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Looks like our good friend macavity is on the scene (in the pic and interviewed in the article too)
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...le-knights-board/story-e6frexnr-1226009716471Members unite to skittle Newcastle Knights board
Passion ... a Newcastle fan signs a petition to call an extraordinary meeting of Knights members to discuss the Nathan Tinkler deal withdrawal. Picture: Liam Driver Source: The Daily Telegraph
- Barry Toohey
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- February 22, 2011 12:00AM
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Newcastle fans sign a petition to call an extraordinary meeting of Knights members to discuss the Nathan Tinkler deal withdrawal. Picture: Liam Driver Source: The Daily Telegraph
FURIOUS Newcastle Knights members took to the streets and a local watering hole last night to voice their frustration after local mining magnate Nathan Tinkler walked away from his $100 million deal to buy the Newcastle club.
There was a mixed reaction in Newcastle yesterday to the news Tinkler had pulled out.
But television antenna fitter Mark York, a member for about a decade, has rallied fans who believe Tinkler's offer to buy out the financially stricken club is a no-brainer.
York went on local radio yesterday calling for Newcastle Knights members to support a petition to call an extraordinary meeting. He gathered 57 signatures of the 100 required at The Mark Hotel in Lambton.
"The members want to have their say on this and we believe both sides of the story should be told so that we can make our own judgment," York said.
"To us, Nathan Tinkler is not going to do the wrong thing by our club and to let him just walk away like they have without giving us an opportunity to see what he wants to do for the club is not something the board should be doing."
Tinkler walked into his office yesterday morning, sat down and simply said to himself: "This is just all too hard".
So he picked up the telephone, called Knights chairman Rob Tew and told him the deal was off.
Last night, he took a huge swipe at the current administration, claiming the Knights were being "managed into the ground".
"I wanted to pull out Sunday," Tinkler said.
"Given their attitude, I didn't want to stand there and go head to head with them over this.
"It's been like hitting your head up against a brick wall.
"I never truly believed they wanted to go down this path anyway and their actions over the past week confirm it.
"If the members want it and the community want it, it will happen. They will do something about it.
"My offer will still be here. But I'm not going to push it."
Make no mistake, the Tinkler deal is not dead yet.
The Knights are making other arrangements but it's the community that may have the final say on the club's future. Without pushing the point, Tinkler made that clear yesterday.
But what is clear is he will have no further dealings with the current administration.
"I love the Knights and will always love the Knights but what we have now with the current management is a shadow of the club it can be and should be,"he said.
"Ever since I put the money up, it has been all about the negatives to them. What about if he goes broke?
"Well I'm pretty comfortable, thanks very much.
"They just don't get it and they have been poorly advised during this whole process.
"It's sad to think they just can not see the big picture."
The head of the Knights' official supporter's group, Shane Spruce, claimed it seemed like Tinkler had "picked up his bat and ball and gone home".
"It started out as an oasis in the desert and ended up a mirage," Spruce said.
"The board's responsibility is to safeguard the club for our members and as far as I am concerned, that's what they are entitled to do."