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NATHAN Tinkler has been issued with an ultimatum to walk away from the Newcastle Knights or risk the clubs ownership battle being destined for the courts.
After eight weeks of failed peace talks with the NRL, the Knights Members Club has lost patience with the Hunter Sports Group.
Tinkler has been given until the end of this week to sign a $10.52 million bank guarantee which allows the Members Club to start the process of buying the club back for $1.
If Tinkler fails to do so, then the Knights are headed for the courts in an ownership battle guaranteed to be very ugly and very public.
Were calling on the Hunter Sports Group to honour their obligations to the club and community by transferring the assets, including the bank guarantee, Members Club chairman Nick Dan said.
We want it to be easy for the players and staff to simply worry about their jobs. It would also be easier for the NRL if they could just worry about running the game rather than worrying about an individual club.
The tipping point for the NRL came last Friday when it emerged super coach Wayne Bennett was among a group of 20 staff and players who have not been paid monthly wages.
Two days earlier, Tinkler supposedly spent $150 million to purchase a mine in Queensland. It makes the failure to pay Bennett, other staff and players astounding.
The future of Bennett at Newcastle is now a work in progress, with his four-year contract signed with HSG rather than the Knights. So if Tinkler is forced out, the supercoach will have to re-negotiate the terms of the final 18 months of his contract under the clubs new structure.
The Sunday Telegraph has spoken to a number of Newcastle insiders who are fuming with Tinkler, but under the HSG regime every employee at the club is effectively forbidden from speaking out against the ownership publicly.
Thankfully, former Newcastle premiership winner and media personality Matty Johns isnt gagged by the same sort of instructions.
Johns told The Sunday Telegraph: Its something that has got to be addressed because there have been rumours going on for the entire season about late payments and players not being paid.
That affects performance. These latest developments have clearly proven there are players not being paid. That being the case, is it any wonder the team is not performing?
We asked Johns specifically about the form of Queensland player Darius Boyd, the fullback who is owed a $200,000 third-party sponsorship.
Ive heard all the stories about Darius being owed money, Johns said.
Ive heard all the stories about third-party payments, but I dont know what the facts of the matter are because people wont speak.
People are afraid to talk about it.
The other night on Peter Sterlings Sterlo program there was a package of Darius play that indicated to me something is very, very wrong. They werent the actions of a world-class player.
Luckily for the Knights, the Westpac bank has guaranteed it will honour the $10.52 million bank cheque which is currently sitting in a joint account between HSG and the Knights Members Club.
The issue for the Knights Members and the clubs legion of supporters is that the cheque needs to signed by Tinklers right-hand man Troy Palmer in order for the members to be able to draw on the funds.
There has been talk over the past two months the Newcastle Knights debt could be as high as $18 or even $20 million.
Under the terms of the private ownership contract Tinkler signed when HSG took over in 2011, if the Members Club exercises its right to buy the club back for $1, it comes debt-free.
Will Tinkler be prepared to walk away with an $18 million bill? Its unlikely.
