To privatise or not privatise, that is the question to be answered by around 3,000 Knights members tonight.
After months of argy-bargy, involving the cashed-up Tinkler Sports Group, the Knights hierarchy, and the so-called Patron’s Trust, it all comes down to a ballot of members.
If 75 per cent or more of members vote for the Tinkler takeover, the deal is done.
The Tinkler Sports Group has left no-stone unturned in its bid to take ownership of the club. There’s been a media blitz, to almost rival the final days of the State Election campaign. Former Knights greats including Paul Harragon and Andrew Johns have lent their considerable weight to the campaign for the hearts and minds of members. The Tinkler campaign culminated on Monday night, when the mining and racing magnate fronted 800 members to explain the deal, in what some have compared to a rock concert.
By contrast a similar meeting called by the Patrons Trust and fronted by Lake Macquarie multi-millionaire Andrew Poole attracted fewer than 60 people. The Patron’s Trust model has two objectives. One is to keep the Knights a community owned club, the other is to ensure the club’s financial viability, via a $1.5-million cash injection, from three patrons, each year, for four years, with an option to extend.
The Tinkler Sports Group is offering to clear the club’s debt of around $4-million, underwrite sponsorship of $10-million a year for 10 years, and provide a bank guarantee of $20-million for the initial two years and $10-million for the next eight.
The vote will take place at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre tonight at 7.
