I heard a rumour today...

[fish eel]

Lets say he does, who are the candidates ? I know the obvious one.

Peter Costello?

 

[Suitman]

Peter Costello?

:lol::lol:

Suity

 

[fish eel]

Let alone interest payments, rates, advertising and utilility costs.

Suity

Indeed. I am sure you are aware of the holding costs of property.

IMO, the performance of the leagues club is a bigger issue than the upcoming football club elections.

Some of us were at the leagues club for the STH forum. Fitzy spoke at length about the state of the club.

His response to improve the performance was real estate and IIRC (and I am sure if I am not Dellboy can correct me ;-) ) increase the number of pokies and try and seek a return to 24 hour trading.

Now, increasing pokies would only increase our tax burden?

And, the property appears to be sitting idle. Costing us money.

The Leagues Club annual report certainly will make interesting reading next year.

 

[bartman]

His response to improve the performance was real estate and IIRC (and I am sure if I am not Dellboy can correct me ;-) ) increase the number of pokies and try and seek a return to 24 hour trading.

Goodness me. Is that all the strategies we have for moving the leagues club forward? Better hope that real estate booms again in the near future, because pushing for changes re pokies and 24 hour trading are hidings to nothing, most people on the street could see that.

The club (and the club industry as a whole?) might need some different people advising them on long-term strategies, people whose expertise isn't stuck rigidly in a small window of the way things used to be for a moment in time.

 

[fish eel]

Goodness me. Is that all the strategies we have for moving the leagues club forward? Better hope that real estate booms again in the near future, because pushing for changes re pokies and 24 hour trading are hidings to nothing, most people on the street could see that.

The club (and the club industry as a whole?) might need some different people advising them on long-term strategies, people whose expertise isn't stuck rigidly in a small window of the way things used to be for a moment in time.

I'm not sure Barty, but that is my recollection of what Fitzy said at the STH forum. If my memory is a bit dusty, I'm sure someone else who was there will correct me.

 

[The Phelan Folly]

For all this talk about the finer details, i think the apparent thing is the need for change in the structure of the entire organisation. Much like the appointment of Hages as a coach, it has the smell of a unit that is not moving with the times. I have no particular animosity against anyone who is involved with the football/leagues clubs but at some stage almost any company of its size needs to clear out some dead wood and start re-building. Perhaps not en-masse, but a gradual re-structure from top to toe. Like anywhere else, it has to start at the top. The team is now better off with the new coach, we now need new ideas to move the leagues club forward. Not an impossible task, none the less, a difficult one. Despite a lot of the bile he cops, Fitzy is not a stupid man, to see him jump would not surprise at all.

 

[Hellsy]

Hmmm.... will I renew my membership at the Workers??...
Hmmmmmmm.........

 

[MarkInTheStands]

I'm not sure Barty, but that is my recollection of what Fitzy said at the STH forum. If my memory is a bit dusty, I'm sure someone else who was there will correct me.

Nah that was about it.

Sweet bugger all.

 

[Delboy]

Ok Fish, the answer is simple, please advise everyone here and at the Leagues Club how to raise $6 million to support the NRL and NSWRL sides, junior league and community.

The glib statements that appear here about alternative revenue sources etc appear to be pretty vapid, you can't hire out the function room and create the sort of funding required, much les the suggestions I have seen on the board. Granted this is a difficult time, and I agree the tax is here to say, that is not to say it was fair and equitable when introduced. The point is that most clubs are trying to replace the revenue lost to the tax, and are struggling big time to replace the revenue stream that were planned for te foreseeable future, corporate sponsors come and go and the amounts available are not there is the size required, I just find it frustrating that there are so many statements like " we have to replace the money that comes from the poker machines", and no one comes up with a sensible idea to replace even $ 1 million.

I realise you think I labour the point, but that tax could spell the end of our club and possibly most others in Sydney, and we need some better ideas to keep the NRL club solvent and replace the funds that the Govt took and did not place 1 cent back to the community that had received the grants and had come to rely on them (like local charities , the disabled scouts and the like.)

I am sure Denis and Ovo would love to see any ideas, and i would be happy to forward them on and discuss with the club.

 

[big boppa eel]

We can go on about this for weeks but I am of the view that times will change once we jag another premiership. A premiership will mean increased sponsorship, revenue at the gate etc.

Daniel Anderson's appointment is a step in the right direction and is Fizgerald's likely retirement in the near future.

Agreed, some people may say that its not as easy as win a comp, but when you do it certainly gives u a runnin start.

 

[fish eel]

Ok Fish, the answer is simple, please advise everyone here and at the Leagues Club how to raise $6 million to support the NRL and NSWRL sides, junior league and community.

The glib statements that appear here about alternative revenue sources etc appear to be pretty vapid, you can't hire out the function room and create the sort of funding required, much les the suggestions I have seen on the board. Granted this is a difficult time, and I agree the tax is here to say, that is not to say it was fair and equitable when introduced. The point is that most clubs are trying to replace the revenue lost to the tax, and are struggling big time to replace the revenue stream that were planned for te foreseeable future, corporate sponsors come and go and the amounts available are not there is the size required, I just find it frustrating that there are so many statements like " we have to replace the money that comes from the poker machines", and no one comes up with a sensible idea to replace even $ 1 million.

If I had all the answers, I'd be working as a business development manager, earning much more than I do now.

That doesn't prevent me from having a view that the people that run our club have dropped the ball and focused too much on fighting a fight that they were never going to win, rather than thinking outside the square and getting on with the job of keeping the club viable.

I've never said it's an easy job either. But when I dont see any real plans come out of the club that dont revolve around the same old, and I read stories that in terms of sponsorship dollars we are one of the worse performing clubs, then I think I am entitled to hold the view I hold.

I realise you think I labour the point, but that tax could spell the end of our club and possibly most others in Sydney, and we need some better ideas to keep the NRL club solvent

Perhaps if the NRL for starters werent owned by a media organisation, they might get a better TV deals.

Do you not think, that in 2008, if a professional game cannot survive without relying on something as hideous as poker machines, then that code needs to have a good, long hard look at itself.

I am sure Denis and Ovo would love to see any ideas, and i would be happy to forward them on and discuss with the club.

If they are short on ideas, particuarly the CEO, perhaps he should hand back his nearly half a million dollar pay cheque.

 

[bartman]

I realise you think I labour the point, but that tax could spell the end of our club and possibly most others in Sydney, and we need some better ideas to keep the NRL club solvent and replace the funds that the Govt took and did not place 1 cent back to the community that had received the grants and had come to rely on them (like local charities , the disabled scouts and the like.)

I think the point is the club - perhaps the club industry as a whole - has laboured the point, instead of putting its collective professional energies and skills into working out alternate plans, that are not rigidly and blindly reliant on one particular income stream.

The clubs themselves - and indeed the charities which stand to benefit from clubs' community programs - all existed quite happily well before the filthy lucre of the pokies boom became all-consuming. Perhaps the ideas and answers for teh club lie back in those times Delboy?

As another example or idea to throw around, there are no leagues clubs in England attached to any of the Super League teams. No leagues clubs, no pokies... I wonder how they manage to find the money to run a team? Again, perhaps there are good answers for the club there Delboy?

Either way, it would beat banging on about a tax or smoking ban well after they have been embraced by the community as a whole. The club industry and those that advise them have to be flexible and adaptable to the society around them, not begrudging of change and dinosaur like in their outlook. Otherwise they will get left behind for better or worse.

 

[fish eel]

Incidently Delboy, the issue I'm talking about in this thread isnt about replacing the money now paid in tax, but it is about the overall performance of the club.

Regardless of the tax, can we really afford many more years where the club performs so badly revenue declines by 3 to 4 mil?

 

[Suitman]

There will always be apologists.........political or otherwise.
Fact is, there is an election coming up, and the current state of affairs are not congenial to the re-election of the sitting members.

Suity

 

[Tin Man 4.24]

FMD every second thread on this site is based on rumour.

Who needs facts when you have a juicy rumour ! :lol:

Rebecca Wilson has built an entire journalistic career on even less than that.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Interesting thread, Ram, Fish and Suity all make good points. Apart from the purchases of real estate by our club ( or was it financed?) what other revenue streams do we have to combat the labor laws implemented? a Chinese restautarnt in the middle of an area populated by various other asian restaruants?.

Tbh this may sound silly, but why not utilise the night club we have more often to say Wednesday nights. Up here in Terrigal, Wednesday night at Crown Plaza ( Key Largo night club) is huge. Its appeal is to Hospitality workers ( there weekend) and students ( majority work weekends and dont through the week), it's a huge success, and argurably bigger then Friday and Saturday nights up here at Largo.

Just a thought.

Also, do Parramatta have other investments in say shares in various organisations? or has 'Dollar Dazzler Dennis' invested money in a Award Savers Account earning 2% interest, 4% without any withdrawels.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Whilst i don't agree with Labor taxes and am sure the Liberals would get rid of it, why was so much emphasis placed on Pokie machines in the first place? why wasn't there other contingencys to ensure our revenue stream would not be affected if an other area of revenue went down ( pokies and to a far lesser degree smoking regulations now in place).

Share markets are very much down atm, why not take advantage? CB, Woolies, ANZ etc are just some where you could get very cheap shares at present with alot of potential long term as well as various mining organisations out there..

 

[bartman]

Great points Ron.

I believe the lack of use of the auditorium is directly related to the decision to lump everything in on the pokies - I remember talk of the lack of post match functions being explained that it would have a detrimental effect on those who come to a leagues club on game day/night purely to use the pokies, and would get upset in other leagues club members used teh joint for other purposes.

The auditorium is an underused facility, that's for sure. I remember seeing the Oils there in the 90s. I remember Kicks nightclub every Friday/Saturday night. Packed to the rafters and churning over a decent dollar for the clubs coffers, before pokies pretty much came along.

Whoever was behind the advise to the club to throw their all behind the pokies revenue and to hell with the other elements that successfully built to the club into what it was to that point should really hang their head in shame. No amount of bemoaning the change in laws after the event excuses the lack of diversity in strategy and lack of preparedness for alternatives.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

I totally agree Bartman, utilising the auditorim can generate a significant money stream to our club. Kicks as you stated and various other acts performing there regulary would be perfect, what is stopping this? i cannot understand? sure it costs more money for security etc as as well general responsibility for ensuring that safety is paramount, but it would be packed! it's the ideal location. Club Red up here at the Central Coast Leagues club although only once a month or on long weekends is absolutely huge. Tickets are $15 entry and before hand people drink and play pokies, people are just want somewhere to dance, drink and listen to good music, why not make the most of t? the leagues club has so much appeal and potential. And as i said earlier, Wednesday nights are absolutely huge up here due to students and workers in the Hospitality industry having there weekend off midweek, younger people just want to have a good time, pokies aren't exactly a good time apart from the vast minority.

 

[The Colonel]

Probably scare away the whales.....