NRL

Trent Barrett Hits Back At Manly Board

8 years ago - Sportingbase

Outgoing Manly Sea Eagles coach Trent Barrett has responded back in force outlining what the club is actually like behind closed doors.

Barrett and Manly have had a season to forget. They won’t be playing finals football and there is a personal rift between Barrett and Chairman Scott Penn as well as Chief Executive Lyall Gorman.

“We have a team with a club struggling to keep pace with the professional needs of players to allow them to compete at the highest level,” Barrett said. “I have complained on and off ever since I got there.

The Telegraph listed the reported issues that Barrett had to face. It is not a matter of my opinion whatsoever but Manly are not the team they were five years ago. Something needs to change and I know what it is, I think the public does too.

Barrett had to bring in his own backyard furniture for the team’s common room;
He had to bring a desk from home to use in his office;
Barrett, his wife and four kids had to clean the team’s gym on the night before he started work;
He had to hire chairs for the locker room;
Players at times had to change in the back of their cars and still have no lockers;
Management instability, with three chief executives in three years;
Three general managers of football in three years;
No recruitment manager for 12 months and a lengthy period without a welfare manager.