An emotional Trent Barrett has expressed “disappointment” at Manly chairman Scott Penn going public on his future after the Sea Eagles owner also accused him of acting against the spirit of the club.
Barrett said he would make a public statement in coming days, after both he and the club had previously agreed not to comment on his reported resignation until the NRL season was over.
The soured relationship between coach and club reached a new low after Penn took a swipe at Barrett in an interview with the Daily Telegraph and revealed the club was already looking for an experienced head coach replacement.
“I sat here last week and said I wasn’t going to comment on things that are going on,” Barrett told reporters on Wednesday.
“I’ve had to front up to some pretty heavy press conferences over the past month about it and have declined to comment and tried to do things with a lot of dignity.
“I was a little bit disappointed with what we woke up to today in the Telegraph. But I want to honour what I said that we wouldn’t make public comment on it until the end of the season.
“But in light of this morning we will make a statement in due course.”
Barrett’s long-held frustrations with Manly are believed to stem from a comparative lack of football department resources. Manly are still searching for a recruitment manager while they are also still without a pathways coach and chief operating officer.
Penn insisted earlier this week he had fulfilled all promises made to Barrett when he re-signed last year, given room had been made in the budget for all football department conditions requested.
The chairman then upped the ante in his latest interview, saying: “We are deeply unhappy at what has transpired. There have been decisions made out of our control that aren’t in the spirit of the club.
“We are deeply unhappy at what has transpired,” Penn said. “There have been decisions made out of our control that aren’t in the spirit of the club.
“I think that (accepting Barrett back) would be difficult, really difficult…We would be crazy not to look at the market and look at who is available and what we need.
“And we are looking for proven performers, we are not in a position to back a rookie coach. We tried it, it had strong potential but it seemingly hasn’t worked at this stage.”
Barrett was clearly seething as he addressed reporters, before ending the media conference abruptly .
“It’s tough for me to stand here today and not say anything as well,” Barrett said.
“It’s been difficult. And certainly not something that you want to go through. It’s not just us, it’s the club, players and the families.”
Although Barrett’s position at Manly now appears untenable beyond this season, his players were still expressing hope that he could stay as they prepared to battle to ward off the wooden spoon against the Wests Tigers on Thursday.
“As far as I’m concerned Baz is coaching us next year, we haven’t been told otherwise. We really love having Baz as a coach,” star fullback Tom Trbojevic said.
“Ideally he will be our coach going forward.”