Stadium upgrades?

Oh ok, but I don't think ther is any concern, Jets already have a deal and that article still made it sound like a very slight chnace that the Knights would not get it
 
Yeah, still sounds like it;s a done deal that we will get it. As for those people who disagreed with me and said the Jets wouldn't be interested though ... EAT SOME HUMBLE PIE!!!
 
Jets boss ready to take stadium fight to ICAC
By ROBERT DILLON


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NOT HAPPY: Con Constantine

NEWCASTLE Jets owner Con Constantine said he would instruct his lawyers to lodge a complaint with the Independent Commission Against Corruption after learning yesterday that the Knights and the Wests Group had effectively secured control of EnergyAustralia Stadium for the next decade.

International Sports Centre Trust chairman Ted Atchison said yesterday the Knights and Wests had signed a heads-of-agreement document. He said a formal licence-management agreement, or lease, was a fait accompli and would be signed within a month.

The respective parties put pens to paper with a matter of hours to spare yesterday before the Knights' previous lease expired at midnight last night. Under the new arrangement, Wests will manage the facility and the Knights will be major tenants, who in turn intend to sub-lease the stadium to the Jets.

But Constantine insisted yesterday that the stadium should have been put out to tender by the State Government and he was now preparing to take what has been a bitter public fight "to the next level".

"The stadium is something that belongs to the Crown to the people of Newcastle and I believe it should not be given to anyone before it has gone to tender," Constantine said.

"Go to tender, and whoever deserves to be the leaseholder and is worthy of it, by all means let them have it.

"At least put it through the tendering process. But at the moment it's not on, and I'm not going to lay back and allow it to happen.

"If they don't give us some answers, I believe we have no option but to go to the next level, which means taking it to ICAC."

Constantine said his legal advice was that the stadium lease should have been put out to tender for 28 days. He also said it was "ridiculous" that the Knights and Wests had only just brokered a deal with the trust, which manages the stadium on behalf of the State Government, after he was led to believe more than a year ago that it was already a "done deal".

Asked how long it would be before he directed his lawyers to take action, Constantine replied: "We're going to start to get the ball rolling now. Once it comes out publicly that it's been signed and delivered, we're going to get the lawyers on the job.

"We can't allow that to happen. It's wrong."

A State Government representative was confident yesterday that the new heads of agreement would stand up to any legal challenge.

"What Con chooses to do is Con's decision . . . the process went to cabinet, and it was endorsed by the cabinet in terms of the way forward," Premier's Office Hunter regional co-ordinator Ben Chard said.

"As far as we're concerned everything has been done according to the rules applicable to the exercise.

"We don't believe there is any problem there whatsoever."

Told that Constantine was considering legal action, Atchison laughed and replied: "Wish him well."

Constantine first expressed his dissatisfaction with the Jets' stadium-hire arrangement more than 12 months ago.

He says he makes no money from catering and pourage at home games.

But Atchison said that the Wests Group merely covered their costs and returned any game-related profits to the Knights and the Jets respectively.
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Source: Herald
 
It's pretty obvious that the Knights deserve to hold the lease, they are the main occupant in quantity and patronage.
 
Jets boss sees bright side of small finals problem
January 23, 2008

NEWCASTLE Jets may lose any hosting rights for the grand final, but football director Remo Nogarotto believes the black cloud could have a silver lining.

Football Federation Australia yesterday stood firm against a backlash of public opinion to confirm it considered EnergyAustralia Stadium (capacity 26,000) too small to host the biggest game of the season. But while the Jets fans are angry, and the club refuses to concede defeat, Nogarotto believes the controversy should finally ram home the message that the stadium has to be upgraded.

For the past two years, both state and federal levels of government have talked about committing funds (about $60 million) to construct a new western grandstand and redevelop the ground into an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 45,000. But no significant monies have been forthcoming, and Nogarotto, a former state director of the Liberal Party, believes the FFA's stance means politicians of all persuasions "stand condemned".

"If we win the right to host the grand final and then it's taken away from us because the stadium isn't good enough, then to me the message is clear," Nogarotto said.

"It's time to put the pressure on Canberra, and on Macquarie Street, to live up to their promises. The community deserves a decent stadium …"

Nogarotto, however, also concedes the continual in-fighting between the Jets and Newcastle Knights hasn't helped. The NRL club, through their owners, Wests Leagues, has only recently secured another long-term lease, and Jets owner Con Constantine, who believes his club gets a poor deal as secondary tenants, has threatened to go to the ICAC about the State Government's refusal to put the lease to tender.

Nogarotto thinks it's time to call a truce.

"Unless both clubs accept co-existence is necessary, then the politicians will continue to play us off a break," he said.

"The Knights have been around longer than us, and I guess they are the big brother in this and we're the little one. But we're still in the same family, and we're growing. I would like to think they'll appreciate the landscape has changed in the last three years, and that we're not fly-by-nighters …"

Meanwhile, Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek will name his squad for the opening World Cup qualifier against Qatar this morning. Jets teenager James Holland is looming as a bolter in a squad likely to contain several European-based players
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Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/a-league...-finals-problem/2008/01/22/1200764264902.html

It's not much, but it's news.
 
pommie_knight said:
European based players - Schwartzer, Viduka, Cahill, Emerton, Kewell - will they all get in?
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A Group of 39 Players were named, including overseas players, but im not sure those players were named, due to their club commitments.
 
Hope we gat a 45, 000 capacity stadium, that would be awsome. if we get it that size or maybe a little over 50, 000 the NSWRL might even consider playing a SOO match there once in a while similar to how they take it down to melbourne.

39 man squad, that is rediculous, thats 3 and a half teams. and for a game against Qatar or whatever.
 
Jonno_Knights said:
Hope we gat a 45, 000 capacity stadium, that would be awsome. if we get it that size or maybe a little over 50, 000 the NSWRL might even consider playing a SOO match there once in a while similar to how they take it down to melbourne..
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I don't ever see there being a SOO outside of Suncorp or ANZ Stadium. The one down in Melbourne was purely just to promote it more so down there.
 
knight-no-7 said:
pommie_knight said:
European based players - Schwartzer, Viduka, Cahill, Emerton, Kewell - will they all get in?
Click to expand...

A Group of 39 Players were named, including overseas players, but im not sure those players were named, due to their club commitments.
Click to expand...

I'll continue the World Cup chat in the A-League thread.

Let's get this right, the Government in Australia picks up the tab for stadium upgrades and rebuilds? How strange is that? The only Govt. built stadium I know of here is Wembley and that cost us £778million or A$1.7billion!!!!!!!! Robbing ba***rds!! :evil: :evil:
 
Yea, its AUS! lol

On Newie, you never know, if we get a larger stadium someday, we could well and truely end up hosting an Origin...
 
Untitled23 said:
Jonno_Knights said:
Hope we gat a 45, 000 capacity stadium, that would be awsome. if we get it that size or maybe a little over 50, 000 the NSWRL might even consider playing a SOO match there once in a while similar to how they take it down to melbourne..
Click to expand...

I don't ever see there being a SOO outside of Suncorp or ANZ Stadium. The one down in Melbourne was purely just to promote it more so down there.
Click to expand...

There wouldn't be an origin game in NSW outside of Sydney, especially since ANZ Stadium can seat 80,000. But there is another match in Melbourne in 2009.
 
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