Scottish giants Dundee United have confirmed club chairman Stephen Thompson has been in talks with the Newcastle Jets after the A-League club had its licence revoked.
The club said Thompson was acting in his capacity as part of a consortium.
“Dundee United is not involved in talks with the Newcastle Jets, this is a personal venture for the Chairman as part of a consortium.
“Any involvement of Mr Thompson in this or any other venture is entirely his prerogative and the board, which he remains fully committed to, is focused purely on Dundee United FC delivering a positive end to the season and building for next season.”
The talks followed Nathan Tinkler’s messy break-up with the A-League club.
Tinkler’s Hunter Sports Group (HSG) licence to own the club has been revoked by Football Federation Australia, who will own and control the Jets’ new licence.
Thompson is understood to have been involved in talks with both Tinkler and the FFA about buying the Jets.
Tinkler said Wednesday Dundee were offering $5m for the club and a deal was imminent.
But the FFA’s decision to strip Tinkler of the ownership licence sidelines him from any sale.
“HSG has behaved in a deplorable way towards the players and staff of the club in failing to meet basic obligations to pay wages,” FFA chief David Gallop said in a statement.
Gallop said the FFA would continue talks with several interested parties.
The FFA moved on Newcastle after Tinkler earlier Wednesday placed the club into voluntary administration with debts of $2.7 million.
Gallop and Tinkler have been at odds throughout a turbulent season at Newcastle, who finished last on the ladder with just three wins.
The on-field woes were compounded when Tinkler sacked seven players in January, further riling the FFA, who were already upset at club finances.
Tinkler purchased the Jets’ licence in 2010, and a year later assumed ownership of the Newcastle Knights rugby league club.
In June last year, the NRL took back control of the Newcastle Knights from Tinkler after he failed to get a multi-million dollar bank guarantee.
dds154
Guest
Nobody is labelling Dundee giants - only Dundee United.
Waz
Guest
That's a good point and I don't think people outside of the ownership are in a good position to articulate all those lessons but clearly in the case of at least two clubs there are serious failings in governance by the owners. In Roars case the owners are using some alarming language in recent reports of "undisclosed liabilities" and expenses by former management, see the full story at: http://m.couriermail.com.au/sport/football/chris-fong-to-stand-down-as-brisbane-roar-chairman-but-owners-confident-they-can-rebuild-club/story-fnp0lxaz-1227367667730 So both the Jets and Roar have moved from one set of former owners who couldn't afford to run the club to a curent set of owners who have brought both clubs to crisis point today, the FFA approved both sets of owners so what have they learned that will prevent the cycle being repeated?
stu
Guest
I think it us time to quantify what lessons the FFA need to learn. I can't make judgement on your statement or that made by others as I don't think I have read any guidelines to-date.
Waz
Guest
So we are not talking about Dundee Utd buying the Jets but rather a consortium that involves the Chairman of Dundee United. Big difference providing the consortium is sufficiently independent of Dundee Utd. The FFA stuffed up the ownership transfer of both the Jets and Roar last time around so lets see if they've learned any lessons?
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
After calling Villareal 'Spanish giants" its now Dundee who are labelled giants. If oz football media want to be taken seriously its time for them to understand world and in this case European football. Scotland have 2 giants, Rangers and Celtic and perhaps 3-4 teams who have had 'some' success in Europe over the last few decades ( Hibs, Heart, Aberdeen and yes Dundee) but calling Dundee Utd 'giants' seriously. I love those clubs who are the backbone of the game in Europe but there is no need to prop them up using unnecessary superlatives. Just being 'a Scottish football club" is good enough.
AZ_RBB
Guest
If these discussions were ongoing why did Tinkler appoint an administrator yesterday? Surely he should have known or been advised that an act of insolvency would cost him his license.