Cronulla - Foldy McFold Fold?

[DubaiSaint]

I don't see merger as a solution... As a St George fan, I can see that the Illawarra merger was a takeover and whilst I am very happy with the input the Wollongong area contributes to the club today, back in 1998/99 it was a takeover.

Cronulla merging will be on the other parties terms and will smell of desperation. Why would Easts, Souths or StGeorge Illawarra accept diluting their colours / logo for Cronulla?

Also, all these proposed merger candidates stuck with the ARL in the SL War and people have long memories.

I don't want Cronulla fans though to lose their team and I enjoy the Saints - Cronulla rivalry.

So, to me its relocate or die.

I would rather boo an Adelaide Sharks in sky blue at WIN Stadium than the Adelaide Rams or some other "created" team in some modern day non-traditional jersey.

With respect to Cronulla today, they have recruited bottom of the rung players or have players that are old, slow or have motivation issues... their coach has NEVER been a good coach. He inherited a great Rooster team in 2001(??) and has been dining off that ever since.

They cannot afford to punt Stuart, so they are stuck with him...

And this rubbish about a semi-retirement over 55's holiday resort as being the solution? In today's property market, plus with the debt to construct, there is NO WAY that will be profitable in the first 5yrs after construction. Sharks cannot survive that long without doing something.

 

[Man_of_Steel_1982]

I think i'd stop following rugby league if that happened.

If something was to happen and they folded I'd feel sorry for the fans of Cronulla, but the club would deserve it TBH. Bailed out twice by the NSWRL before jumping over to Super League, only surviving the 'criteria' due to the uneven playing field (ie super league clubs being propped up by News) and continual inneptitude. Should move up to Qld and play maybe a game out of Shark Park per year? A South Qld/second Brisbane side would be good for the game and fans tend to get on board a rellocated side eventually (see Sydney and, to a lesser extent, Brisbane post merger with Fitzroy in the AFL), and would also see them getting some decent 'away' crowds in Sydney if they can maintain some of their supporter base.

Yes, a very uneven playing field.

To boot teams like Perth, Norths (who were ready to settle down in Gosford), even Adelaide and others merge whilst teams such as Cronulla "passed" the criteria simply because they had a temporary top up from uncle Rupert was very unfair.

There should have been many more dimensions to the "criteria" in 1998, instead of how much money you had in the bank at that point in time.

With Central Coast and Perth not in the comp, it's getting harder to justify keeping Cronulla in.

 

[Mr Spock!]

As a rabbits supporter the situation at Cronulla saddens me. I still miss Newtown and Wests. I do however vaguely remember a Cronulla ceo around the time of Superleague saying they would only merge with Souths if they kept Cronulla's colours and they could be called the Cronulla Sharks.

 

[Doug2234]

f**k the Sharks.

 

[bowes]

Most worried should be the Bears. Only viable relocation is to CC for the $7mill NRL offer and I'm confident the NRL would rather that than the new CC Bears (mind you that is also a big worry for us)

Until the receivers call the debts in though the Sharks will just keep bouncing along the bottom hoping one day thinsg will turn around. NRL won't cut them until they have no choice and that will only happen when the club is declared bust.

If the Sharks went bust I'd have thought Perth would be most likely to lose, as they'd probably just bring in Central Coast to replace the Sharks and leave it at 16, can't see them bringing in 3 new sides after a side folds.

Preferably though I would want WA Reds and the Bears in, with Cronulla finding somewhere to move in Queensland, they have to keep a Cronulla side in the NSW Cup if the NRL is unviable IMO though

 

[taipan]

All a bit premature,the fat lady hadn't sung.You are going to look right royal gooses ,should the Shark's development get the commercial backing in the next 3-4 months.
That of course is no guarantee for the football club,but takes the pressure off the League's club.Throw in a bigger grant from the NRL due to the next Tv contract,will assist the football club at the same time.

BTW it is not a case of the development being profitable in the first few years.it is case of the bank releasing x amount of monies to the League's club,as their asset base will have increased and the ban'k/s loan will be considered a lot more secure.
The club have stated the developmenmt is not the panacea,without financial controls and restraints in the early stages for the football club.

 

[Feej]

f**k the Sharks.

Whats wrong diddums? Still unhappy that we are here and taking up the space you want to retreat back to when the St. George area itself becomes indifferent to a league team due to ethnicity?

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

I did say "Ideally", meaning in a perfect world, that would have been the best solution. Of course, the best solution is not always the one that is taken. Sometimes this can work out good, i.e. Souths are now stronger than they've been in many years by not taking the ideal solution. Sometimes, it works out poorly, i.e. Dragons and Illawarra are both now entities that are probably strong enough to stand alone and the Sharks would probably have best been served with merging. Now we have One "Superclub" in St George Illawarra and another club who looks like it will fold.

In the real world, a Sharks and Dragons merger would never have floated, just like a Rabbits and Roosters merger would not have left the ground, even though we can all agree that if you take the "supporters" hat off and put the "best case scenario" hat on, both would have been ideal for Rugby League in this state.

Necessity brought Russel Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court to Souths, lets see if necessity can find a similar saviour (or group of saviours) for the Sharks.

IMO, the rivalries in RL bring out the best of the game, Dogs vs Parra, Saints vs Sharks, Souths vs East. All matches capable of getting 75'000 to a Preliminary final IMO.

I think there is enough room in Sydney for all current teams. They just need to be stronger and have more local support from the government and community businesses. It is very possible.

 

[Goddo]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...ks-almost-folded/story-e6frexnr-1225866391027

Day the Cronulla Sharks almost folded
Josh Massoud and James Phelps
From: The Daily Telegraph
May 14, 2010 12:00AM

CRONULLA were on the brink of folding early last year, the club's chairman Damian Irvine has revealed.

Irvine yesterday told us that St George Bank rejected the $500,000 loan which the club needed to survive in January 2009.

Without the money, Cronulla could not continue to pay players and staff.

The Sharks already owed the bank about $4 million and had no assets.

So when St George refused to come to the party in the conviction the loans could not possibly be repaid, the Sharks stared extinction in the face.

Death was all but certain until Sharkies Leagues club intervened and agreed to bear the football club's debts.

But in order to convince the bank to forward more funds, the Leagues Club was forced to cut its annual grant to just $250,000.

The Leagues Club has traditionally provided $2 million a season, meaning that Cronulla - although solvent again - are under tremendous pressure to balance the books from now on given there's no other benefactor on the horizon.

"If it wasn't for the Leagues Club coming in and making certain assurances to the bank, the football club would not have been able to keep going," Irvine said.

"When that loan got knocked back there was no money and no assets to repay the existing debts."

Irvine's board has introduced some extreme cost-cutting measures since taking control a year ago, but insists that the salary cap is immune.

"That's our core business," Irvine said. "Not spending the full amount of the salary cap is like owning a shop and cutting back on customer service."

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

another shot at the old admin. nothing new. wheres the "this is how were gunna save the club and what we are doing" article?

more spin than warney

 

[taipan]

Past admin's probs = yesterday's chip wrappings.

 

[Ausguy]

goddo must just sit and search for sharks folding stories...

 

[Moffo]

Some bank will finance it

 

[Generalzod]

goddo must just sit and search for sharks folding stories...

Goddo is such a degenerate low life

 

[mightybears]

Yes, a very uneven playing field.

To boot teams like Perth, Norths (who were ready to settle down in Gosford), even Adelaide and others merge whilst teams such as Cronulla "passed" the criteria simply because they had a temporary top up from uncle Rupert was very unfair.

There should have been many more dimensions to the "criteria" in 1998, instead of how much money you had in the bank at that point in time.

With Central Coast and Perth not in the comp, it's getting harder to justify keeping Cronulla in.

100% agree, esp re the criteria being a joke and the Scum teams being saved by handouts, but generally i don't take any pleasure in the constant Cronulla is going under/gone stuff, real and imagined.

I know how it feels to lose a team in the top flight [as does MOS_1982!] and don't really get the pleasure some here have in seeing cronulla on their knees, they have been $ wise having problems for the best part of 30 years and are stilling going-no doubt the reason why the took the murdoch pieces of silver.

Mergers don't work, i hope they survive as Cronulla at mangroveland and only if they are 100% about to go off the cliffs/dead in the water/no hope should they be bailed out and ONLY IF THEY AGREE TO MOVE TO ADELAIDE. I don't want to see that though