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Warriors to be sold?

Skinner

Coach
Messages
13,581
I'm very unsure about Peter Brown, although there are worse player agents. The other investor is named as Our old mate, Jim Doyle - surprise, surprise...Not. Neither have absolutely confirmed it yet, but tomorrow seems to be a day of some importance. I guess we just have to wait. Just one thing though......you can be sure it's a fire sale.
 

Cold Roses

Juniors
Messages
1,793
Pretty sure Shaun Johnson is on Peter Browns books? Conflict of interest much? He'd have to be very hands off. Investor only.
 

Rich102

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,524
No. But if it's a fire sale I am sure he will want a part and he has the ability to really help any new owners.
 

Skinner

Coach
Messages
13,581
There is now a "Kiwi Entrepreneur" (who I have never heard of) Paul Davys, claiming
The he is is buying 100% of the company. I note that he works with Peter Brown in a company called ChoiceKids.
 

JJ

Immortal
Messages
31,738
Probably a good thing that he's someone we've never heard of?

Might mean less "ego", and more "go"
 

SpaceMonkey

Immortal
Messages
37,551
Reading the other article that Rich posted it sounds like the sell off might be partly to do with Watson needing to fully settle with Owen Glenn over his share of the club. What a disaster that move (Glenn's buy in) turned out to be.
 

SpaceMonkey

Immortal
Messages
37,551
Probably a good thing that he's someone we've never heard of?

Might mean less "ego", and more "go"

As long as he has real money and not just a pile of debt financed investments that could all come crashing down. Look at what the Knights went through with Tinkler (which could've been even worse if the knights hadn't had the foresight to include a buyback clause for when Tinkler defaulted on payments).
 
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Rich102

Moderator
Staff member
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11,524
One thing I don't understand.
I have read reports that Jim Doyle bought 10% of the club from Watson.
The reported offer is for 100% of the club.
Is Doyle selling his shares?
For a loss?
 

Rich102

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,524
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The New Zealand Warriors could have a new owner within the next week, with Auckland businessman Paul Davys close to a deal to take over from Eric Watson.

Davys has confirmed to the Herald that he and Watson "are in a negotiating process at the moment" and is "hopeful we could announce something within a week".

Davys' name came out of the blue as a potential Warriors owner, with many observers knowing little about the man likely to take over the club.

Here are seven things to know about Davys.

1 Davys is a co-director of ChoiceKids, a childcare company with four centres in South Auckland. He co-owns the company with former Kiwis league international and player agent Peter Brown, and describes his role as "to develop the growth of the business and to maintain the company values".

2 Self-labelled as an entrepreneur, Davys has a background in sales and marketing, as well as management and banking.

3 Davys has had a heavy involvement in league at the local level. He used to coach the Howick Hornets, and was also the head coach of the Te Atatu Roosters. At both clubs he was in contact with NRL teams, with several of his players making the jump from the Auckland Rugby League competition and earning NRL contracts.

4 Davys has long-running connections with the NRL, previously being a recruiter for the Brisbane Broncos, tasked with - among other things - discovering and signing young talent.

5 His connection with Brown means Davys has a link to several current and former Warriors and Kiwis stars. Shaun Johnson is one of Brown's clients, as is young half Ata Hingano. Brown's cliental of over 40 players includes former Warriors Manu Vatuvei, Thomas Leuluai, Sam Rapira and Charlie Gubb, while Warriors assistant coach Stacey Jones was also on Brown's books.

6 Davys also has a link to one of Vatuvei's former endeavours, a charity foundation called "I Am Unstoppable". Through ChoiceKids, Davys helped sponsor events in South Auckland in 2015, with Vatuvei lending his name to the cause to combat issues such as youth suicide, depression and alcohol and drug abuse.

7 Those connections have solidified Davys' love for the side. "I have a huge passion for rugby league and see the ownership of the Warriors as both a privilege and a duty of care to the game in New Zealand. The Warriors is not just a business, it's the heart and soul of rugby league in this country and when the Warriors have done well the rugby league community has a spring in their step."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=11903483
 

Rich102

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,524
Eric Watson will leave any new Warriors' owner with a wonderful blueprint, in how not to run a footy club.

Watson is apparently ready to sell to businessman Paul Davys, and any shift in the right direction can't come soon enough.

From his remote control overseas to the club's fascination with grandiose distractions, and of course the endless years of major under-achievement and waning public interest, Watson's ownership has left one heck of a mess to clear up.

Watson got the Warriors for a song and turned a potential hit into a lead balloon.

Maybe Watson tried hard but got it wrong. But it's very difficult to find anything good to say about his 17 years of ownership, apart from the odd inspired moment such as the club finding a bloke like Simon Mannering.

The scary large "honours" board of first graders in the Warriors foyer says it all. How could the golden dreams of 1995 have gone so horribly wrong?

So up step a new saviour. Businessman Davys says he is at the fine detail stage of buying the Warriors from Watson.

The NRL payout to clubs trumps the salary cap so this is a game of expertise, not football-style spending, and Watson never got close to finding a sustainable formula.

The Warriors weren't much chop at the point Watson took a stake around 2001, and they haven't been much chop since.

The nadir was a flirtation with setting up professional rugby union teams around 2004, with revelations the club would be delighted to abandon league as its primary purpose.

What emerged was a betrayal and a reason why, even all these years, I find it hard to have a charitable word to say about Watson's ownership.

Even the good times weren't that good, two grand final appearances providing only short-lived joy.

The first visit to the big show was achieved in the erratic days when Mick Watson was CEO, and that ended in tears including the weird departure of coach Daniel Anderson.

The era which led to the 2011 grand final appearance under coach Ivan Cleary appeared to be more cohesive.

Cleary had found a brilliant mentor in John Hart, a Warriors director, and along with assistant coach and super-scout John Ackland, they drove the side to eventual success while circumventing Wayne Scurrah, a chief executive the trio had little faith in.

It has been downhill since, the club even rejecting Cleary's return this season in favour of Steve Kearney, a noble character with a short and shocking record as an NRL head coach.

Cracks have always been there. There was Eric Watson's embarrassing fall out with his Warriors co-owner Owen Glenn about five minutes into their relationship, the expensive courting of little English failure Sam Tomkins, the Kieran Foran shambles, and the extraordinary sight of star signing Issac Luke turning up to his opening trial game looking like he'd been mainlining icecream.

Oh that's right: there was also a salary cap scandal, CEO Watson became distracted by boxing, the club failed to sign brilliant youngsters such as Sonny Bill Williams and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, and on and on and on.

One big worry is the way the club has alienated the budding stars from Auckland and around the country.

What has been Watson's interest in owning the club?

He stated yesterday: "I'm in no rush [to sell] and I'm keen to do what's best for the club."

He's got a chance here to show that his heart is indeed in the right place.

Okay, on to a positive note.

Davys told Dale Budge, the NZME league writer who broke the change-of-ownership story: "I have a huge passion for rugby league and see the ownership of the Warriors as both a privilege and a duty of care to the game in New Zealand. The Warriors is not just a business, it's the heart and soul of rugby league in this country."

Great words. Good luck.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=11903413
 

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