Rebels-administrator-urges-private-consortium-be-allowed-to-save-club

[Kiap]

Zero balls to not say would

Melissa Woods - probably doesn't have swingers

[Burgs]

Two sources who attended the meeting, who declined to be named for professional reasons, said the administrator had the deciding vote after the creditor vote was tied on the consortium deal.

The source added...

This shit makes me want to punch my screen every time I see it!!!
They are professional enough to protect their career, but not professional enough to protect their integrity...
Pro Rugby in Australia has more leaks than a colander.
Probably the only reason leaks aren't held accountable is there would be no one left.

[Burgs]

Melissa Woods - probably doesn't have swingers

Hopefully no "would" either...

[shasta]

Pro Rugby in Australia has more leaks than a colander.
Probably the only reason leaks aren't held accountable is there would be no one left.

"There's only one way to ensure that nobody finds the source of all these leaks - a leak inquiry." - Sir Humphrey Appleby.

[joblot]

Melbourne Rebels to continue fight for survival after winning rescue-bid vote
ByCarla Jaeger and Sarah Danckert
May 3, 2024 — 1.12pm


The directors for the Melbourne Rebels have secured a major victory against Rugby Australia after creditors voted to support a rescue deal to save the debt-laden Super Rugby club.

The proposal was put forward by a private equity-backed consortium led by business heavyweight Leigh Clifford and the Melbourne Rebels’ directors.

Two sources who attended the meeting, who declined to be named for professional reasons, said the administrator had the deciding vote after the creditor vote was tied on the consortium deal.

The source added that the Australian Taxation Office voted against the proposal.

Insolvent since 2018: Melbourne Rebels’ rescue plan hinges on legal fight
Under the deal, employees will receive a return of 100 cents in the dollar, and unsecured creditors will receive between 15¢ and 30¢ in the dollar. The range of the payout will depend on if the directors are successful in their planned legal claim against Rugby Australia over alleged underfunding of the club.

The Rebels consortium must jump two hurdles before it can retain control of the company: Rugby Australia handing back the licence for the Super Rugby competition, and the Australian Taxation Office releasing the directors from their personal liability over the club’s $11.5 million in tax debts.

The group will now have 30 days to negotiate with the peak body for the sport and the tax office. If unsuccessful, the consortium will then have 60 days – or a date approved by the administrators – to commence legal proceedings to wrangle back the licence.

If they’re still unable to claim back the licence, or be released from their director penalty notice, the deal will collapse, and the consortium will no longer have any claim to the company.

https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/rug...ource=rss_feed

Is there any way action can be taken against those slimy bastards Clyne and Pulver.
They started this shit storm.

[Jules]

Is there any way action can be taken against those slimy bastards Clyne and Pulver.
They started this shit storm.

Those two seem to be covered in teflon nothing sticks

[andrewg]

According to Slayer1 from Green & Gold Rugby:

"The Administrator's report clearly showed the Rebels were getting more money than other teams.
AND that they had exceeded the salary cap for at least three years that we know of, by more than $2 million.
Criticise RA, yes - but criticise them for secretly funding a team run by Dodgy Brothers Inc..."

We've also heard that no accounts were submitted to RAu since 2018.
I reckon that there is no doubt that the Rebels are currently over the salary cap.
I'd be also interested on the same situation re the Tahs (as it would explain why some players are leaving due to salary adjustments by RAu.

The past Directors (aka Dodgy Brothers) of the Rebels should be held totally to account by all creditors including the ATO.

The WF will be totally legit as RAu will continue to keep us under the microscope!

Professional rugby in Australia needs a re-set as the management by RAu has been abysmal.

[shasta]

I read somewhere that there are precedents where the ATO has given some flexibility over tax debts. I imagine there were extenuating circumstances. I don't see that applying to board members who have been knowingly deceptive. So they can hardly agree to a deal that would allow the same clowns to carry on the farce.

[bootsetal06]

RA are as complicit in this as anybody…..

[shasta]

When all Else is Failing try a bit of Coercion & Scare Tactics

The answer for these "business heavyweights", if they love their club so much is simple. Do like Andrew Forrest and personally guarantee to fully fund any future losses plus any current creditor deals worked out. Anything less is just more of the same.

Business heavyweight Leigh Clifford says new investors are willing to treat legal threats against Rugby Australia as a “last resort option” if they find support for their plan to save the troubled club, and has warned the NRL would expand in Melbourne if the Rebels disappear.

Clifford, who is heading a consortium to rescue the Melbourne Rebels, has called on Rugby Australia to put aside past differences with the club and back a new six-year plan that will result in the club continuing as a viable operation until at least 2030.

The consortium plan, which has already won interest from overseas investors, would require Rugby Australia to return to the Rebels the licence it took in January after the club collapsed into administration owing its creditors $23 million.

“The danger here is that Rugby Australia abandons Melbourne, but more importantly abandons Victoria, leaving the opportunity for the NRL to expand further."

PAYWALLED

https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/rug...20-p5jey0.html

[Burgs]

I don't think the principle actors at the wheel of HMAS RA are of the mindset that would respond kindly to such attitude.
Particularly following my recollection RV and Rebels voted against them in the vote with the other Members (stand to be corrected on that).
I also can't see any legal position that ends well for Rugby in Victoria if they pursue that.
I would think RA are holding out for a genuinely independent "third party" to do a Forrest, rather than a continuation of a variation on an old theme, allowing the current/previous Directors get off the hook but RA still losing out financially.

[Tazzmania]

Business heavyweight Leigh Clifford says new investors are willing to treat legal threats against Rugby Australia as a “last resort option” if they find support for their plan to save the troubled club, and has warned the NRL would expand in Melbourne if the Rebels disappear.
Clifford, who is heading a consortium to rescue the Melbourne Rebels, has called on Rugby Australia to put aside past differences with the club and back a new six-year plan that will result in the club continuing as a viable operation until at least 2030.
The consortium plan, which has already won interest from overseas investors, would require Rugby Australia to return to the Rebels the licence it took in January after the club collapsed into administration owing its creditors $23 million.
“The danger here is that Rugby Australia abandons Melbourne, but more importantly abandons Victoria, leaving the opportunity for NRL to expand further,” the former Qantas chairman told this masthead ahead of mediation with the sports governing body this week.
“I asked [Rugby Australia chief executive] Phil Waugh at a meeting, ‘If we can come up with a viable proposal for the Rebels in 2025, will you support it?’ And I’d have to say that he looked around a bit, but he agreed, yes, he would. Now we want to see that case brought forward.”
A Rugby Australia spokesperson said the governing body had previously outlined to the consortium it was open to engaging on any plan it put forward.
“Any hold-up has been down to the lack of any details being provided around their plan, which have not been forthcoming,” the spokesperson said.
Asked what impact it would have on Rugby Australia’s position if the Rebels dropped their threat of legal action, the spokesperson said it wouldn’t hurt, but said it had not received any “definitive” communication.
The consortium has engaged advisory firm KordaMentha to prepare a lengthy document of several hundred pages detailing the plan to build and maintain a club that is headquartered in Tarneit on Melbourne’s fast-growing western fringe. The plan includes engagement strategies for suppliers and sponsors.
“We hope to have that to Rugby Australia in the next day or so,” Clifford said. “It’s very comprehensive.”
The collapse of the club sparked a seemingly intractable disagreement between the parties. The directors of the Rebels allege the club was knowingly and unfairly underfunded by Rugby Australia, saying RA did the club’s payroll and knew its tax liabilities. The peak body claims it forwarded the tax funds but the club misused it for other expenses.
Earlier this month, Rugby Australia voted against a $30 million rescue plan put forward by the consortium at a meeting of creditors.
Clifford says he hopes Rugby Australia can take a new approach to the consortium’s plans after initially voting against its first rescue offer earlier this month that was, in part, contingent on the consortium going ahead with its threatened legal action.
“So far, the engagement I’ve had, to be honest, has been a little bit like hitting the ball over the net and it never comes back,” Clifford said. “We’ll say something, and they’ll say, ‘We’ll talk to the board.’
“I hope when they come to this mediation, they come with a positive attitude because the last thing we want is a brawl with Rugby Australia. It’s been going on too long.”
Clifford declined to comment about any discussions between the consortium members and the Tax Office. The seven Rebels directors are engaging with the administrators to have the $11.6 million tax debt they may be personally liable for waived.
He said former Melbourne Rebels president Paul Docherty, who has been mired in business troubles since late last year, had been providing strategic assistance to the consortium as it worked on its new plans.
Why the Rebels entered into administration
Source: PwC administration report into the Melbourne Rebels
PwC administrator Stephen Longley found the club’s disastrous financial state is likely to result in:
“A history of trading losses, exacerbated since 2020 by the negative impact on revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced funding from RA since that time;
Insufficient revenue being generated from sources other than RA, such as membership, sponsorship and game-day revenue;
An increasing expense base, including rising wage costs;
Lack of readily available alternative funding sources to meet the material net asset shortfall and trading losses; and
Failure to manage its statutory and lease liabilities.”
Rugby Australia has been supporting the club financially throughout the 2024 season, covering player contracts and other costs. Some players are also creditors to the club for relocation costs. Under the plan put forward by the consortium that was backed by creditors, unsecured creditors will receive between 15¢ and 30¢ in the dollar. All staff costs are also covered in the rescue plan.
Clifford said that as the 2024 season moved towards the finals, it was important to reach a resolution to retain the player talent the Rebels had built up at its men’s and women’s clubs.
“This is their career, and they’re understandably concerned,” he said. “We have got to deal with this quickly. Some of the players have existing contracts, and we’ve got to ensure that there’s a team, otherwise there’s going to be financial consequences.”
‘Chock-a-block’: Clifford captivated by Tarneit
Buttressing the consortium’s detailed and confidential financial modelling for the next six years of Melbourne Rebels is a plan to shift the club from its expensive home ground of AAMI Park to a new, partially completed complex in Tarneit.
Under the plan, the Melbourne Rebels’ women’s and men’s professional rugby club would negotiate with Western Melbourne Group to share the Wyndham Regional Football Facility in Tarneit with the Western United A-League teams. The complex has a 5000-seat ground, but there are hopes to include a 15,000-seat stadium for larger events.
Clifford said he had been captivated by Tarneit when visiting the complex recently.
“It’s certainly captured the community’s imagination,” he said. “I went there, and the car park – I thought, ‘It will never fill this.’ I came out and it was chock-a-block full.”
The Rebels’ planned tenancy at Tarneit is part of a broader plan to develop a community precinct that would house thousands of residential homes and the sporting complexes, as well as retail, office and entertainment facilities. Clifford said the consortium had already attracted non-binding interest from two US private equity firms and the Australian arm of a British investment house in investing in the overall precinct plan.
“You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince, but I would say there has been very big interest [in the investment community] in the whole precinct concept,” he said.
Clifford said the consortium would continue to drum up support for the precinct, and it was delighted to have such strong supporters in the state government for its plan and the future of Super Rugby in the state.
“The government is watching,” he said. “We’ve had comprehensive discussions with the government. They are not happy about this. And you know, the last thing Rugby Australia wants is with the Lions Tour and the World Cup coming up is pissing off the Victorian government, which I think they made a fair attempt of doing.
“We want to grow this business. We want to grow this sport in Victoria. We want a professional team. The reason for a mediation is to resolve issues which concern either side, and I think people come with a good heart that’s possible.”
Sports Minister Steve Dimopoulos previously told this masthead the government “supports rugby union remaining in our state and expects Rugby Australia to commit to a team at the elite level of the sport in Victoria”.

[Burgs]

Clifford declined to comment about any discussions between the consortium members and the Tax Office. The seven Rebels directors are engaging with the administrators to have the $11.6 million tax debt they may be personally liable for waived.
He said former Melbourne Rebels president Paul Docherty, who has been mired in business troubles since late last year, had been providing strategic assistance to the consortium as it worked on its new plans.

Intuition says this is a major sticking point for RA.
It certainly would be for me.
RA is left paying 2024, on top of any other losses from an underperforming partner, while the consortium that is looking to "white knight it" is engaged with and protecting the very people who created the disaster.
The ultimate business model from RA's perspective is that all the franchises they pour funds into end up being financially sound enough for RA to see a ROI. This is pretty much the antithesis of that ambition...

[Burgs]

And you know, the last thing Rugby Australia wants is with the Lions Tour and the World Cup coming up is pissing off the Victorian government, which I think they made a fair attempt of doing.

I think this attitude stated publicly is very poor, no matter how hard he thinks it.
That said, perhaps RA has contractual advantages to commitments to the MCG falling over, even if only through Eastern Suburbs coloured glasses.
Maybe the thought of not having to pander to the f-wits in Victorian politics any longer has a certain appeal to RA.

[GIGS20]

I would think that the Rebels directors suggesting that they might not undertake legal action if RA settle is the clearest indication yet how successful they think they're going to be.

Usually when a civil case like this is bought forward, the first person who blinks and talks settlement is the person who doesn't think they can win the court case.

RA should make the offer for them to settle any debt they have with RA before even entering discussions over whether they deserve the license back.

If they agree, make sure to include the costs incurred by running the team for them for an entire season after the money you gave them to do so disappeared.