Cheeky Watson
The EP Kings have expressed their disappointment after former coach Carlos Spencer voiced his dissatisfaction at unpaid wages.
Spencer earlier this week parted ways with the Kings and – through his attorney David Jones – the former All Black has attributed his departure from the Kings to their continued troubles in meeting wage obligations.
The Kings on Thursday insisted that Spencer and his lawyers’ claims were “simply not true”.
“The initial problems we had with Carlos’ salary was due to his insistence of having his funds paid into an offshore account,” EP Rugby President, Cheeky Watson, said via a media statement.
Watson said this resulted in delays that arose out of the administrative compliance and paperwork issues.
“While we have experienced a cash delay for July’s salaries, due to a delay in the sponsorship administrative process, we have been working tirelessly to address this issue and have communicated this to all our staff and players, who have been very patient and supportive,” said Watson.
Watson also expressed his disappointment in the allegations by Spencer that he had been pushed out of the head coach role.
“Carlos was originally appointed as our backline skills coach, and on his request he was promoted to head coach for our debut Currie Cup season, where the Kings suffered nine successive losses in a ten match season,” continued Watson.
Watson said when Mzwandile Stick was appointed head coach for the Vodacom Cup, Spencer had distanced himself from the team and following the appointment of Brent Janse van Rensburg as the new head coach.
Watson said Spencer had stopped attending any coaching meetings and even stopped attending training sessions.
“It is really sad that Carlos has made these statements as we had hoped to part on amicable terms. Despite the disappointing results, we had a lot of respect for Carlos and for his accomplishments,” he said.
Watson said rumours around Spencer’s departure being linked to the Kings not being prepared for their return to Super Rugby were laughable.
“Before Super Rugby in 2013, we were playing in the B Division and had less than 5 months to prepare, as the announcement of our participation was only made in August 2012. Yet the Southern Kings went on to perform and produced the best results to date of any debut team entering the competition. Not to mention the fact that they secured the 3rd highest attendance of the year, across all franchises, due to their courage, character and commitment displayed on the field.
“This time round, we have had 2 years to prepare, including participation at Currie Cup Premier Division level, where our players have gone head-to-head against players from the other franchises. We are confident that the Southern Kings’ return to the expanded Super Rugby competition in 2016 will deliver even better results than their debut performance in 2013,” said Watson.
Cheeky is very, very economical with the truth, to say the least!
He admits they did not pay July salaries and the reason or explanation simply does not wash!
He further admits that payments to Carlos were often not on time… but tries to place the blame on Carlos.
Not good enough Cheeky….
If you wanted to come out lily white from this, you would have had to give the dates on which you paid the Players and Carlos & staff for the last few years… would have been very easy, by way of a simple Spreadsheet and supporting documents… but no, it’s easier to lie and try and eye-blind people… that’s the nature of YOUR character!
Details like that is very easy to check and verify…
Now suddenly this magical Sponsor (whom I believe – and it is not in this article above) amounts to something like R 200 Million Rand.
Yeah right, none of the big SA Franchises are even able to get sponsors for amounts like that, now you are telling us the lowly Southern Kings will do so? Pull the other one!
The Kings did well in the 1st 3 Super Rugby games of 2013…. then gradually fell further and further out of the bus, and this time in 2016 it will be worse.
Now if there was a shred of truth in the fact that 2 years of preparations, via the Currie Cup Premier Division, would leave the Southern Kings better prepared for Super Rugby, then surely one would also have expected their self-same CXurrie Cup results to have gotten better and better over these past 2 years… something which has not happened at all!
Just stop the bullshit and hit the road fella… you are an embarressment to yourself and your ilk and to Eastern Cape Rugby!