Andrew Johns sacked from Knights in 2011

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Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
NEWCASTLE legend Andrew Johns has been forced to walk away from his part-time coaching role at the Knights after being told the club couldn't afford him.

In a move that will leave Newcastle fans stunned and provide further ammunition for supporters of mining magnate Nathan Tinkler's takeover bid, Johns and the Knights have parted company after failing to reach agreement over a new contract for 2011.

It comes less than a fortnight after the Knights rejected a $10 million offer from Tinkler to buy the club.

The split effectively ends Johns' 21-year direct association with Newcastle.

It will be the first time since 1989, when he joined the Knights as a fresh-faced teenager, that he will not be at the club in some capacity.

Incredibly, the halfback of the century will be working with rival clubs Melbourne, Canberra and Manly next season as well as new Super 15 rugby franchise Melbourne Rebels, but not for the club where he won two premierships and was lauded as the best player in the world.

Johns was reluctant to discuss the issue yesterday, but he did confirm there had been a parting of the ways.

"I'm not going to be there next season but I don't want to say anything, mate. You're better off talking to someone at the club about it," Johns said.

Those close to Johns claim he is devastated at having to walk away.

It is understood he had been negotiating with the Knights for close to two months but was finally forced to make other arrangements just over a week ago after the club failed to meet a deadline.

"They didn't want to pay him the money and he had other offers ... so that's where it ended," a source close to Johns said.

Knights chief executive Steve Burraston said he wasn't made aware of any deadline during negotiations.

"Joey asked for an increase which we were finding hard to justify within our football budget, but I was under the impression negotiations were on-going," Burraston said.

"We had a meeting during the week and were looking at asking him what he would charge us per session and taking it from there.

"I can assure you we didn't want to cut him off."

Since Johns' forced retirement in 2007, he has worked in a specialised part-time coaching role, mentoring the likes of Kurt Gidley and Jarrod Mullen and a host of the club's young halves under coaches Brian Smith and Rick Stone.

He was expected to play a major role next season in the development of the club's new halfback from St George Illawarra, Beau Henry, a player Johns recommended to the Knights.

Johns' manager John Fordham said all lines of communication regarding negotiations with the Knights ended last week.
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http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-knights-in-2011/story-e6frexnr-1225957322805
 
Wow, I can't believe this. Especially with Henry coming into the top grade, it was to be expected that Joey would nurture him. The club should be ashamed of this...
 
Why should the club be ahsamed of this?

If anything Joey should be willing to lower his fee to be an ongoing coach for the Knights. Either way, it is no loss on either side.. it is obvious that Joey hasn't done much for Mullen. Gidley is his own player now as well, I expect them to probably do better given they haven't got the weight of "but Joey trained you" on their shoulders.

At the end of the day though, who knows how it will affect them (contradicting I know, but what can you do) hopefuly it won't reflect poorly on us on the field.
 
I agree with Kajee, imo he should be doing it for the love of the club anyway, not for the money. This might sound a bit harsh but i think it's pretty odd that he works with other clubs too. I mean FFS, he played his career with the knights and really...........the only team he should be helping out is Newcastle, and Newcastle only.

Put it this way, if he was helping out the knights and no other teams, there would no thought of sacking him.
 
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He was going to work hard with beau henry though, this is a shame and a bit of a disgrace!! He charges all teams guys, the guys gotta earn money!
 
I also find the thread title a little misleading, we didn't sack him.. we just didn't extend his contract.
 
This is a joke.

Actually the club is a joke, one of the richest guys in Australia in Nathan Tinkler is willing to privatise the club out of his own good will and cash and turn this team into a powerhouse but NOO. Now we can't even afford to keep Joey on board, the greatest player there ever was to keep training with us.

Joey working with the Knights was probably one of the main reasons Henry decided to make the move aswell, if we didn't decline Tinkler, Joey would still be with us next season, oh this sort of stuff ****s me to tears.
 
Can someone tell me Joey's credentials when it comes to training halves? like who has really blossomed under his tuition? From memory he has coached at the Knights, Parramatta and the Bulldogs. The knights just bought a new halfback, Parramatta couldnt settle on a halfback, and the bulldogs just bought two new halves.

Like is this really the end of the world? He sounds like he has a little Ricky Stuart about him when it comes to training halves.

Sure the club looks bad in all of this. But its nothing we havent seen before, why do you think Brian Smith is coaching at the roosters and we went with a rookie coach.

And Honestly, if the club couldnt afford him, he must be asking for a bit of money. And for what he does, spend a couple of sessions a week up here, is probably not worth it.
 
Regardless of the circumstances, if the reason for joey leaving was money he should be fu@king ashamed of himself
 
I'm not too bothered either way. We couldn't afford him, he needed to make some definite arrangements.

He's probably the best tutor out there (I know he hasn't coached a set of halves to the premiership or anything, but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - he hasn't been working with much at most of the clubs he's been with). But the existing coaches should be able to do their job and guide Henry into the top grade.

It's a shame he isn't officially aligned to the Knights right now, but he will be again down the track.

Pretty nutty blaming Johns for wanting too much money, when we have no idea how much he's charging, and how much he's charging in relation to other clubs ... and he is a human being who needs to earn money, not a charity worker!
 
Off the topic at hand, there has been a hell load of Knights articles in the DT over the past few weeks. Looks like we're finally getting some media coverage, even though most of it has been bad.
 
"the club couldn't afford him" ......... what a joke ....... not a way you treat club greats at all ...... heads should roll .......
 
As someone said though... he hardly comes up to Newcastle anyway for trainings.

Once a fortnight isn't enough... shame he cant help Beau but he has been a jinx for alot of teams.

NSW halves haven't improved, Raiders lost the semi when he helped out.

It's a shame he isn't apart of the club anymore in some capacity but who knows, he might be back.
 
-AK- said:
As someone said though... he hardly comes up to Newcastle anyway for trainings.

Once a fortnight isn't enough... shame he cant help Beau but he has been a jinx for alot of teams.

NSW halves haven't improved, Raiders lost the semi when he helped out.

It's a shame he isn't apart of the club anymore in some capacity but who knows, he might be back.
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He came up heaps this year!!
Its true he isnt gonna win anything for us but god i wanted him to work with Henry
 
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