‘Wasn’t actually sacked by the club’: Penrith Panthers CEO makes Phil Gould claim amid rumoured Ivan Cleary rift
Penrith Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher has claimed Phil Gould personally sacked Ivan Cleary in 2015, rather than it being a club-made decision.
Ahead of the Panthers’ grand final clash with the Brisbane Broncos on Sunday, their club boss made a quick but notable claim about Cleary’s departure eight years ago.
Panthers CEO says Ivan Cleary ‘wasn’t actually sacked by the club’
Cleary was dismissed as Penrith’s head coach late in 2015, with the club narrowly avoiding the wooden spoon.
Gould was Penrith’s general manager at the time — a role he currently holds at the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
Their CEO has now claimed that the club did not opt to sack Cleary, with Gould making the decision himself.
“He wasn’t actually sacked by the club,” Fletcher told 2DAY FM’s Hughesy, Ed & Erin.
“He was sacked by Phil Gould.”
Cleary was replaced by Anthony Griffin the following season, but he only lasted for three years of his four-year deal.
The Panthers then opted to reinstate Cleary as coach in 2019, where he oversaw them claim a 10th-place finish.
Since then, the club has dominated the NRL, playing in three consecutive grand finals and winning two of them.
When asked by host Erin Molan whether it was the wrong decision to let Cleary go in 2015, Fletcher had a simple response.
“Well, it looks like it,” he said
The Panthers will now look to secure an historic three-peat when they take on the Broncos in the 2023 decider on Sunday evening.
The club’s CEO believes their recent experience on the big stage will put them in good stead.
“[The organisation] is in pretty good shape at the moment—playing in four [consecutive] grand finals is something you dream of,” he said.
“The good part about it is we’ve been there so we know what to do.
“And the only thing we’ve got to do now is win the game.”
Phil Gould shuts down Ivan Cleary rift rumours
Prior to Brad Fittler’s resignation as the NSW Blues coach on Thursday, there were talks of a return to the State of Origin coaching arena for Gould as an assistant or advisor.
One potential roadblock for Gould’s return is a perceived feud with Cleary, who returned to the Panthers once the former head of football was let go by the club.
Speaking on Six Tackles With Gus, the 65-year-old shut down any issue with the current Penrith coach.
“There is no issue between me and Ivan and there never has been,” Gould said earlier this week.
“One of the things I did say to him [Fittler] is he should have a current-day coach.
“A current-day coach, even just for game day, is very helpful—particularly in the coaches’ box—because Brad Fittler is coaching three games a year.
“He’s not used to interchanges, dealing with head bins and injuries, and Ivan popped in for the last game.”
Cleary sat in the box with Fittler for the final game of this year’s series, helping the Blues avoid a clean-sweep series loss to the star-studded Maroons.
