The owners of nine of the A-League clubs have "expressed concern over Football Federation Australia's handling of the Newcastle Jets situation," according to Ray Gatt of THE AUSTRALIAN. A-League owners held an informal meeting on Tuesday and "have thrown their support behind" Jets Owner Nathan Tinkler. FFA has served Tinkler with a "show-cause notice" over alleged debts of A$500,000 ($389,900). Tinkler is in danger of losing the license for the club "if he does not pay the debts within 14 days." However, the meeting of owners is reportedly backing
Tinkler "as he clears his outstanding debts by the end of February." FFA
CEO David Gallop rejected claims from Tinkler that he is
owed A$5M and warned the mining magnate to "get the A-League club's
house in order or face the consequences" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/4). In Sydney, Barry Toohey reported Tinkler admitted he has " trust issues" with the FFA and Chair Frank Lowy, and has accused the five senior players he sacked from the Newcastle Jets last week of "baulking over their termination payouts." An excerpt from a Q&A is below:
Q: Given the turmoil at the club, surely the FFA is entitled to be seeking assurances from you on the Jets' future?
Nathan Tinkler: The trouble is it's kind of hard to take the FFA at their word. I'm supposed to go ahead and fix all these things in good faith that I'm going to keep the license after it is done. While they are looking for assurances that these things are going to get dealt with, I'm looking for assurances that when they are dealt with, I am going to keep the license and we move forward.
Q: Are you referring to a conversation with Frank Lowy over the payment of A$5 million for the Jets license?
Tinkler: It was absolutely about the fee, yes. I was told that all clubs had paid it. We've had a few conversations about that and it hasn't changed the fact
Q: The club doesn't have a CEO. When will that be remedied?
Tinkler: I am hoping he will start in the next week or two. I had planned to announce it (on Monday) but with the FFA going out and shooting their mouth off like they do, that sort of places a bit of a storm-cloud over everything.
Q: You don't seem to have much faith in the FFA?
Tinkler: We need to know that if we fix all these problems, the FFA, in relation to the license, is going to stand by their word. They don't have a great track record of doing that. We are entitled to be concerned (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 2/4).
