The $10m question: Did the Dragons choose the right buyer?

[TruSaint]

We can’t. Like it or not, and I wish it was just Saints, the Illawarra side of the merger keeps this club safe.We will never be threatened in any NRL restructuring or introduction of new teams. We won’t be moved to Perth or Brisbane because we are both a Sydney and a regional team. You only have to look at the discussions over the past few days. TV sees a second team in Brisbane as a necessity and long term Perth as well. West Tigers the Titans and Cronulla are suggested as the teams to be looked at and straight away Morrison saysCronulla will not be going anywhere and that the Sharks are the premier club in Southern Sydney. And guess who helps fund the NRL and oversees TV operations....our government. No because Morrison loves being on telly with his beer singing “up up Cronulla...” we need Illawarra. It’s lovely to think we can return to the past,we can’t. Unless a buyer in some future time buys out WIN we stay in our current situation.....but at least we stay safe

Nailed it.

 

[Draginzaaar]

These blokes are utter criminals and this club needs an ICAC investigation going back to the doust era. Would like to know more about the netstrata deal that’s dodgy as 80k a year where sharks get 500k for their swamp from their ground sponsor

The council get $80K not us. Cronulla own their ground, so they get the money for the ground naming.

 

[Slippery Morris]

We will see if they made the right choice in how the handle this season of hell. If they keep it as is for next year then a big fail. If they make changes then that is what TSE would have done so lets wait and see. I can't see a company with that much sporting experience letting this continue as the can see how much it is damaging the brand and the bottom line when it comes to profit.

 

[St Georgio]

St IlIawarra Dripcraps

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

At the end of the day Illawarra Steelers chose WIN.

WIN had propped up Illawarra Steelers for over a decade.

Naturally, Illawarra Steelers management felt indebted to WIN.

St George/Doust chose Johnston as CEO.

Doust had a long history of cooperation with the Gordon family.

Given the poor performance of St George management, TSE probably dodged a bullet in “missing out”.

TSE would have put a broom through the place and gone on to bigger and better things.

 

[BLM01]

Well after reading the article for the 2nd time...my answer would probably be the same as last year...NO

 

[possm]

We will see if they made the right choice in how the handle this season of hell. If they keep it as is for next year then a big fail. If they make changes then that is what TSE would have done so lets wait and see. I can't see a company with that much sporting experience letting this continue as the can see how much it is damaging the brand and the bottom line when it comes to profit.

The next step is to sell St George shares in SGI and half of St George Leagues club shares to TSE for 15m. Leaving 5m in the SGI kitty and using the other 15m to develop the Taj into a profitable entity. Let TSE fight it out with WIN in the Boardroom.

 

[St Georgio]

TSE would have put a broom through the place and gone on to bigger and better things.

1000% Correct, It beggers Belief these ppl truely want to bury the greatest club of all time.

 

[gonz]

TSE would have put a broom through the place and gone on to bigger and better things.

Fact ! A die hard millionaire fan in charge compared to an old Illawarra halfwit who bought it for his son to play with

 

[This Year?]

Stopped reading after Andrew Webster cos although Webster is a Saints fan he is also a biased journo and a wanker. Why couldn't he time this piece better instead of just pissing us all off even more?

*edit* just read the date of the article.

Nice one OP.

PS Webster is still a wanker.

 

[The calm one]

Stopped reading after Andrew Webster cos although Webster is a Saints fan he is also a biased journo and a wanker. Why couldn't he time this piece better instead of just pissing us all off even more?

*edit* just read the date of the article.

Nice one OP.

PS Webster is still a wanker.

Not only that, anyone can say, yeah I would have paid more, me included. Why can they say this? Because they haven't signed on the dotted line or gone to the bank and make a withdrawal. Stay calm

 

[_Johnsy]

This does beg one question.

What is a reasonable time frame for WIN to have made the necessary changes to ensure long term success?

 

[muzby]

The next step is to sell St George shares in SGI and half of St George Leagues club shares to TSE for 15m. Leaving 5m in the SGI kitty and using the other 15m to develop the Taj into a profitable entity. Let TSE fight it out with WIN in the Boardroom.

So St George would have a leagues club but no league team..

This suggestion makes the current management seem like Mensa..

 

[muzby]

This does beg one question.

What is a reasonable time frame for WIN to have made the necessary changes to ensure long term success?

St George answer: immediately
WIN answer: 3-5 years

The true answer: somewhere in between.

 

[gonz]

WIN Corp are not our saviour we sold our soul & if we want more money from them they will want something in return complete ownership.

 

[muzby]

WIN Corp are not our saviour we sold our soul & if we want more money from them they will want something in return complete ownership.

Well they’re not a charity.

Why should they just bail out St George for nothing in return?

If you’d been better at handling your money you wouldn’t find yourself in this situation now, would you?

 

[Brutalitops]

Are people really wondering why a private buying millionaire with plenty of risk wasn't chosen over a stable corporate entity who has a working relationship dating back decades, especially in the era of watching the Knights still only just recovering from Nathan Tinkler?

I am all for calling out this board most of the time but in struggling to care about this one.

 

[mickeylane]

24mnths ago Local sports entertainment company TSE offered Dragons $10m cash to take over the club pay off NRL debt and also lend Steelers club $1.2m with the overall view of turning around the Dragons fortunes and making them a stable powerhouse again . The board in its wisdom accepted the Win deal which only set out to wipe the NRL debt and not invest a cent more into the club .

in the mean time and in its frustration- illawarra based TSE buys the majority shareholding of the beleaguered basketball team the Sydney Kings and in just 12 months goes on to put together a powerhouse board and a winning team structure by replacing non performing coaches/players which has in turn returned the club to the top of the NBL . Last night the Sydney Kings drew the largest ever NBL crowd of 17,500 odd to Qudos bank arena v the Illawarra Hawks and coincidentally won and stayed on top of the league.

The lesson learned here that good operators will always outperform a bunch of rich ass businessmen who have no idea how to run a sporting club or even put together a plan that can be managed or worked towards.

The Dragons project under WIN is just 2 years old and have gone backwards in this period finishing in the clubs worst ever position of 15th this year

The Kings project under TSE - a professional and successful sports Mgt group in the same period have taken the KINGS from 2nd last to the top of the table of a sport that’s not even ranked in the top 5 in this country and somehow the group has generated phenomenal media and punter interest in a sport to eventually draw a record crowd of over 17,000 people last night and consistently draw home crowds this year of 10,000+

That’s what you get when you have professional businessmen who know sport running sporting teams compared to rich muppets who have no experience and are treating the club as a boys get together over a few Sunday afternoon beers - because nothing else can explain the differing trajectories of the 2 sporting clubs during the past 2 years .

TSE was a lost opportunity for the club and unless some gun administrators can come in and lay down some mandatories for the club to follow we will continue to plummet..

 

[getsmarty]

I wonder if TSE took over , whether any of the current board members have been retained ?

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

You reap what you sew.