Hunter Sports Group closes Jets

bigdan said:
Well, you don't write cheques your arse can't cash. You don't go out trying to be all things to all people when you're not.
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You also don't spend big money that would be better used elsewhere on a sinking ship.


bigdan said:
There's a thing called doing the right thing by the people who answered the call when they were calling for 10,000 members. By the kids who aspire to play for a local team in the nation's top competition. For those who believe in this region's ability to perform at any sport you can throw at.
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Where were all these fans pre-tinkler.


bigdan said:
You have the imagination of a rock, so I will put it in terms even you can understand.

Imagine if there was no safety net. The club was turned into a 100% privately owned consortium. Like the Sydney Kings (Google Sydney Kings Firepower). Now imagine if that had happened to the Knights.
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Imagination of a rock aye? Still more then that of a soccer hooligan. The knights have a guarantee that prevents such a thing from happening. So why would i possibly need to imagine an event that wont happen happening?

Maybe if the soccer hooligans had shown more love and support for their team pre-tinkler they may have been in a better and more organized situation to demand such guarantees.



bigdan said:
The Jets was never owned by the members - do your mother****ing research. It was owned by someone whose heart was in the right place but had no long term business acumen. Yes, the FFA were in the wrong, but Tinkler and HSG have done the wrong thing BY THE FANS who put in their money to support the team. They're both as dumb as each other.
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I never said they were owned by the members. I said " they would never stand as a member-owned club". As in they would never last as a team if they used a membership ownership model. Understand now.

---------- Post added at 04:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:57 PM ----------

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1100967/Tinkler-group-hands-back-Jets-licence

Interesting read. Some interesting quotes.

"We have attempted to organise meetings with the FFA to discuss our $5 million acquisition fee, with our only condition being we must be advised what other clubs have paid, if anything, why acquisition fees vary, how much of a success fee was paid to the FFA's agent and how the money was used.
Tinkler is understood to have been in dispute with FFA over the $5 million he paid to take over the Jets from Con Constantine, a figure far in excess of those paid by any other A-League owner.
"Having rejected our terms on every occasion we had no confidence a consistent and rational explanation for the fee would be forthcoming, particularly after inflammatory media comments from the FFA," Palmer said.
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HSG also announced it will establish a high performance academy to develop young players, into which $1 million will be invested annually.
"This decision by the Hunter Sports Group is not about walking away from football and we will continue to meet and grow our local commitments," Palmer said.
"We will now invest in local junior talent and help reduce the burden on their families.
"We would rather proactively support youth and our local community at the expense of the huge wastage in the A-League."
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So it looks like they aren't turning away from soccer, but rather funding and supporting local and junior soccer and helping local communities rather then wasting money on a money pit in a poorly run comp.

Massive kudos to HSG for doing that and putting the money where it is needed most.
 
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Josh Hill said:
Big news. Doesn't affect me but it will affect alot of other people, I have seen countless people walking around in a Jets jersey. I'd hate to see how the members on the Jets forum are like right now.
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Remember when they constantly used to bag us out and rugby league over there before Tinkler come along? Got no time for them. Apologies if you are in the Jets forum from here too.

Feel for the players and fans but can see why Nathan pulled the pin.
 
"But Buckley said HSG had a contract until 2020, could not simply hand back the licence and FFA expected them to honour their commitment to national competition.

"A club cannot just hand back a licence," said Buckley.
"The Hunter Sports Group has a legally binding contract that goes through until June 2020 to participate in the A-League and field a team in the A-League.
"So they do not have a right to hand a licence back and we expect them to fully commit and fully honour that contract."
 
Like all of you i love the knights more but im a supporter of Newcastle. I'll go to a jets game every now and then and watch them on tv most weeks. Its a sad day because I know alot of people who are massive Jets supporters and would be very upset at the momement. For the 1st time we had a rugby league team and a soccer team without any money worries. I feel for all the fans especially you Dan. Its wrong they we're paying more than any other team for the license. I just hope the 2 parties (HSG and FFa) get together and work out a revised offer for a license. Please HSG talk to the FFA and work this out. And Dan dont walk away from the knights.
 
Novocastrian90 said:
What, so you rather the guy just sink 6 million dollars a year of his income into a money pit. Just because the guys is worth a billion doesn't mean he has a billion.
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bigdan said:
If he was well and truly into supporting the community, like he kept on bleating about when he took over the club, that would not have been a problem.
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So the FFA take Tinkler for a ride by jacking up the cost of an A-League licence and you expect him to carry on because he is "worth" a lot? That he owes it to the community? That is morally wrong. Similarly, you would expect the music/film/software industries to accept the illegal downloading of their products then? That we, the public, shouldn't hold onus on our moral dignity? These industries implement security measures because of the moral ineptitude of the public and HSG are looking to baulk on the deal for the same ineptitude shown by the FFA.

Check your moral compass.


You admit to the FFA mucking HSG around, yet HSG are the villains for taking action and putting their foot down after attempted (and apparently failed on FFA's part) negotiations? Yes- their actions are drastic...but they are justified. You are also creating unnecessary hypothetical scenarios about the implications these actions hold for the Knights in the future...when precautions were taken to prevent your scenaros from happening....kinda silly, no?
 
I feel sorry for the Jets players, staff and fans. No one deserves to randomly lose their club.

But thankfully, I honestly doubt this is by any means the end of the Jets. Theyre a successful club with good community support and have really turned around their business model (thanks to Tinks).


But, in all honesty, good on ya Tinkler - Give it to the man.

And at the very least this is a win for all the right-minded people out there that were sick of a select portion of Squadron fans. Suck on that one chumps - Enjoy abusing my team on The Herald site now you dont even have a team trolololol.
 
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I couldn't give a stuff about the Jets personally, I feel for their fans in ways but most of them hate on the Knights anyway.

The Jets wouldn't even of played last season if it wasn't for Tinkler, besides when has Nathan ever said that he liked soccer or the a league in the first place? He done a good deed for the community and Jets fans alike by keeping them in the competition, they've been turning in zero profit and costing the HSG in the millions to keep them afloat. Put yourself in his Tinkler's shoes for a minute, if you owned a team that competed in a sport you didn't even like that just costed millions without profit, would you not do the same?

Knights have supported themselves for many years prior to Tinkler, they've always been more important to the majority of people out there.
 
Some lady on Ten News was being interviewed about it and she said 'it looks like Tinkler only bought the Jets so he could get the Knights, so he owes every Jets fan an apology'. Can't believe some people. If it wasn't for Tinkler, there never would've been an 11/12 season for the Jets, and they would've ended in a bankrupt mess. If he was only saving the Jets so he could get the Knights, he must've been pretty desperate to get the Knights, because he invested tens of millions of dollars just to save the Jets.

FFA is full of it though - putting millions of dollars into this new Western Sydney team whilst trying to sweep existing teams under the carpet. That's rubbish.
 
This is going to get VERY interesting if the case winds up in court. Overpaid officials, schoolyard economics being forced on the clubs by incompetent association. Problems with the owners in Perth, Wellington, Gold Coast and now Newcastle should start some alarm bells ringing.......... and as for that business about setting up a team in western Sydney that is fully funded by the soccer mob, what the hell did they is going to happen there!

I won't be at all surprised if this contributes to the demise of the national soccer competition in Australia.
 
God knows what Tinkler will do to his $250 000 Ferrari when he finds out Palmer only paid $75 000 for his

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 PM ----------
NF_47 said:
I couldn't give a stuff about the Jets personally, I feel for their fans in ways but most of them hate on the Knights anyway.

The Jets wouldn't even of played last season if it wasn't for Tinkler, besides when has Nathan ever said that he liked soccer or the a league in the first place? He done a good deed for the community and Jets fans alike by keeping them in the competition, they've been turning in zero profit and costing the HSG in the millions to keep them afloat. Put yourself in his Tinkler's shoes for a minute, if you owned a team that competed in a sport you didn't even like that just costed millions without profit, would you not do the same?

Knights have supported themselves for many years prior to Tinkler, they've always been more important to the majority of people out there.
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Pretty ignorant comment right there. By "most of them" I assume you mean the half a dozen trolls on the herald comments section. There are plenty of us who are year round newcastle fans
 
Feel sorry for the players and fans, Ben Buckley and the FFA are morons of the highest order.
 
OutOnTheFull said:
Pretty ignorant comment right there. By "most of them" I assume you mean the half a dozen trolls on the herald comments section. There are plenty of us who are year round newcastle fans
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A lot of Jets fans do despise the Knights and their fans though simply due to us being the major sporting team in the town. If this happened to us, there would be untold jubilation and laughing in greater numbers from them, despite the smaller fan base of the Jets. Without question.
 
bigdan said:
There's a thing called doing the right thing by the people who answered the call when they were calling for 10,000 members. By the kids who aspire to play for a local team in the nation's top competition. For those who believe in this region's ability to perform at any sport you can throw at.
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You say he should do right by the people who answered the call for 10,000 members. Last time i checked being a member required you to pay. Wat you paid for was a years membership, and full season tickets if you got a full season tickets membership.

Last time i looked the Jets played the complete 2011-2012 Season, so has he not already done right by the 10,000 members.

As for the other parts, a read of the sbs website article in a previous post will show that will all continue to be provided for.
 
moony said:
Like all of you i love the knights more but im a supporter of Newcastle. I'll go to a jets game every now and then and watch them on tv most weeks. Its a sad day because I know alot of people who are massive Jets supporters and would be very upset at the momement. For the 1st time we had a rugby league team and a soccer team without any money worries. I feel for all the fans especially you Dan. Its wrong they we're paying more than any other team for the license. I just hope the 2 parties (HSG and FFa) get together and work out a revised offer for a license. Please HSG talk to the FFA and work this out. And Dan dont walk away from the knights.
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well done mooney for not joining in the jets vs knights argument!

the only reason i had any interest in soccer is because of the jets. and that's because they're a newcastle team. the falcons (and later on the pirates) were always my first teams, so i can sympathise with jets supporters. unfortunately for you i think the a-league is headed for the same obscurity as the nbl

but for those that are mocking the jets on here now, just imagine the taunts we will hear from
a) jets fans, and (MUCH WORSE)
b) AFL fans
should the unt(h)inkable happen to the knights

condolences to bigdan and others
 
I suppose those who will really miss watching the Jets can tune in to Foxtel's coverage of the Premier League and watch real soccer.
 
Could this be merely a step in organizing a better A League?

Nathan did the same thing dumping the Knights takeover and walking away until the Board came to its senses. Worked then why not now? And seriously the A League cannot function with a $27 million a year a defecit and half the teams broke.
 
Apparently Tinkler can't just hand the licence back to the FFA .

Maybe he knows that and just wants the publicity to have a chance at fixing the problems with the current administration at the FFA?
 
Part of me hopes that the FFA forces the Jets to field a team next year, and they just roll out a local over 35's team or something and make a mockery of the FFA.

Can't believe people are saying they're going to stop supporting the Knights because of this, absolutely ridiculous.
 
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