The problem is that Manly gets bashed from pillar to post in the media and by the NRL for the state of Brookvale Oval, but the club are only tenants of the ground. Its owned and maintained by the Warringah Shire Council.
I too think it would be better for the club in the long run if we actually owned the site. As lurker said, any money that gets put into Brookie is upgrading a facility that someone else owns.
Its been said before and it'll be said again (and by more influential people than myself). Why does Manly have to continually fight to get the money to bring the ground up to standard when other NSW based clubs seem to get money thrown at them by governments to upgrade theirs? Kogarah, Shark Park, Penrith, Parramatta, Wollongong, Newcastle, they've all received millions from governments (state and federal) to make them into what they are today with the prospect of even more money being poured in or even new venues built (especially in western Sydney). Yet other than the Arko Stand which opened in 1995 and the recent extension to the Jane Try Stand, Brookvale looks almost the same as it has done for the past 40 years.