Ralph Rimmer gives an Interview

[The Future is League]

2 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Crass question, but any idea what his salary is? My guess is £150k? 

I think i have seen quotes it's around there

[Damien]

12 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Crass question, but any idea what his salary is? My guess is £150k? 

According to this the highest paid director got £174,000 in 2019, it stands to reason that is Rimmer:

 

[Scubby]

42 minutes ago, Damien said:

Parts of it are very worrying as he comes across as quite deluded as to where the game stands. Some of what he says seems purely designed to justify his own role. The harmonious picture he paints when it comes to partners doesn't really tally when Sky have reduced their funding by about 40% and given the sport an ultimatum.

His job is to say it as it is then lead a strategy towards either fixing problems or sparking growth.

Waffle just doesn't cut it.

[Jeff Stein]

I know that verbatim accounts are not particularly fluent at time, but surely we could have a figurehead that can do better than this: “Although the team on the park has suddenly, or not suddenly, after a few seasons, is credible now, and there’s still a majority of Midlands players although I know there’s perhaps five that come down from the north". It is almost as if he was surprised to get a question about Coventry.

He also chucked David Hughes and possibly Hector McNeil under a bus by saying that London Owners haven't listened to the RFL. It seems all the successes in London RL are down to the RFL and all failures down to the clubs. While the issues of the Broncos management are well reported, this suggestion would still lead to eyebrows being raised by anyone who follows all parts of the game down here

[idrewthehaggis]

There is a lot of browny beige in that press photo.

There is a lot of browny beige in that press article.

There is lots of strategic talk without any strategy. 

He seems more than able to consume management speak and then expel an empty residue on the varying heads of the RL family.

Personally I am surprised he survived the dramatic drop in the TV money. And that it also demonstrated how we as a sport have been too reliant on it and there hadn't been other revenue streams developed.

Never mind drops in participation and crowds, pre Covid. 

I might say, it concerns me that the RFL seems to have neither thoughts not support for Salford's stadium issues and only appears to speak about London in hindsight. The sport in the two biggest conurbations. 

But we have to wish him well. The game needs a resourceful and robust central body, whether that is these people or the RFL is another debate.

[north yorks trinity]

Sounds to me like someone hoping to waffle his way to keeping his job and therefore his salary for as long as he can get away with and build up a nice retirement pot in the process. Of course once he's left the job he'll have to look himself in the mirror and also won't want to lose face with friends and business associates so part of his bluster will be as much about convincing himself that his legacy will be one of noble failure let down by circumstances rather than a simple lack of drive, ability, charisma and leadership.

[Man of Kent]

Leaving aside Rimmer being a gobsh*te, it does sound like there is a master plan with financial backing in the pipeline. Admittedly it’s all rather cryptic, but there are several passages that suggest a major restructure - not just tinkering - is fairly imminent. 

[LeeF]

I’m trying to work out why this interview was embargoed for the last 48 hours as it says virtually nothing and reads like he has just used words to try to hide his lack of action.

The explanation for his “invisibility” over the last 3 months is just a joke.

£200k per year for this 

[Damien]

Rimmer has been in his post for over 3 years now. What has he achieved in that time? Are we any the wiser what the strategy is for the game? I will give him some slack for covid but this interview is full of what is in the pipeline and the future. There is zero substance in this and its all management speak. The game needs so much more and real leadership. 

[Ray Cashmere]

In amongst all the waffle, the line  "I've got plenty of ideas myself but we'll keep them on the shelf" really does stand out in a stark and sombre way given that providing direction is (or should be)  so obviously inherent within his supposed role 

Maybe he's already auditioning for Poet Laureate...

[Eddie]

8 minutes ago, Ray Cashmere said:

In amongst all the waffle, the line  "I've got plenty of ideas myself but we'll keep them on the shelf" really does stand out in a stark and sombre way given that providing direction is (or should be)  so obviously inherent within his supposed role 

Maybe he's already auditioning for Poet Laureate...

Ted Hughes eat your heart out. 

[Damien]

Some excellent points by John Davidson in this tweet and his replies to it:

 

[Dallas Mead]

Er…..wow?

[Whippet13]

Main takeaways from that article are that Ralph seems to only have one (rather ugly) suit, and that a team from the Outer Hebrides may be joining the pro leagues, Stornoway Haggises gets my vote. Other than that, it was a load of inconclusive waffle which provided nothing new.

[Scubby]

The members of the group are Gary Hetherington (Leeds Rhinos), Paul Lakin (Hull KR), Eamonn McManus (St Helens), Stuart Middleton (Warrington Wolves), Karen Moorhouse (RFL) and Rimmer himself.

#### me talk about yesterday's men. How is that independent?

https://www.totalrl.com/rimmer-defends-his-record/

[RigbyLuger]

2 hours ago, LeeF said:

I’m trying to work out why this interview was embargoed for the last 48 hours as it says virtually nothing and reads like he has just used words to try to hide his lack of action.

The explanation for his “invisibility” over the last 3 months is just a joke.

£200k per year for this 

I'm also trying to work out which journos Matt Shaw was defending and which he was throwing under a bus.

 

 

[Josef K]

Did he say he’ll be asking the fans for their viewing experiences. I’ve heard people at the RFL & SL say in the past “we have asked some fan’s about their views on the new rules”, etc etc. Itll be great if that’s true, but i always get the feeling that the RFL/SL totally ignore what the paying serfs say. 

[M j M]

Whether it's fair to Rimmer or not, and it probably is, the game needs new leadership to deal with the current challenges. This Q&A doesn't deal with any of them really but regardless there needs to be a genuine new start and unfortunately that needs to include a change at the top because even if Rimmer is working away behind the scenes the messaging and presentation aspects are appalling and that is just as important a part of his job.

[JohnM]

10 hours ago, Jeff Stein said:

I know that verbatim accounts are not particularly fluent at time, but surely we could have a figurehead that can do better than this: “Although the team on the park has suddenly, or not suddenly, after a few seasons, is credible now, and there’s still a majority of Midlands players although I know there’s perhaps five that come down from the north". It is almost as if he was surprised to get a question about Coventry.

He also chucked David Hughes and possibly Hector McNeil under a bus by saying that London Owners haven't listened to the RFL. It seems all the successes in London RL are down to the RFL and all failures down to the clubs. While the issues of the Broncos management are well reported, this suggestion would still lead to eyebrows being raised by anyone who follows all parts of the game down here

He's not a figurehead, though.  He's CEO, is he not? We certainly could do with a figurehead but they are there just to sound good and look good at the front of the ship, not to do anything about financing the ship, planning the route, allocating resources etc. That's the captain's job.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's mainly but not exclusively negative posts. kind of predictable and saved me a lot of time and trouble.

[Damien]

1 minute ago, M j M said:

Whether it's fair to Rimmer or not, and it probably is, the game needs new leadership to deal with the current challenges. This Q&A doesn't deal with any of them really but regardless there needs to be a genuine new start and unfortunately that needs to include a change at the top because even if Rimmer is working away behind the scenes the messaging and presentation aspects are appalling and that is just as important a part of his job.

Working behind the scenes is a terrible excuse for a lack of visibility, coincidentally the recent lack of visibility only happening after the car crash discussion with Terry O'Connor on the academy debacle. Visibility and showing leadership is an important part of his role and I simply do not believe that he can't spend at least a 1hr every few weeks being more visible and presenting a strong, clear message. Even one of his minions could simply draft the odd statement that he could put his name to.

[Damien]

4 minutes ago, JohnM said:

He's not a figurehead, though.  He's CEO, is he not? We certainly could do with a figurehead but they are there just to sound good and look good at the front of the ship, not to do anything about financing the ship, planning the route, allocating resources etc. That's the captain's job.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's mainly but not exclusively negative posts. kind of predictable and saved me a lot of time and trouble.

The first key responsibility of the CEO role listed on the job description is literally to provide strong and visible leadership of the sport of Rugby League. Another is to develop strong relationships with the media & be the main public face of the RFL.

That is the job he applied for. I'm not sure why you are trying to say he shouldn't be doing that and instead want him to do different role. Whether you like it or not, or agree or not, it is his role to do so.

[Dave T]

43 minutes ago, JohnM said:

He's not a figurehead, though.  He's CEO, is he not? We certainly could do with a figurehead but they are there just to sound good and look good at the front of the ship, not to do anything about financing the ship, planning the route, allocating resources etc. That's the captain's job.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's mainly but not exclusively negative posts. kind of predictable and saved me a lot of time and trouble.

Surely the most important thing John was to critique Rimmer's comments, not the posts on here? 

What are your thoughts on what Rimmer said? 

[Death to the Rah Rah's]

if 175k is his salary then unfortunately you get what you pay for, and that salary is peanuts compared to other CEO renumerations and just shows how small our sport is in comparison to others of similar size.

I reckon Mr Rimmer was the cheapest option when Wood left, but I'm in no doubt there's loads of suitable candidates with drive, ambition and the necessary skills to rebuild the game, but the sad reality is they would want a hell of a lot more than 175k

 

[Damien]

19 minutes ago, Death to the Rah Rah's said:

if 175k is his salary then unfortunately you get what you pay for, and that salary is peanuts compared to other CEO renumerations and just shows how small our sport is in comparison to others of similar size.

I reckon Mr Rimmer was the cheapest option when Wood left, but I'm in no doubt there's loads of suitable candidates with drive, ambition and the necessary skills to rebuild the game, but the sad reality is they would want a hell of a lot more than 175k

 

Peanuts compared to who though? Yes CEO's at somewhere like England RU may get approximately 3-4 times more but they are in charge of businesses with near 10 times the turnover. It's a similar story with the CEO of the ECB. Considering the RFL turns over around £23 million compared to well over £200 million plus I'm not sure the CEO pay stacks up too poorly.

[Spidey]

21 minutes ago, Death to the Rah Rah's said:

if 175k is his salary then unfortunately you get what you pay for, and that salary is peanuts compared to other CEO renumerations and just shows how small our sport is in comparison to others of similar size.

I reckon Mr Rimmer was the cheapest option when Wood left, but I'm in no doubt there's loads of suitable candidates with drive, ambition and the necessary skills to rebuild the game, but the sad reality is they would want a hell of a lot more than 175k

 

Didn’t SL pay double that to Elstone? Why did that achieve?