Read Roy Masters (SMH) and ignore anything by News Corp on this subject.

News = Milly Dowler

He was unpopular with the Clubs, the Fans and the Media.
Hardly a great set up.
He did not know much about the Clubs and cocked up the players names in the media.

He was a man out of his comfort zone and it showed badly.

Knowing most rl clubs, fans and media, bring unpopular with them is pretty much a prerequisite for doing a good job.

Nigel wood being the exception that proves the rule.

The best administrator the game has seen in the time I have been watching the sport (20 years). If only Red Hall was capable of attracting people of similar calibre.

I don't know which part of Croydon you hail from. But let me explain a few things.

First and foremost David Smith negotiated a future TV deal that gave all the plum time slots to Channel 9, and left Fox Sports with a few crumbs, meaning less time slots than the current deal and none of the prime time hot spots that they currently hold. For this humiliating fait accompli, the Welsh wizard expected Fox Sports (i.e. News Corp) to pay more money than they currently pay!

Second....no, there is no second, the first point is sufficient to explain why Smith has been shown the door. The man is a complete dill!

If he pulled this off then I'd say he did a brilliant job!

Can't we just give him Nigel Wood's job instead?

Don't buy the Fox rubbish. The clubs are after Smith because they want more money - that's always the case with whoever is in charge.

The FTA deal is a doozy, and Smith was advised on how to approach it. He didn't decide to negotiate the FTA deal seperately - highly paid advisors siad it was the way they should go. Fox (News) went beserk because prior to Smith they'd effectively run the game via ownership of clubs, Gallopp as CEO and being seen as the number one source of funds for the sport.

Suggesting that Fox doesn't need the NRL is nonsense. It regularly rates amongst their highest viewing sports. If they didn't show NRL they would lose a lot of subscribers overnight. Live sport is about the only thing keeping their business model afloat.

Having said that, a lot of senior Fox execs were seriously personally embarrassed by the NRL FTA deal. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Smith is a sacrificial lamb enabling both sides to go back to the table to negotiate in a less poisonous atmosphere.

The number of people swallowing the Fox line makes all of the historical examples of people being fooled so much more easy to understand. So few people think for themselves.

Currently rugby league has a bigger FTA deal than AFL with the other half yet to be concluded. Fox have been squirming like a worm on a hook for ages. Suck it Murdoch

Tough to get the truth on this subject but this article is pretty accurate. www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/2378 ... gotiations

Tough to get the truth on this subject but this article is pretty accurate. www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/2378 ... gotiations