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New restrictions closing clubs - this could be big trouble

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darkbloom

Juniors
Messages
750
ACTPanthers said:
So the Panthers are as good as gone. No use even visiting this forum anymore, because it's all written in stone... apparently.
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No. Dealing with reality is not a sign of defeatism. Funny though that is the type of attitude that creates the sorts of problems we face.

Reality is too hard, let's run - like the Board did with the Panthers gaming operation Gaming is too hard let's give our gaming to Tabcorp. Mmmm Either cowardice or stupidity - maybe both.
 
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darkbloom

Juniors
Messages
750
kinghippo said:
The development centre was a huge asset grab, it may not be a profitable one, but that is my point.
You have expressed it very nicely, businesses especially large ones have not been “focused on a future that was sustainable”.

I am not saying they should have been hoarding money in case of a rainy day, but they have a huge amount of options compared to a lot of businesses.
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The development centre - is that the conference centre? If it is not a profitable asset it will add to the losses. They seem to sell of profitable assets (or potentially profitable assets) and want to hold onto or develop assets that lose money - eg sell off share in Royce; invest in RL academy; sell off gaming, build a conference centre when their current conference centre operates at around 60% occupancy;

No hoarding money is not the way forward (though right now it may help to have cash available) but building assets that produce profit has been the approach of Panthers until 2009-10. From that date the approach has been sell off profit-turning assets to invest in a business that annot make a profit. The asset base has been eroded - seriously eroded.

If they have a lot of options can you outline them. I can only see a couple really - and really I'd love to be mmore optimistic and confident.
 
TheFrog

TheFrog

Coach
Messages
14,300
So long as Panthers Group continue to support the football club, the latter will survive. But the football club really does have some navel gazing to do. Paying out both Griffin and Gould makes the balance sheet look far worse than it need look. There is a reason why the Dragons refuse to sack McGregor despite the screaming of fans.
 
ACTPanthers

ACTPanthers

Bench
Messages
4,854
darkbloom said:
No. Dealing with reality is not a sign of defeatism. Funny though that is the type of attitude that creates the sorts of problems we face.

Reality is too hard, let's run - like the Board did the Panthers gaming operation Gaming is too hard let's give our gaming to Tabcorp. Mmmm Either cowardice or stupidity - maybe both.
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But you're not "dealing" with anything really, just stating how it's all down hill from here...

FWIW, I don't disagree with you regarding some of the decisions made, just more bleak outlook.
 
franklin2323

franklin2323

Immortal
Messages
33,546
ACTPanthers said:
So the Panthers are as good as gone. No use even visiting this forum anymore, because it's all written in stone... apparently.
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For those negative people yep

Plenty of savings to be had. Panthers at Penrith will survive. The NRL team too. Just lower grades will cop a hit
 
kinghippo

kinghippo

Juniors
Messages
1,673
darkbloom said:
The development centre - is that the conference centre? If it is not a profitable asset it will add to the losses. They seem to sell of profitable assets (or potentially profitable assets) and want to hold onto or develop assets that lose money - eg sell off share in Royce; invest in RL academy; sell off gaming, build a conference centre when their current conference centre operates at around 60% occupancy;

No hoarding money is not the way forward (though right now it may help to have cash available) but building assets that produce profit has been the approach of Panthers until 2009-10. From that date the approach has been sell off profit-turning assets to invest in a business that annot make a profit. The asset base has been eroded - seriously eroded.

If they have a lot of options can you outline them. I can only see a couple really - and really I'd love to be mmore optimistic and confident.
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The specific options are for behind the boardroom door because only they really know how profitable panthers could be if they tried.
Hordes of accountants will working at home furiously at the moment.
There will be debt freezes, tax breaks, loop holes and business grants coming to all businesses.
As frog said, the sacking of Gould and Griffin makes the numbers look bad but they wouldn’t have thrown that money away without a plan to get it back, and like a lot of businesses at the moment they need to have a good hard look at the way they run themselves.
 
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darkbloom

Juniors
Messages
750
kinghippo said:
The specific options are for behind the boardroom door because only they really know how profitable panthers could be if they tried.
Hordes of accountants will working at home furiously at the moment.
There will be debt freezes, tax breaks, loop holes and business grants coming to all businesses.
As frog said, the sacking of Gould and Griffin makes the numbers look bad but they wouldn’t have thrown that money away without a plan to get it back, and like a lot of businesses at the moment they need to have a good hard look at the way they run themselves.
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Jesus the numbers looked bad well before Gould or Griffin were ditched.

"...they would not have thronw that money away without a plan to get it back"

Mate they have no plan at all. The only thing in the last 10 years that had the inkling of planning was the development of football development pathways. That required money - like $22m to build the Academy. There has not been a single plan to drive revenue, anywhere. They just shoot from the hip.

About 6 months they employed someone who could introduce some planning for a profitable club operation and was having some success - but they sacked him a week ago, probably because he spoke honestly.

There is nothing behind the closed doors of our board except some considerable egos, a couple of drunks, and people who should know better but are too timid to take a stand.
 
ACTPanthers

ACTPanthers

Bench
Messages
4,854
darkbloom said:
Jesus the numbers looked bad well before Gould or Griffin were ditched.

"...they would not have thronw that money away without a plan to get it back"

Mate they have no plan at all. The only thing in the last 10 years that had the inkling of planning was the development of football development pathways. That required money - like $22m to build the Academy. There has not been a single plan to drive revenue, anywhere. They just shoot from the hip.

About 6 months they employed someone who could introduce some planning for a profitable club operation and was having some success - but they sacked him a week ago, probably because he spoke honestly.

There is nothing behind the closed doors of our board except some considerable egos, a couple of drunks, and people who should know better but are too timid to take a stand.
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You seem to have a lot of inside information on what's happening behind "closed doors"

Do you work for the club?
 
ACTPanthers

ACTPanthers

Bench
Messages
4,854
darkbloom said:
I am reasonably well connected, have a long history with the club and I keep my eyes and ears open.
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Fair enough. I have absolutely no contacts what-so-ever. All I have is a can-do attitude and a glass that's seemingly half full :) Point is, I don't think this will spell the end of our club. However, if it does, we wouldn't be the first or only club to go that way.
 
franklin2323

franklin2323

Immortal
Messages
33,546
ACTPanthers said:
Fair enough. I have absolutely no contacts what-so-ever. All I have is a can-do attitude and a glass that's seemingly half full :) Point is, I don't think this will spell the end of our club. However, if it does, we wouldn't be the first or only club to go that way.
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I don’t think we end up with 5 clubs at the end of it or all 6 lower grade teams
 
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darkbloom

Juniors
Messages
750
ACTPanthers said:
Fair enough. I have absolutely no contacts what-so-ever. All I have is a can-do attitude and a glass that's seemingly half full :) Point is, I don't think this will spell the end of our club. However, if it does, we wouldn't be the first or only club to go that way.
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Your second sentence is great and encouraging - it is exactly what Panthers needs. Can-do people with great passion and optimism,

Your last sentence is an "oh well. Shit happens" statement which is exactly what is not needed - and it is precisely the approach of the cumquats running the joint.

I also mostly see the glass as half full. This is going to be a big big challenge for the club. The challenges cannot be confronted and beaten unless you are realistic about what they are.

People on this forum have stuck their collective heads in the sand for so long, they get blinded by what happens on the football field and the spin that surrounds football.

They whinge and whine about team changes, coach changes, a few losses on the run - they even threaten to take action sometimes. But they fail to see the decay in the business of their club and fail to understand the impact it has on the future viability of the football team.

Without doubt there will be a future, albeit one that looks very different and it won't be everyone's cup of tea.
 
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