Singo lays boot into Titans
Adrian Proszenko
"A central coast team is the biggest no-brainer in the world" ... Singleton.
JOHN SINGLETON has savaged the NRL's decision to award its most recent licence to the Gold Coast, claiming the Titans' financial debacle would never have happened had the central coast got the nod.
The Titans pipped the Bears for NRL admission when the game expanded in 2007, even though Singleton promised to underwrite the Bears' future with a $50 million bank cheque. Despite the financial guarantee, the presence of a new stadium at Gosford and the assembly of a crack team under coach-in-waiting Warren Ryan, the NRL overlooked the central coast.
The Titans are in danger of becoming the fifth Gold Coast franchise to fold following the closure of the Giants, Seagulls, Gladiators and Chargers in the 1990s.
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The multimillionaire advertising guru said the Titans' financial drama was further proof the NRL made the wrong decision.
''It doesn't seem very wise, does it?'' Singleton told The Sun-Herald yesterday from the United States. ''At that stage we had the ground - which was a federal and state government-funded ground and the council owned the land - plus $45 million and a $50 million bank guarantee to guarantee everything.
''We had Warren Ryan as head coach and David Fairleigh as [assistant] coach. We'd sign up, on conditional contracts, a fantastic team. Matty Orford was going to be the first captain, along with [Mark] O'Meley and [Paul] Stringer - all those guys who wanted to come back.
''We'd signed the whole first-grade team, 17 from 17 approaches. A 100 per cent strike rate. All on conditional contracts, but we never released their names because they were still playing at other clubs. All the smart money was on the fact we would get the team and then the Gold Coast would be next, if and when they got some money and a stadium. I've never been able to work out why [it didn't happen].''
The Herald revealed the Gold Coast were in debt to the tune of at least $25 million, with the property arm owing the Commonwealth Bank $15 million. Titans boss Michael Searle stands to be liable following revelations he personally guaranteed the bank loan at the centre of the debt.
Singleton said he was stunned the NRL viewed the Gold Coast as a better option than the central coast.
''It seems strange to me to put [the Titans] ahead of the central coast when they had no ground and we had a beautiful new ground - and we had money and they had no money and we had a back guarantee,'' he said.
''The smoke and mirrors - for all the wrong reasons the Gold Coast gave the appearance of being successful [and I would have thought by now] on their fourth or fifth go that this time it would work.
''The central coast has never had a go, that's the frustration of it. I care less now about the football than I do about the central coast. We had all of those tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, council ratepayers' money, and there is no [team] …
''If you got an actuary to work out what the bids would be [according to population and demographics], you'd find the value of a rugby league team to the central coast would only be higher at Brisbane, Newcastle, and touching there with Wollongong.''
The Bears are in a new fight for NRL admission along with Brisbane, central Queensland, Perth, Ipswich, Wellington and Papua New Guinea. While Singleton has stepped back from the process, he has agreed to a $2 million Bears funding deal through his Bluetongue Stadium.
''A central coast team is the biggest no-brainer in the world,'' Singleton said.
