Gold Coast Titans players told investors are poised to save the club from $5 million debt

BESIEGED Gold Coast boss Michael Searle has called an urgent meeting of players to inform them private investors are poised to save the Titans.

Michael Searle

BESIEGED Gold Coast boss Michael Searle has called an urgent meeting of Titans players this afternoon to inform them private investors are poised to save the football club from an estimated $5 million debt.

The Courier-Mail can reveal Gold Coast's entire playing roster was summoned to the Centre of Excellence on their scheduled day off for a 3pm address from Searle, who provided assurances the $25.3m debt engulfing the Titans property arm would not send the NRL outfit broke.

The Titans majority owner told players he had been largely absent from club headquarters in recent months as he worked feverishly to secure the necessary funding to keep the NRL's 16th team afloat.

Searle did not disclose the identity of the backers but assured the playing group their capital injections would ensure the Titans' NRL arm becomes debt-free without financial assistance from the ARL Commission, which is monitoring the club's precarious financial position closely.

As revealed by The Courier-Mail last month, Searle had sought a capital injection from controversial Papua New Guinea deputy minister Belden Namah in a last-ditch bitch to save the club.

It is not known if Namah is part of the investment consortium.

The development came on a dramatic afternoon for Titans players, who were enjoying a day of rest ahead of Sunday's clash with the Panthers at Skilled Park.

The Titans' brand received a boost earlier when Searle, attending a Battle of the Codes luncheon on the Gold Coast, also announced the club had brokered a fresh five-year sponsorship deal with major backers iSelect.