Money is being wasted left, right and centre at City Tatts.
Nowhere is there greater waste than in the inflated salaries given to top management for dismal performance. Here is an introduction to where members money is being wasted on salaries.
Tony Guilfoyle
Guilfoyle has been a failure as CEO from day one. Almost everything he has tried has been a flop. If you were to examine his top 10 projects as CEO, whether restaurants, building jobs, property purchases or just general management duties, you would find that 9 of them are failures, sometimes hilariously so. In fact, you will have to look hard to find the one that is a success. But a track record of failure is no longer a barrier for top management at City Tatts. Instead they get increases and bonuses. Here is what City Tatts has paid Guilfoyle since he became CEO -
Year Ended 31 December 2004 $410,000
Year Ended 31 December 2005 $410,000
Year Ended 31 December 2006 $430,000
Year Ended 31 December 2007 $430,000
Year Ended 31 December 2008 $460,000
Year Ended 31 December 2009 $530,000
Year Ended 31 December 2010 $540,000
Year Ended 31 December 2011 $540,000
Some things about City Tatts are so strange that it is no wonder people don't believe them when they are told for the first time. Here is someone who clearly has no ability of any kind to run the Club and yet he has been given $3,750,000 in 8 years. And the best part is - he is only there 3 days a week !
Michelle Abbey - Million Dollar Baby !
Michelle Abbey was the first high profile appointment by Guilfoyle after he became CEO. She was paid an insane salary of $250,000 per year as Marketing Director and was a total failure. In the four years she was at the Club she received a cool $1 million. She would not have brought in enough revenue to cover her own salary, never mind contribute anything to the Club.
She is also a perfect example of everything that has gone wrong with City Tatts. The whole notion of a Marketing Director on $250,000 at City Tattersalls Club is ridiculous. The Club's facilities, lacation and tradition provide all the promotion necessary. City Tatts was a thriving club for years without any Marketing Director. And, with the greatly increased population living in the city centre, it should be doing even better now.
There is another reason why paying someone $250,000 a year to promote the Club is nonsense. At the same time that Guilfoyle hired her to promote the Club, he started to take away the very things that used to bring people to the Club ! So the Smorgasboard (probably the Club's greatest attraction) was closed down, Then entertainment was reduced and eventually stopped. Other restaurants and bars were closed before spending millions on new restaurants and bars that members rejected. It simply makes no sense to pay huge salaries to attract people to the Club while you remove the very things that have proven in the past to attract people to the Club.
Members are being deceived in other ways by these insane salaries. By paying someone $250,000 a year, Guilfoyle is trying to convince everyone that City Tatts is a large complex business that is difficult to run. In fact, it is a very simple operation that anyone could run using basic common sense. If you stopped somebody at random walking past the front door they would run the Club better than it is now.
Trevelyan Bale
Trevelyan Bale was a chef who was hired on a salary of $250,000. That, in itself, tells you how insane City Tatts had become by then. The idea of paying $250,000 for a chef in any club is madness but squandering members' money was in full swing by then. (Bale's salary dropped to around the $200,000 mark later - we're not sure why.) Meanwhile, of course, the majority of the staff were paid minimum wages.
It goes without saying that he was a total failure. During the time he was there, restaurants were probably the worst performing part of the Club. The losses racked up while he was in charge were staggering. Someone calculated that restaurants and bars lost over $4 million while he was there. Obviously his own bloated salary contributed to these losses, but aside from that there must have been astonishing incompetence to lose that kind of money.
What is even more amazing is that restaurants and bars used to do well at City Tatts. In the past they were run much better by people on half that salary. And don't forget that back then each restaurant had it's own kitchen. By the time Bale arrived the Club had a centralised kitchen which was supposed to provide big savings. So, if anything, it should have been easier for him. So, either he is even more incompetent than he appears or the centralised kitchen was another grandiose building project that failed.
Jan Elks
Jan Elks is Guilfoyle's secretary. We are not sure what her qualifications were to get the job but it should be a fairly easy job given that Guilfoyle is only there three days a week on average. But this is City Tatts, so it will not surprise you to learn that she is now paid $135,000 a year ! That's right - City Tatts pays Jan Elks $135,000 a year.
This is how members' money is being wasted. Do you really think that Jan Elks would get $135,000 a year if Kevin Smith or Bill Hurley were paying it from their own pockets ? Not a chance - but if members are paying it (and the members don't know) then don't worry about it. Incidentally, we have checked around the CBD and the maximum salary for what she actually does is $50,000. So, how much has she been overpaid in the five years she's been there - $200,000? $300,000? How's that for waste ?
Save City Tatts Committee
There is another aspect to paying these insane salaries. By paying someone $250,000 a year, Guilfoyle istrying to convince everyone that City Tatts is a very complex business that is difficult to run. In faxt, the Club is avery ple operation that anyone could run using basic common semse. If you stopped someone at random walking past the front door and asked them to run the Club they would do it better than Guilfoy
Monday 21 May 2012
Sunday 13 May 2012
City Tattersalls Club, Sydney's leading club - for excuses !
One of the best indications that someone can't do their job is the amount of excuses they use. Ever since Tony Guilfoyle got the top job at City Tatts, members have been subjected to a barrage of jargon, hype and propaganda like never before. There is an underlying thread to this propaganda onslaught - they are all excuses to hide his inability to run the Club.
City Tatts is a very simple operation. It has a few bars and restaurants and 400 poker machines. In the past every part of the Club was easily managed and no excuses were necessary.
The list of excuses used in recent years has grown so big that it's hard to remember them all. So to help you, here is a selection of the excuses used since 2006, together with the reality they are trying to hide. Some of these are truly hilarious, although they show the decline of a once great club.
"..the difficulty of being landlocked on all sides.." (John Healy December 2006)
City Tatts owns a large building in a fantastic location in the centre of Sydney. The passing trade alone guarantees a successful club. Only a complete idiot (or a con-artist) would see that as a disadvantage.
"..we are behind on our building works program due to Management of the operations being directed towards Member issues.." (John Healy June 2007)
It was Healy's decision to embark on a spiteful campaign to reduce members rights - no one forced him to do that. Besides, what possible effect would that have on a building program ?
"..being able to position the Club closer to the Pitt & Market Street intersection and the Pitt Street Mall is of huge significance.." (John Healy March 2008 on buying 194 Pitt St)
When you read something like this you have to wonder if Healy even read it himself before he sent it to members. This is coming from the man who thought our city centre location was a disadvantage. Now he is happy to spend $9 million on an old run-down building - to get us 6 metres closer to the corner. Basically, he is trying to convince us (or himself) that everything in the Club would be so much better if only we were 6 metres closer to the corner ! But the most hilarious part of all this is that, to this day, the additional street frontage has never been used. Now that is something of huge significance !
"..the club continues to trade reasonably well in spite of all the negativity which is being peddled by the media.." (John Kennedy May 2009)
Yes, he actually said that. It's a pity he never stopped to ask why City Tatts was the only club in Sydney whose trade was affected by this "media negativity".
"The closure of Centrepoint has impacted negatively on club trading.." (John Kennedy November 2009)
They used this excuse for about 2 years. The only problem was that the re-opening of Centrepoint did not impact positively on club trading - which exposed this "explanation" for the excuse it always was.
"..a postal ballot...will cost the club of a minimum $30,000.." (John Kennedy August 2010)
Obviously Kennedy feels that money spent on members is wasted. But in the same magazine he talks about a "research trip" to Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong but does not mention the cost. It cost $56,000 for 4 people ! (including Kennedy)
The other hilarious aspect of the "research trip" is the reference to how casinos in Macau have coped with "the restrictions on Visas for mainland Chinese". Apparently, "their strategies will be of great interest as to whether they are applicable to the CTC circumstances" !! Really ? How Exactly ? Is Clover Moore going to require visas to travel from Parramatta to Sydney CBD ?
"..abnormal expenses were attributable to a handful of members.." (John Kennedy February 2011)
The handful of members were the ones who knew how badly the Club was being run and consistently tried to alert other members before it was too late. Kennedy knows he should have taken action years before on Guilfoyle's incompetence. That would have removed the cause of member protests. The "handful of members" were doing what Kennedy should have done.
"..there will be ongoing costs to adequately defend this matter.." (John Kennedy February 2011 on the Supreme Court case)
Another blatant attempt to deceive members. What Kennedy does not say is that the member took action in the Supreme Court only after the Club refused to have the case heard by an independent arbitrator - where Kennedy would have to prove his allegations, not have them "rubber-stamped" by a weak committee. The Committee are entirely responsible for the costs of the Supreme Court case (now up to $150,000).
"..the recent long period of wet weather didn't help matters.." (Patrick Campion May 2012 "explaining" the Club's poor trading)
Well, it had to happen. It was only a matter of time before someone blamed the weather for how City Tatts is doing !
Save City Tatts Committee
.
City Tatts is a very simple operation. It has a few bars and restaurants and 400 poker machines. In the past every part of the Club was easily managed and no excuses were necessary.
The list of excuses used in recent years has grown so big that it's hard to remember them all. So to help you, here is a selection of the excuses used since 2006, together with the reality they are trying to hide. Some of these are truly hilarious, although they show the decline of a once great club.
"..the difficulty of being landlocked on all sides.." (John Healy December 2006)
City Tatts owns a large building in a fantastic location in the centre of Sydney. The passing trade alone guarantees a successful club. Only a complete idiot (or a con-artist) would see that as a disadvantage.
"..we are behind on our building works program due to Management of the operations being directed towards Member issues.." (John Healy June 2007)
It was Healy's decision to embark on a spiteful campaign to reduce members rights - no one forced him to do that. Besides, what possible effect would that have on a building program ?
"..being able to position the Club closer to the Pitt & Market Street intersection and the Pitt Street Mall is of huge significance.." (John Healy March 2008 on buying 194 Pitt St)
When you read something like this you have to wonder if Healy even read it himself before he sent it to members. This is coming from the man who thought our city centre location was a disadvantage. Now he is happy to spend $9 million on an old run-down building - to get us 6 metres closer to the corner. Basically, he is trying to convince us (or himself) that everything in the Club would be so much better if only we were 6 metres closer to the corner ! But the most hilarious part of all this is that, to this day, the additional street frontage has never been used. Now that is something of huge significance !
"..the club continues to trade reasonably well in spite of all the negativity which is being peddled by the media.." (John Kennedy May 2009)
Yes, he actually said that. It's a pity he never stopped to ask why City Tatts was the only club in Sydney whose trade was affected by this "media negativity".
"The closure of Centrepoint has impacted negatively on club trading.." (John Kennedy November 2009)
They used this excuse for about 2 years. The only problem was that the re-opening of Centrepoint did not impact positively on club trading - which exposed this "explanation" for the excuse it always was.
"..a postal ballot...will cost the club of a minimum $30,000.." (John Kennedy August 2010)
Obviously Kennedy feels that money spent on members is wasted. But in the same magazine he talks about a "research trip" to Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong but does not mention the cost. It cost $56,000 for 4 people ! (including Kennedy)
The other hilarious aspect of the "research trip" is the reference to how casinos in Macau have coped with "the restrictions on Visas for mainland Chinese". Apparently, "their strategies will be of great interest as to whether they are applicable to the CTC circumstances" !! Really ? How Exactly ? Is Clover Moore going to require visas to travel from Parramatta to Sydney CBD ?
"..abnormal expenses were attributable to a handful of members.." (John Kennedy February 2011)
The handful of members were the ones who knew how badly the Club was being run and consistently tried to alert other members before it was too late. Kennedy knows he should have taken action years before on Guilfoyle's incompetence. That would have removed the cause of member protests. The "handful of members" were doing what Kennedy should have done.
"..there will be ongoing costs to adequately defend this matter.." (John Kennedy February 2011 on the Supreme Court case)
Another blatant attempt to deceive members. What Kennedy does not say is that the member took action in the Supreme Court only after the Club refused to have the case heard by an independent arbitrator - where Kennedy would have to prove his allegations, not have them "rubber-stamped" by a weak committee. The Committee are entirely responsible for the costs of the Supreme Court case (now up to $150,000).
"..the recent long period of wet weather didn't help matters.." (Patrick Campion May 2012 "explaining" the Club's poor trading)
Well, it had to happen. It was only a matter of time before someone blamed the weather for how City Tatts is doing !
Save City Tatts Committee
.
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