Parramatta appoint new CEO Matt Phelan Outgoing: Former Parramatta CEO Ken Edwards with coach Ricky Stuart. Parramatta chairman Steve Sharp denies the club's next chief executive will be accepting a poisoned chalice and has ruled former club boss Denis Fitzgerald out of the running. The Eels are on the lookout for a new chief after churning through their fifth CEO in four years. Matt Phelan, the club's general manager of operations and strategic planning, will fill the breach on an interim basis after the wooden spooners parted ways with Ken Edwards on Tuesday. There has been speculation that Fitzgerald, known as "The Emperor" during his three decades in charge of the Blue and Golds, could make a shock return. Asked the chances of a comeback, Sharp said: "None. Zero. It's not about digging up the past and bringing it back. I'm very proud of being part of the '80s and of the club's history, but we're not going to relive the '80s. We're going to live in the now. We've got no one in mind at all, we didn't pre-empt the events of yesterday. Since Fitzgerald's departure, the Eels have also moved on Andrew Hill (interim CEO), Paul Osborne, Bob Bentley and now Edwards. However, Sharp refutes suggestions the next appointee is accepting a poisoned chalice. "I don't think it is," he said. This is about a new strategic direction. I would be happy to referee a resume for Ken Edwards, even at the NRL, where they have bigger visions of the place they want to go to. We've got a broken wheel at Parramatta, we want to reengage with our supporters, we want to start filling the stadium out. It's fantastic we've got 17,000 members but we only got 9000 bums on seats last week. We want 17,000 bums on seats. Obviously a winning football team is going to help with that but it's also designed around fostering our heritage as Parramatta, where we live. We're not a satellite suburb out the back bleachers of Sydney, we're basically the centre of the Sydney CBD these days. We want to build it around being that Parramatta entity. Despite the dramas on and off the field, Sharp said he was confident of announcing a new major sponsor by the end of the month. Current backer Pirtek will sever ties at the end of the season. "We've got a number of stakeholders we're talking to at the moment," he said. We appreciate they have stuck solid during the turmoil that's happened at the club and the on-field performance. While there have been numerous changes on and off the field - a dozen players have been told they are surplus to requirements - Sharp is steadfast in his support for coach Ricky Stuart. "Ricky Stuart is certainly the man for us to go forward," he said. Over the next 12-18 months we'll see a dramatic improvement in our fortunes on the football field. Ricky is a competitor and it kills him to lose games of football, that's what I like about him. There's an old saying: 'I hate losing more than I like winning'. If he can instil that into the players in the club, we'll go a long way towards winning more games.