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WIN TAKE OVER

muzby

Village Idiot
Staff member
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Brutalitops

Juniors
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2,333
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...n/news-story/84c319c78c62e01c34babce7a017c2bc

D-Day looms for St George Illawarra’s hopes of selling the club to WIN Corporation with the company’s multimillion-dollar owner Bruce Gordon due in Sydney by the end of this month to finalise talks.

Discussions have finally heated up again between the Dragons and WIN after they were put on the backburner because of WIN’s very public desire to snap up Channel 10.

But having missed out on the television network it is understood Gordon’s focus will now shift to purchasing 50 per cent of St George Illawarra when he flies in from his Bermuda home within days.

Gordon’s imp ending arrival has renewed hopes the prolonged talks could be finalised as early as Christmas with this round of negotiations key to determining if there is a future in the partnership.

The Dragons have been sounded out by other potential buyers but will not advance negotiations with another party until they come to a finalisation with WIN — who are the club’s preferred partner.

Gordon’s son Andrew already sits on the St George Illawarra board and has played a key role in talks which have been going on for the past two years.

WIN was given a seat on the Dragons board after paying about $9 million to allow the Illawarra Steelers Leagues Club to pay back its debts to St George Leagues Club.

They would buy out the rest of the Steelers share and have three representatives on the board. St George would have a further three while the Steelers will keep a place on the board but that person will not have full voting rights.

A large chunk of the payout would clear the remaining debt the Dragons have to the NRL.

The Dragons also owe less than $6 million after making a $600,000 repayment to the NRL last month
 
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3,582
This seems very unlikely

Gordon recently lost approx $126M on the Channel 10 debacle

Clearly unwilling to spend money during last round of talks

Offered NRL advertising time in exchange for debt

Not the actions of a guy who is genuinely interested in progressing the purchase of Illawarra's portion of the JV.

Its about time the JV sought out interested suitors who have the financial capacity and business expertise to make our club a winner on and off the field.
 
Messages
2,866
This seems very unlikely

Gordon recently lost approx $126M on the Channel 10 debacle

Clearly unwilling to spend money during last round of talks

Offered NRL advertising time in exchange for debt

Not the actions of a guy who is genuinely interested in progressing the purchase of Illawarra's portion of the JV.

Its about time the JV sought out interested suitors who have the financial capacity and business expertise to make our club a winner on and off the field.
Should this scenario play out, does that mean we can go back to being "St.George" instead of the JV convolution?
 
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3,582
Should this scenario play out, does that mean we can go back to being "St.George" instead of the JV convolution?

Good question Dennis

Am unsure when the JV and NRL licence comes up for renewal.

That is the sort of question any major investment group that is interested in the NRL licence will need to consider.

Running 2 home grounds and training at 2 different facilities makes no sense and I am sure is one of the reasons the Club struggles financially.

If the NRL had its way we would play out of one of the 2 major ground developments which would disenfranchise the Illawarra side more than the St.George side.

We all know that the Illawarra side of the JV are heavily reliant on WIN for financial support however I don't see any appetite on the part of St.George side of the JV to assume the whole financial responsibility for the NRL licence.

The 2 parties have been joined at the hip for some time now.

Illawarra have a larger junior base.

St.George has the brand and the history.

What the JV needs is:

1) better corporate governance and the dismantling of the old boys club with admin and coaching positions decided on the basis of merit
2) A strong investor with business acumen and an understanding of the brand before the brand completely disintegrates.
 

BennyV

Referee
Messages
22,441
Good question Dennis

Am unsure when the JV and NRL licence comes up for renewal.

That is the sort of question any major investment group that is interested in the NRL licence will need to consider.

Running 2 home grounds and training at 2 different facilities makes no sense and I am sure is one of the reasons the Club struggles financially.

If the NRL had its way we would play out of one of the 2 major ground developments which would disenfranchise the Illawarra side more than the St.George side.

We all know that the Illawarra side of the JV are heavily reliant on WIN for financial support however I don't see any appetite on the part of St.George side of the JV to assume the whole financial responsibility for the NRL licence.

The 2 parties have been joined at the hip for some time now.

Illawarra have a larger junior base.

St.George has the brand and the history.

What the JV needs is:

1) better corporate governance and the dismantling of the old boys club with admin and coaching positions decided on the basis of merit
2) A strong investor with business acumen and an understanding of the brand before the brand completely disintegrates.
If we had #1, we wouldn't need #2. Give our leagues clubs BoD who were more interested in its success than lining their own pockets and it would thrive - the location and demographic are begging for a top line leagues club with real entertainment facilities.

Take the same approach to the Football Club (proper governance and management concerned with the success of the club) and we could use the funding from the LC to be the powerhouse we deserve to be.

We don't need a Bruce Gordon. I have a bad feeling that this acquisition won't end well.
 

AyiosYiorgos

Coach
Messages
13,483
Good question Dennis

Am unsure when the JV and NRL licence comes up for renewal.

That is the sort of question any major investment group that is interested in the NRL licence will need to consider.

Running 2 home grounds and training at 2 different facilities makes no sense and I am sure is one of the reasons the Club struggles financially.

If the NRL had its way we would play out of one of the 2 major ground developments which would disenfranchise the Illawarra side more than the St.George side.

We all know that the Illawarra side of the JV are heavily reliant on WIN for financial support however I don't see any appetite on the part of St.George side of the JV to assume the whole financial responsibility for the NRL licence.

The 2 parties have been joined at the hip for some time now.

Illawarra have a larger junior base.

St.George has the brand and the history.

What the JV needs is:

1) better corporate governance and the dismantling of the old boys club with admin and coaching positions decided on the basis of merit
2) A strong investor with business acumen and an understanding of the brand before the brand completely disintegrates.

We dont run 2 home grounds nor do we train out of 2 different facilities, all Training is run out of Wollongong with a couple of token training sessions at Kogarah, we dont own the grounds, we lease Kogarah, which is the councils responsibility to keep it in shape..
Also you would think if other business are interested in purchasing the Illawarra portion that the Dragons would be talking to them, not waiting for Gordon to get back to them a year later, it also must be a conflict of interest in having his Son on the board due to the possible discussion WIN and the non discussions with the other potential suitors...This possible sale to WIN reminds me when Liverpool FC was sold to the "preferred buyer" Hicks/Gillett the stupid Yanks who had no idea, yet at the time they had potentially better buyers available...
 
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Gareth67

First Grade
Messages
8,406
I had always hoped that WIN would be the club's saviour, however as Ayios Yiorgos has mentioned, there have been other suitors who are out there , perhaps better ones at that.

The fact that they are there and the Joint Venture has basically put them on hold , whilst they await Bruce Gordon to come to the table in December is expecting too much . This is yet another example of the administration's unproductive thinking . Those potential suitors should had been listened to , at least to discover what they were offering .

The Dragon boardroom already knew just what Mr Gordon had on the table - peanuts . To me I would be wanting a hell of a lot more than a $6 mill. debt paid out for one of the famous rugby league brands in the world .

Let's hope that should we finally find our saviour, that they do indeed have not only the money to pump into our club, but also the business-savvy administrators that will ensure that the Dragons will once again be the envy of the NRL .
 
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Mickthedragon

Juniors
Messages
1,673
If this happens and the place gets a clean out, ill be renewing my families membership asap. Not sure i believe it yet though.
 

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