British billionaire Marwan Koukash rules out buying Gold Coast Titans

BRITISH billionaire Marwan Koukash has ruled out buying the Titans, claiming the club has no future on the Gold Coast after amassing a $12 million debt.

Former Salford City Reds owner Dr Marwan Koukash. (Photo by Paul Thomas/Getty Images)

BRITISH billionaire Marwan Koukash has ruled out buying the Titans, claiming the club has no future on the Gold Coast after amassing a $12 million debt in the past four seasons.

As the NRL prepares to sell the club, The Sunday Mail has uncovered the true financial health of the Titans, which continues to haemorraghe millions almost three years after the governing body took control of the licence.

Official NRL accounting data, leaked exclusively to The Sunday Mail, paints a grim picture of the Gold Coast’s revenue streams and the battle ahead for prospective owners to turn the Titans into a viable operation.

Since the start of 2014, the Titans have lost a staggering $12,627,461. According to NRL bean counters, the Titans racked up a $3.17 million debt this season, another half-a-million dollar blowout on the club’s $2.63 million deficit in 2016.

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Former Salford City Reds owner Dr Marwan Koukash. (Photo by Paul Thomas/Getty Images)

The Titans are by no means a financial anomaly in a code drowning in red ink. The NRL’s 16 clubs lost a collective $53.4 million last year, with the Brisbane Broncos the only outfit to record a profit despite the $1 billion in media money that has flowed into the game’s coffers over the past five seasons.

But Gold Coast’s chequered history with sporting franchises — rugby league alone has seen four failed attempts in the region — has raised fears as to whether the Titans can truly flourish as an NRL force.

Koukash is sceptical. The flamboyant tycoon, who last month sold English club Salford after four years of ownership, has dreams to buy an NRL licence and has been linked with a Titans sell-off.

But after reviewing Gold Coast’s finances, the 59-year-old declared he has no interest in being part of the bid process, fearing the Titans cannot be salvaged.

“I want to clear this up. I am not in the running for the Titans licence. I won’t be making an offer,” Koukash told The Sunday Mail from England.

“I would be interested in buying an NRL club in the future, but I won’t buy the Titans. Unfortunately, I can’t see the Titans ever being successful unless there are drastic changes.

“I’ve learnt from my lessons getting involved in Super League with Salford. I need to make sure, if I get involved in the NRL, that it’s the right relationship and the right club for me.

“The Titans are losing a lot of money and they will continue to lose money.

“I would like to see the Titans be sustainable and see it grow, but I’m not totally convinced any NRL team can survive on the Gold Coast.”

Life is looking increasingly precarious for the Titans. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

As Koukash can attest, running rugby league teams, be it in England or Australia, is an expensive exercise. The Titans’ next owners, most likely the Rebecca Frizelle-Darryl Kelly consortium, face some daunting fiscal challenges.

This season, it cost the NRL $18.3 million to run the Titans. Of that figure, $12.5 million was spent on the football department, including wages and superannuation for the Titans’ NRL full-time squad, head coach Neil Henry and his support staff.

The new owners will hope the NRL’s next five years of grants will future-proof the club.

In 2018, the Titans, like every NRL club, will receive a $12.4 million grant from the NRL. After $9.4 million is spent on player payments under the salary cap, the Titans will be left with a $3 million surplus.

The challenge for the new owners, then, is to find additional revenue streams to cover other operational costs such as the stadium hiring fee for Cbus Super Stadium, which was $1.3 million last season.

Titans chief executive Graham Annesley has worked overtime to streamline the club’s budgets. He scoffed at suggestions the Gold Coast region cannot sustain an NRL team.

Titans CEO Graham Annesley isn’t giving up the fight. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“Over the last three years of NRL ownership, the Titans have become one of the most prudent, cost effective operations in the NRL,” he said.

“The Gold Coast is Australia’s sixth-largest city with an outstanding national and international profile. It is right in the middle of rugby league heartland with around 6000 junior players in the local region.

“This club is only just over a decade old and it is potentially one of the powerhouses of the NRL competition.

“We have well-connected independent governance, experienced management, incredibly committed staff, first-class facilities, and a quality playing roster.

“All the building blocks are in place, we just have to deliver consistently credible on-field performances, and I’m very confident we are on the cusp of doing just that.”

Koukash believes the NRL are better off relocating the Titans licence to create a second team in Brisbane.

“If the licence was moved to Brisbane I would definitely look to buy the club,” he said.

“I know you would get a lot of resistance in wanting to move the Titans, but Brisbane is a bigger market. The Titans will not work were they are now.

“I don’t want an NRL club just for the ego, I need a club that I think can be successful. A second team in Brisbane would be successful.”