Quote: Benny Profane " But name reverting back a bad thing? Sorry, not for me. I was never happy being a perfunctory adjunct to a RU club where we had averaged nearly three times their crowds at *their ground* a few years before.
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To be clear, Harlequins RU was a huge opportunity for the Broncos. Whereas we had 2 port-a-cabins and not much else in the The Stoop part 1, we were given office space, access to the shop and the Union clubs contracts with their suppliers, a bolt on to their web and social media supplier, access to their local chamber of commerce connections as well as (to start with) forward thinking CEO's at BOTH clubs.
Paul Brown leaving (there's more to that than "illness"...check how Hughes gets on with people who don't agree with him) almost immediately we arrived hurt us. He was a RL man with vast experience of working to tight budgets at Croydon. Mark Evans was a realist at QRU, who saw the benefit of The Stoop being used 52 weeks a year, as well as expanding the "Quins" brand. Bloodgate really put the mockers on that and by the time he left (2010/11), we had already burn bridges with other contacts at the Union Club...so as our ally left, Mackay arrived.
He sacked our hardest working member of staff, citing she was "a luxury" and proceeded to try and do everything......torching the remainder of the relationships with the hosts in the process. In the 39 "home games" we played at the Stoop under his watch (4 OTR games in there) he averaged 2,700 fans...the previous 3 seasons we averaged 3,429. Under MacKay we hired and fired a marketing executive who the went to work for the Union club and ended up in a senior role at Wimbledon Tennis. Under Mackay we hired cricketing people to market us) Under Mackay we had Powell, Rea and Grima as coaches before he left us 8 years ago this Saturday, having firstly convinced our owner that Harlequins RL was being interpreted as Harlequins Rugby Lessons by schoolkids before buying www. londonbroncosRL.com and giving the shirt contract to a mate from cricket. He also nabbed 30k off SELCO for shirt sponsorship that was earmarked for London youth RL. Under Mackay we went from 3,400 to a relegation season 1,294 in which he jumped mid season to be unemployed for 2 years thereafter.......he shed 2,100 fans in 3 seasons and a month
The above is a pretty precise description of how we absolutely messed up the biggest opportunity the club had since being rescued from the brink on 2005.
You are correct. Hughes employed Gus & must shoulder the blame, but don't let your belief that "union is the enemy" colour your view of the chance we had. When we arrived at the Stoop II, we averaged just short of 5k.......our hosts were heading for the 2nd tier where they would average about 8k......by the time we left, we averaged 2,213 and they were on 18,800 with their Big Game thing in its infancy.
As a professional Marketer I find the constant neglect of any joined up campaign planning and strategy at the club infuriating, but the reality is that calling ourselves Harlequins Rugby League was not and will never be the reason we find ourselves facing L1 rugby with fewer than 400 fans in 2023. Brian Mc Dermott's inability to get us above 7th in his time at the club, combined with horrendous appointments by Hughes into key positions did it.
And with a final throw of the dice, using a CEO and Commercial Manager who have delivered nothing but decline during their tenure, Hughes has drawn a line in the sand, citing a 5k figure or bust by 2026, giving him an out. If I make it over there next year I will happily pay whatever fee it is to get into the platinum lounge and tell him as much to his face, but it's nothing to do with once being quinsRL.....that was a missed opportunity that Gus used to blame for his shortcomings
