Newcastle Knights discover Nathan Tinkler is no messiah as the mining magnate walks away
WHEN Nathan Tinkler was handed the keys to the Newcastle Knights Rugby League club, Novocastrians believed they had found their Messiah.
WHEN Nathan Tinkler was handed the keys to the Newcastle Knights Rugby League club, Novocastrians genuinely believed they had found their Messiah.
Here was a self-made local lad who had made a billion dollars in double quick time who wanted to share the wealth around.
How could anyone resist the offer to sell him two of their beloved teams (soccer and league) and save an entire city from sporting oblivion?
The Knights members dutifully voted to sell the family silver to Tinkler against all advice from NRL headquarters, who warned Tinkler’s bidders in Newcastle that the model, which allowed one bloke to control their destiny, should be seen as fraught with danger and treated accordingly.
NATHAN TINKLER WALKS AWAY FROM KNIGHTS
Thankfully, on Friday Tinkler lost the Knights after several years in which he has made it very, very clear he should never have been handed the licence in the first place.
Revelations in The Daily Telegraph that the phone of this arrogant mining magnate had been used to send nasty text messages to Newcastle players about their form should be the last nail in the coffin.
The man who told ICAC last week that he was just an all-round good bloke, and not, in fact, someone who had curried favour with illegal donations to the Liberal Party, will continue his downward spiral. The man most likely will soon become a sporting pariah in his hometown.
A little over three years ago, Tinkler and his Hunter Sports Group cronies arrived on the scene in flashy style.
They promised the universe — a profit turnaround, long-term survival for the struggling fortunes of two working-class rugby league and soccer clubs, plus a $20 million bank guarantee if it all went pear-shaped.
MATTHEW JOHNS: YOU’RE NO LONGER WELCOME TINKLER
Big names like the Johns brothers and former ANZ Stadium boss, Ken Edwards were right behind the concept. Edwards was in charge of the HSG and dared anyone to question its veracity or ability to own and run two teams.
The biggest coup of all was the signing of Wayne Bennett who, it appears, is the only staffer actually contracted to Tinkler directly. The players are paid by HSG but Bennett’s whopping million dollar salary comes straight from the big man.
Bennett’s cheque did not arrive this week. Needless to say, the savvy Bennett was already on the phone to the Brisbane Broncos trying to get his old job back at a place that does pay its bills.
He looks set to take assistant coach, Kevin Walters and favourite player Darius Boyd across the border with him. Tinkler has learnt you can mess with some people but not with the master coach when a pay packet goes missing.
ABUSIVE TEXTS SENT FROM TINKLER’S PHONE
Alarm bells should have sounded much earlier for all of those who scorned people like me when we dared to suggest this would end in tears. The single owner model might be OK in the English Premier League, but Australia quite rightly relishes the concept of community ownership for its footy sides.
The Newcastle model should never have gone ahead. Tinkler’s reputation in horse racing circles had taken a huge beating, with reports filtering out as far back as 2010 that the big talking, coal-miner-made-good had stopped paying his bills.
He might be able to afford footy teams and coal mines but he didn’t like paying the bloke who delivered the feed to his lush Patinak farm horse stud in the Hunter Valley.
As they say, the rest is now history, with reports of massive racing debts, the closure of most of his racing enterprises and the grounding of his private jet. He moved to Singapore but has resurfaced lately in New York (spotted on Broadway with luxury shopping bags) and back in Sydney where reports of his largesse towards the Liberal Party have surfaced at ICAC.
The donations were reportedly meant to shore up support for a whacking big coal port in his hometown but ICAC has yet to make any findings. The Knights have become collateral damage this year. If the Alex McKinnon tragedy was not bad enough, Tinkler’s taint of uncertainty has left the team bereft of energy or confidence.
The Knights look unhappy and their owner made it all immeasurably worse than it should be. It always looked so rosy on paper. A white knight sails into the Knights with mining millions to burn. The Knights membership was so flattered and desperate they fell for Tinkler’s charms.
Now they might get their old club back but such is the damage done it will be but a shadow of what it was when the proudest club in the league last won a premiership in 2001.
MATILDA MARVELS
The rise and rise of soccer in Australia is not confined to the ranks of the A-League or the Socceroos.
Our Matildas, the women’s national team, replaced their coach a month ago and will now take their place in the Asian Cup final against Japan.
This in itself is a huge achievement but take a look at the participation figures for female soccer in Australia. Out of an incredible 1.9 million total players in Australia, there are now over 400,000 females playing the game here.
MATILDAS BOOK ASIAN CUP FINAL SPOT
A huge surge in junior soccer is one reason but another is the big numbers of females coming to the game who are over 45.
Doubters (I used to be one) beware. This game is going to be bigger than breakfast soon and it is apparent that mothers are not only voting to put their daughters into the sport but they are lacing up their own footy boots and taking to the park as well.
TICKETS SCANDAL
You know there is serious trouble in the management of league when thousands of Origin tickets are still for sale just days before the first game in Brisbane.
Charging anyone up to $370 for a ticket is nothing short of scandalous, with the bulk of the tickets remaining at a ridiculous $280 asking price. I’m not sure if anyone remembers this at NRL headquarters but the billion-dollar television deal was meant to shore up stuff like this.
SOMETHING FAWLTY AT QRL TOWERS
League is, and should always be, essentially a working-class game. A family of four should not be asked to part with $1000 for the right to go to a game of footy.
Please don’t compare yourselves with the likes of the Super Bowl or the FA Cup final. We have 25 million people living here, a fraction of the populations of the UK and the USA. Most of them earn less than $100,000 a year.
Take a dose of reality and stop this arrogant nonsense. It says a lot when what used to be the hottest ticket in town is now unaffordable.
Why the Tigers are right to laugh off Luai contract critics
The Wests Tigers have handed Jarome Luai a massive contract with almost no strings attached, but how else could the perennial cellar dwellers attract the most sought after star in the game, asks BRENT READ.
Weekend Read: Signs the tide is finally turning for Wests Tigers
The 2025 NRL season will start with plenty of hope at the Wests Tigers thanks to the arrival of some key signings, a soft draw and some new standards, writes BRENT READ.