In the past week the soap opera involving Clive Palmer, billionaire owner of Gold Coast United, took on epic proportions following his vitriolic attack on the FFA – and in particular CEO Ben Buckley.
The soccer family have been left in a state of shock and amazement at the formidable rant unleashed on the state of the game in this country. It now seems it’s no longer a matter of if Clive Palmer leaves the game, but when. Clearly stung by the hammering he copped across the multimedia platform following his decision to “suspend” coach Miron Bleiberg last week, the man who likes to remind everyone he’s the richest man in Queensland has reacted with predictable venom, describing football as a “hopeless game”, the A-League as a “joke”, and effectively daring the FFA to strip him of his license.
He later claimed his comments were misconstrued and clarified that it’s the game’s administrators that are indeed a joke, not the game itself.
Buckley responded, “Football fans across Australia will today rightfully condemn the lack of respect inherent in comments made by Clive Palmer. The comments are offensive to the players, coaches, administrators and volunteers who are the life and soul of Australian football. We welcomed Clive into the game and lauded his investment.”
Palmer, who is demanding representation from the clubs on the FFA board and will not commit his future to Gold Coast beyond this season unless his requests are met, has ruled out peace talks with fellow billionaire and FFA chairman Frank Lowy. “I don’t think there’s anything to be gained from talking to Frank Lowy … he is just concerned with getting as much money as he can from people. It’s not about money … It’s about participation and respect for people and everybody has a role to play.
“I don’t know if we will be in the competition next season but we are doing everything we can to continue the club and get the game on the right footing. “The owners suffer, as do players who don’t get their just rewards, while fans don’t get a properly run league for the future. What concerns me is the morality of the situation. When you have the top five staff members at FFA receiving salaries which total nearly five million that cannot be right when you have owners losing up to two million each season.”
“Whether I remain as a license holder really depends on the FFA and also other owners demanding that something is done to help this game. I feel Gold Coast United as a club has been ostracised by FFA because we have tried to raise serious issues confidentially over the past couple of years. “Perhaps FFA is not interested because our suggestions might involve some of the people at the top taking salary cuts to benefit the game as a whole.
“The federal government has put in eight million in recently to help FFA balance its books … and they should look at how it is spent. There are issues of corporate governance that need to be looked at. “Australia has been ranked second last in Asia for corporate governance and transparency. Only Indonesia was ranked below us and that should be a concern to every player and fan of the game.
“The thing stinks from the top and needs to be sorted out. The game should be controlled by the community … not one or two individuals.” For six years the FFA have submitted annual reports with revenue and expenses itemised. Surprisingly, this year, expenses were itemised yet revenue was grouped into a single figure. This seems to have been exercised to hide two one off large revenue items in the shape of an eight million dollar government grant and a seven million dollar purchase from Nathan Tinkler for Newcastle Jets.
The FFA still lost three million dollars with these two extra ordinary revenue items yet have another 13 million dollars coming into the war chest into next year’s annual reports from the purchases of Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix from the Bakire group and Welnix. Of course the FFA cannot keep luring private investors into purchasing football franchises that have suffered financial difficulties, at some point the model will collapse as investors start drying up. The game needs to become sustainable with solid financial foundations and Palmer says he, and his fellow billionaire owners are better versed to consult on this matter than over paid administrators that have never made ‘real money’ in their life.
Palmer brings up the sad tale of Don Matheson at North Queensland Fury who lost ten million dollars of his own money which subsequently forced his marriage to fail. Nathan Tinkler is currently considering litigation against the FFA for the seven million dollar license fee he claims was not forced to be paid by any other owner. He claims he was told it is a ‘standard fee’ yet the FFA now claim it’s an acquisition fee, not a license fee. Benita Mersiades, former FFA employee, makes the point the Coffee Club only had to purchase the Brisbane Roar for one million dollars only two years ago when they were an established club. Is the Jets football club based in Newcastle worth seven times the price of an established team based in Brisbane? These irregularities, lack of transparency and back room deals are the morality issues Palmer has decided needs to be addressed.
Palmer also points the finger at the corruption of the coaches and secret back room commissions and deals done with agents from the very top. It seems the FFA has become one big ‘boys club.’ Buckley’s administrators and the Dutch coaches who seem to all be doing very well as the game’s investors lose millions of dollars every year. Whilst this whole episode has been a public relations train wreck, and Palmer has aired many issues that may have been better handled privately, he has succeeded in shaking up many of the problems and exposed issues that cannot be ignored.
He has earned that right, so has Tony Sage, Nathan Tinkler and every other owner investor in the A-League and the tax paying public who contribute to the millions paid in government grants over the last few years. Palmer is saying to the FFA, “you can’t take investors’ money, tell them how to run a business, keep losing their money and keep paying yourselves millions of dollars.” He is demanding changes yet sadly he may be lost to the game before he receives the chance to see it. Stay tuned for the next move by the FFA, their credibility has been tainted and they need to act fast to steady the ship.