[AndyS]

I was originally thinking of this for the "What makes you smile" forum, based on Palmer's comments about not actually liking soccer even though he is an owner. That was until this later development. I wonder if the ARU is watching, because it is the inevitable outcome of private equity at the professional level.
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Clive Palmer calls for Ben Buckley's head

MAVERICK Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer has upped the ante in his simmering war with Football Federation Australia....

Palmer was responding to threats from the governing body that crisis-riven United, which yesterday split acrimoniously with coach Miron Bleiberg, could be stripped of its license following a newspaper outburst from Palmer in which he derided the A-League “as a joke” and soccer as “a hopeless game”.

Though FFA may have grounds to rip up United’s participation agreement for breach of the license conditions following a string of clashes with Palmer over the past two years, Queensland’s richest man promised a legal fight if it took that course.....

Determined to stand his ground, Palmer said: “We have a legal agreement with FFA which we have honoured. We have two years to run on the license which we acquired for $6 million. We have to date lost $18m over three years in terms of overall costs when you take into consideration sponsorships from within our organisation (Mineralogy).”

Palmer, who is demanding representation from the clubs on the FFA board and will not commit his future to Gold Coast beyond this season unless his requests are met, has ruled out peace talks with fellow billionaire and FFA chairman Frank Lowy.

“I don’t think there’s anything to be gained from talking to Frank Lowy … he is just concerned with getting as much money as he can from people. It’s not about money ... It’s about participation and respect for people and everybody has a role to play......

“When you have the top five staff members at FFA receiving salaries which total nearly $5m that cannot be right when you have owners losing up to $2m each season.”..............

“The federal government has put in $8m in recently to help FFA balance its books ... and they should look at how it is spent. There are issues of corporate goverence that need to be looked at.”.............

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226275839322

[beige]

Originally Posted by AndyS

I wonder if the ARU is watching

I'm sure they are but it might be more instructive to see how the Melbourne Rebels go over the next few years as the ARU probably has different ownership criteria to the FFA.

[KenyaQuin]

But it is a hopeless game, no? I think back to the comments by Kewell after his dive earlier this year and his attempt to justify his action(s) -

But look, sometimes people don’t understand when you’re in full motion and a defender just sticks his leg out - but brings it in at the last second - you’ve already seen that as an attacker.

Unusual for an individual to buy a team in a sport he's not interested in that has no proven success/profitability attached to it. Americans buying into Premiership teams in the UK to offset their tax/debt exposure, I can understand if explained in layman terms but in this case there appears to be no benefit.

But hey, what do I care, it is a hopeless game afterall (though I am passionate about my Liverpool ).