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Enough is enough, according to long suffering North Queensland Fury boss Rabieh Krayem. As rumours swirl around the A-League franchise, Krayem wants the Fury’s future decided “one way or another” when he meets with Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley in Townsville today.
Buckley will fly to north Queensland with A-League boss Lyall Gorman for a meeting that will reportedly kill off the Fury.
Sick of hearing speculation regarding their future, Krayem wants a final verdict from Buckley.
“The impact on families of the players, the staff, supporters and the football community – now it is getting to the stage where they have had enough,” Krayem told AAP.
“People are starting to get angry about it.
“That’s why we are glad there is a meeting tomorrow and we can get some clarity.
“Because if it continued to go on any longer people would become despondent with the sport overall and that is not what we are trying to achieve in the football community in north Queensland.”
The Fury – solely owned by the FFA – had been told by Buckley to secure half of the club’s predicted $3 million shortfall for the 2011-12 season to ensure their future.
North Queensland have reportedly raised more than that – about $1.6 million – and have been poised to announce a $500,000-a-year sponsorship this week.
Yet Krayem remained frustrated by the doom and gloom in the Sydney media in the lead-up to Tuesday’s meeting.
“There’s not been strong positives coming from down south,” he said.
“That’s been the frustrating thing for a lot of people up here.
“There seems to be more innuendo and rumours from southern media and people about what is going to happen with the Fury.
“But hopefully tomorrow we can put all that to bed.”
Krayem will continue to work hard to secure Fury’s future despite the looming meeting, even organising talks with potential sponsors on Monday night.
“We will go into the meeting with a very optimistic view and find out how we can shore up the Fury’s future,” he said.
“And if the decision is the other way, well we will still hold our heads high and move on.
“One thing we have done as an advisory board is meet all our obligations that the FFA have set us.
“Until someone tells us we are not in the competition we will act like we are and continue to drive for sponsorships.”
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