More NRL clubs in financial strife!

[Xman]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/t ... 6311821227

ARL Commission chief executive David Gallop has revealed in a memo to all club bosses that the Titans are one of "a number of clubs" in financial trouble.

In an angry missive obtained by The Daily Telegraph, Gallop took exception to a report in The Australian newspaper on Saturday that quoted an unnamed source who claimed the NRL had "never been interested " in seeing their financial records.

There is a strong belief among the clubs that Gallop and NRL management should have stepped in earlier to prevent the Titans from slipping into a black hole of $25 million of debt.

In the email, sent on Saturday afternoon, Gallop ordered clubs to conduct their own witch-hunt to find the source of the leak - and wanted to set the record straight.

"I would further remind clubs that as part of the formation of the commission, a complete set of financials across all 16 clubs was received and formed as part of the due diligence process," Gallop said. "As much as the Titans issue is problematic for us all, the 'unidentified' spokespeople in the equation are fuelling a difficult situation with false information that is anything but helpful."

Of greater concern is Gallop's admission that the Titans have not been the only ones facing severe financial stress.

"There has been an ongoing requirement for all clubs since the year 2000 to provide ongoing financial reports and there has been close investigation of any club with financial issues," Gallop said in the email. "The Gold Coast has been one of a number of clubs in that latter group for some time."

The Sharks, Penrith and Manly are among those presently doing it tough.

Said Gallop last night: "It's not unusual to advance the monthly grant to clubs with cashflow problems, which often occurs during the off-season.

"Before those advances are made, we look carefully at clubs' financial position and ability to catch up on the grant. It happens reasonably regularly."

Now before Dave comes in with his usual excuse, these are DGs quotes, not others.

[cos789]

By everybody's reaction nobody is surprised.
So Titans are sunk. (yet again karma steps in).
Sharks, Penrith and Manly is severe financial difficulty.
All the rest are in financial difficulty bar two.

I can just hear the Broncos saying "we belong in the AFL not in this bunch of losers".

[Beaussie]

By everybody's reaction nobody is surprised.

Of course not. We've all known for a long time now how stuffed financially the NRL and its clubs are.

Financial basketcases galore with 14 of the 16 clubs broke.

Way to go NRL.

[cos789]

Do you think the AFL will buy up a few of these clubs?
Could have them as curtain raisers to GWS games!

[Xman]

Do you think the AFL will buy up a few of these clubs?
Could have them as curtain raisers to GWS games!

Why? This could cause problems. No one would go to the ground early so the massive crowd entering the main game aka AFL, would all arrive on the first bounce.

[cos789]

The Sharks are desperate for the proposal to go ahead as they will receive a $10m cash injection within 90 days of it being approved in a deal hammered out between the club, St George Bank and development consortium Bluestone Capital. It will help alleviate their $13m debt.

The club is operating on a shoestring budget and has already gone cap in hand to the ARL Commission a number of times to receive an early handout of its $3.8m grant.

NRL clubs have expressed concerns behind the scenes that if the proposal is knocked back by the government, the ARLC could have another Gold Coast Titans case on its hands as the Sharks would be unlikely to find another way to service their debt.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/n ... 6317971536

[Beaussie]

The Sharks need to get in line. There is alrady a long line of desperate clubs already at ARLC HQ with their hands out begging for assistance. That's how they roll in the NRL.