Manly on course to self-destruct as leagues club plan falls apart

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.

Berkeley_Eagle

Current Status: 24/7 Manly Fan
Manly on course to self-destruct as leagues club plan falls apart
By Brent Read
  February 05, 2009
EXACTLY four months after winning the premiership, Manly is threatening to implode amid internal ructions and the collapse of a proposal by joint owners Max Delmege and Scott Penn to re-develop the ailing Manly Leagues Club.
The leagues club proposal, valued at $15 million and ratified by members last July, was hailed as the final step in the Sea Eagles' return to profitability.
However, The Australian can reveal the deal is now off the table and the Penn family is ready to step in with a counter-proposal.
Sources revealed Delmege could also go it alone, creating the prospect of the football club co-owners butting heads over the future of the leagues club. Penn declined to comment. However, leagues club chief executive Peter Spray confirmed the Penn-Delmege proposal would not go ahead and the leagues club board was considering its options.
"There's nothing on the table at the moment," Spray said.
Asked what led to the collapse of the joint venture, Spray said: "It's a lot to do with the ability to raise finances in the current climate. The banks have changed their rules. The original proposal was built around financing a fair portion of the purchase."
Penn and Delmege, who have injected millions of their own money into keeping Manly afloat, each own 41.5 per cent of the football club.
The proposal to purchase the leagues club as a partnership was viewed as a further illustration of their commitment to the club.
It was also expected to end the football club's reliance on its owners for money. Even though the Sea Eagles won their seventh premiership late last year, the club still traded at a loss and required an injection of cash from Penn and Delmege.
The leagues club proposal now has the potential to drive a wedge between the club's most influential powerbrokers. Without the financial input of Penn and Delmege, Manly's place in the NRL would be in serious jeopardy. While the families have been happy to prop up the club with their own money, Penn conceded it couldn't go on forever.
"We have been running it as a responsible business for very much the last three or four years because we have to," Penn said.
"But with private owners there's a limit. We're now back to as close to break-even as we have ever been and that's where we want to stay."
That's why the leagues club re-development was considered so important. Without leagues club support, the financial stress is amplified on the owners.
Tensions at board level are understood to be at breaking point, in part over the collapse of the leagues club joint venture.
"If we can get these things wrapped up we're in for an exciting five years-plus ahead," Penn said. "We have our model right, we have the right people, we're ready to play."
Chief executive Grant Mayer, who has presided over the club's transformation from battler to premier, has been caught in the crosshairs. Mayer's future has been the subject of ongoing speculation amid reports his relationship with Delmege has soured.
Delmege, who was unavailable for comment, has publicly backed Mayer yet the rumours persist. Penn stressed the chief executive had his full support and would like to see Mayer's contract extended beyond this year. "He's been instrumental in getting us to where we are and we want him to be part of the future," Penn said.
The backroom bickering comes as coach Des Hasler prepares to take his side to England to play in the World Club Challenge against Super League champion Leeds on March 1.
  http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25010161-23214,00.html
 
Makes the membership drive all the more important, I suggest if you are not a member now is the time consider joining up
 
The Wheel link said:
Makes the membership drive all the more important, I suggest if you are not a member now is the time consider joining up
I'm currently unemployed at the moment so it will have to wait a bit longer but yes you are right, it does make the membership drive more important now.
 
Sits patiently waiting for Matabele to ride in on his trusty steed and to reassure us again that mayer is part ofthe family and this is all a media beat up.

Could anyone blame the Bank's for not lending to the leagues club.  Terrible position and with a recession upon us there will be less money to play pokies and on entertainment. 
 
Not if Rudd's money comes thru - according Sen Fielding it will all blown on the punt - great for Mnaly
 
League news in a time where League news is lacking.

I'll beat Mata to the steed and say that the beat-up is definitley there.

"If we can get these things wrapped up we're in for an exciting five years-plus ahead," Penn said. "We have our model right, we have the right people, we're ready to play."

Doesn't sound like much of a doomsday or taking his toys elsewhere quote to me.
 
I can't understand how Penn "declined to comment" then gets three paragraphs of quotes. Any bank loan these days would have to have a model of almost immediate profits to cover the interest payments and that certainly couldn't be guaranteed in this climate.

I also don't undertsand how both Penn and Delmege have counter proposals at the ready, and that this would result in a falling out between them. No evidence or hint at what that may be.

I can understand that there would be tension if a proposal that had the members backing and looked like a done deal was now not able to proceed, but for me it looks like the journo is hyping a who-knows-what scenario.
 
The Wheel link said:
Not if Rudd's money comes thru - according Sen Fielding it will all blown on the punt - great for Mnaly

Maybe the club can arrange for the $950 to be paid out in pokies credits?
 
Jethro link said:
[quote author=The Wheel link=topic=179102.msg206273#msg206273 date=1233789005]
Makes the membership drive all the more important, I suggest if you are not a member now is the time consider joining up
I'm currently unemployed at the moment so it will have to wait a bit longer but yes you are right, it does make the membership drive more important now.
[/quote]

Did you end up making the move up to the bay mate?
 
I'd suggest Delmege should get down off the steed and have a beer with Scott.  and if that has already happened, then it's a beat-up. 
 
definitely a beat up especially when he is comparing positive comments with a negative article.

Main points i got from it:

*Originall offer fell through due to the economic climate (could not finance it)
*Counter Offer being proposed by both parties

False / unproven point:

*there is disagreement or tension between the 2 co owners and Grant Myer, there have been many articles around since the last year or so about tension between co owners and Myer but i would think that it is all a load of s***
 
Dan link said:
[quote author=Jethro link=topic=179102.msg206288#msg206288 date=1233798850]
[quote author=The Wheel link=topic=179102.msg206273#msg206273 date=1233789005]
Makes the membership drive all the more important, I suggest if you are not a member now is the time consider joining up

I'm currently unemployed at the moment so it will have to wait a bit longer but yes you are right, it does make the membership drive more important now.
[/quote]

Did you end up making the move up to the bay mate?
[/quote]


Yeah Dan. We got up here the night of the 22nd (Thursday) just as the storm came through at 11:40 pm. The rain came down in buckets. Had fun unpacking the car & trailer. Ended up putting the garage door up, driving the car in, unloading, reversing it out and then reversing the trailer in to unload it. Still unpacking & setting up. Bought a lowline tv cabinet from Harvey Norman last week & the delivery guys noticed my Manly flag & signed Sea Eagles Premiership team photo and said "see you are a Manly supporter, so am I. If we had known that you were a Manly supporter then we would have delivered the unit first up this morning instead of this afternoon". So there's another Manly supporter up here if you didn't already know that.
 
Just resigned along with my two trusty sidekicks.  On the hill, $259 for the season.  Excellent value.  Now all I have to do is get the coin out of them. 
 
Showdown for control of Manly Sea Eagles



Brent Read | February 06, 2009
Article from:  The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25013988-2722,00.html

MANLY co-owner Max Delmege spoke of peace and goodwill yesterday, but it appears the Sea Eagles could be headed for a boardroom showdown over control of the football club.
As revealed in The Australian yesterday, the relationship between Delmege and co-owner Scott Penn has been strained by the collapse of a joint proposal to redevelop the embattled Manly Leagues Club.
While Delmege stressed there was no tension emanating from his side of the partnership, the issue is likely to come to a head before players and officials depart for the World Club Challenge in England on Sunday week.
Asked whether the collapse of the joint venture had affected his relationship with Penn, Delmege said: "Not really, no. It hasn't for me anyway.
"We're both commercial people. We look at everything in commercial terms."
But the angst at ownership level will be inflamed should Penn and Delmege press ahead with rival bids to redevelop the leagues club at Brookvale.
The Penn family is expected to make a formal proposal in coming days while Delmege indicated he would present a bid if he were asked to do so by the board of the leagues club.
Interestingly, Delmege is a director of the leagues club but has removed himself from decisions regarding its future. However, since the collapse of the joint proposal with Penn, he said he had encouraged leagues club directors to take a deep breath and consider their options.
The leagues club, which has a significant debt, is considered the final piece of the puzzle in terms of Manly's revival. Should it be able to produce a revenue stream for the football club, the Sea Eagles' financial outlook would be assured.
Delmege's call for patience is unlikely to please the Penns, given they are ready to step into the breach.
"A few things happened," Delmege said of the collapse of his joint proposal with the Penns.
"I have suggested to them (leagues club directors) that they should settle it down, don't have blinkers on, look out into the wide, wide world and see what is out there.
"Or, in fact, restructure and modernise and retract the areas they need, and lease the areas they don't need, and retain all the premises.
"I think it's something they need to think hard and fast about. As a director, I have to look after their interests as well as the interests of the members.
"It's no big deal. If we can get more money from outside the Penn and the Delmege group, that's what we have to do."
Leagues club chief executive Peter Spray confirmed Delmege had encouraged his fellow directors to sit back and consider their options.
"He's a colourful character Max, but he's in an awkward position because he is a board member and people have a perception when he's involved that it's not on the up and up," Spray said.
The unease at boardroom level is eerily similar to ructions involving the former administration nearly six years ago. The sale of football club land to Delmege was at the centre of that wrangle and eventually split the club in two.
The latest spat has the potential to disrupt the start of the Sea Eagles' premiership defence, given the club has several players coming off contract this year, including captain Matt Orford, and internationals Michael Robertson and David Williams.
Negotiations are also ongoing with coach Des Hasler over an extension to his deal, which expires at the end of 2010.
The instability, which has extended to Delmege's relationship with Manly chief executive Grant Mayer, has the potential to hinder those talks.
However, Delmege yesterday reiterated his support for Mayer and said he was astounded by the constant speculation over the chief executive's future.
"You have to say the past chief executives of Manly, and obviously the present, have all done a wonderful job," Delmege said.
 
Whilst I am sure there is some tension I dont think doom & gloom is there as the original headline suggests
 
The Wheel link said:
Makes the membership drive all the more important, I suggest if you are not a member now is the time consider joining up

What membership is the  most strategically useful? the screaming eagles, the leagues club, the football club?
 
the screaming eagles for the NRL team.

The footy club, if you feel you want to have a vote when major decisions have to be made when Penn decides to pull out of joint ownership ;)
 
If it comes down to a one or the other situation, who would we rather have controlling the club's fortunes?  The Delmege family or the Penn family?

For obvious reasons I shall decline to comment.
 

Latest posts

Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
Back
Top Bottom