 - forever

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    • #3
      I've always been of the belief that a preseason is long long time and the new year always brings new dissapointments and suprises.

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