March 22, 2012
THE new Australian Rugby League Commission is discussing the extraordinary option of letting the embattled Gold Coast die and starting from scratch with a new franchise on the south-east Queensland tourist strip.
The ARLC has employed independent auditors from a major Sydney firm who are presently on the Gold Coast and are scheduled to report back this week with a more complete picture of the Titans' financial status.
The club is in dire straits due to debt relating to the Centre of Excellence next to Skilled Park, with some estimations that the total figure owed to financiers the Commonwealth Bank, contractors and others stretches as high as $30 million.
Titans boss Michael Searle, who has a share of nearly 80 per cent in the club, maintains the organisation can get back on track by selling the training facility and property trust, as the football club itself is profitable.
Only three days ago the club signed Dave Taylor to a four-year contract worth a reported $1.8 million. Searle said last night claims that the Titans owe close to $30 million are ''a lie and completely misleading''.
However, the
Herald has learnt that a series of options have been drawn up by the ARLC to combat the crisis should the troubles of the Titans' property arm impact gravely on the lifespan of the club.
They include a possible bailout and parachuting in of a new administration to run the Titans or, potentially, to allow the winding-up of the club and establish a replacement entity on the Gold Coast under a new licence. In such a scenario a Gold Coast team could stay in the NRL but possibly with a new name, logo and colours.
The latter is a last-resort alternative as the ARLC is concerned about alienating the public in a competitive sports market where the AFL is driving enormous funding to back their franchise, the Suns.
The members of the ARLC met on Tuesday and the Titans' problems were a key subject. Speaking yesterday, ARLC chief executive David Gallop would not detail the plans being weighed up by the new body running the game but said that auditors would have an assessment of the Titans' financial position shortly.
''Clearly it's a concern and we're in constant dialogue with Michael. There are a range of options but it's too early to say which option will be needed,'' Gallop said. ''It's not appropriate to go into what was discussed [on Tuesday] but clearly the commission were given a full update of where things are at.
''We are currently gathering as much information as we can regarding the financial position of the property investment and the football club. We've got some outside people assisting us with that and hopefully that information will be available in the next few days.''
Searle, one of the architects of the rugby league's independent commission and a visionary who set up the annual All Stars game, has been left to scramble as the Titans' property arm, Gold Coast Titans (Property) Pty Ltd, comes under pressure.
Despite spiralling property prices hitting hard on the anticipated value of the Centre of Excellence, he is adamant the Titans will survive and escape the maelstrom by selling the facility. They also plan to restructure the football club with the introduction of a partly independent board made up of two or three prominent Gold Coast figures as well as those with capital invested in the club.
Searle said last night the decision had been made to sell the Centre of Excellence. He also brushed off concerns that its sale price may not come close to matching the Titans' debt, and that the Titans' future was in immediate danger. ''We've made a decision to get rid of it,'' he said. ''We would only sell it if we eliminated all the debt - we're not going to sell it and say 'we still owe money'. We'll work with our bankers to come up with a solution. It's not as if it's not going to sell.''
Searle admitted he had approached the NRL late last year for funding support but said that was primarily to combat the AFL's insurgency on the Gold Coast. Searle claimed that request was the reason ARLC auditors were in town.
The sale of the Centre of Excellence would, in fact, benefit the football club significantly by easing costs, he said. ''The financial position of the club in 2013 is even stronger than it is in 2012,'' he said. ''We're profitable in 2012 and in '13 we're profitable again and with the [sale] of the property trust relieving the debt, we're $1.5 million a year better off.''
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rug...do-with-struggling-titans-20120321-1vkcq.html
Just be like Russell has a failure of a club and for a measly 30 mil so can you 
