Defiant A-League side Newcastle Jets Owner Nathan Tinkler dismissed the chaos that has engulfed his free-falling A-League club as a "storm in a teacup," according to Brett Keeble of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Tinkler indicated that he would happily meet the Jan. 31 deadline Football Federation Australia "has imposed on him to settle the club's debts," which he estimated were about A$500,000 ($387,000) -- but only on his terms. The former billionaire believes that FFA still owes him A$5M -- "a figure he maintains he paid as an acquisition fee when he replaced Con Constantine as owner in September 2010." Tinkler: "This is storm in a teacup stuff ... creditors are getting paid as we speak. It will all be resolved. I have said to FFA CEO David Gallop all along that we will deal with bills and this sort of stuff and that is getting dealt with now." Tinkler "has until Saturday to settle the club's debts," headed by $140,000 owed to Northern NSW Football and outstanding superannuation entitlements, and to convince the FFA that the club is a going concern. An FFA spokesperson said, "FFA has repeatedly spoken about benchmarks around stability and sustainability in the Jets operation. We've made this clear directly to the Jets owner and chairman Nathan Tinkler. In that context, the developments with the players and coaching staff create another layer of concern" (SMH, 1/29).
