The Knights Members' Club "has not budged from its demands" on National Rugby League side Newcastle Knights Owner Nathan Tinkler, according to Brett Keeble of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The group insists details of a new A$10.52M ($9.5M) bank guarantee "are clarified and confirmed by 5pm on Tuesday or it will begin the legal process to buy back Newcastle’s NRL team" for A$1. Tinkler’s Hunter Sports Group management firm "needs until Friday to finalise terms on extending the financial safety net for another 10 months," but Knights and HSG officials "have maintained it will be in place by next Monday when the two-month interim surety they negotiated in January expires." Members' club Chair Nicholas Dan and fellow board members Allan McKeown, Peter Corcoran, Trevor Crow and Steve Doran "met for about an hour on Monday morning and resolved to stick to Tuesday's deadline" (SMH, 3/25). In Sydney, Brent Read reported Dan confirmed that "he had been in contact with Tinkler by email, although he declined to reveal the tenor of the exchange." Chances are "it wasn’t pretty." Tinkler’s reputation suggests that "he doesn’t take kindly to having his authority challenged." But challenged "he has been and his ownership of the club is at stake" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 3/25).
