Originally Posted by
hausmann
Having said that, there is one thing that I'd like to raise with the committee because if Tinkler is stripped of the license, I think you should be prepared to play a role in communicating with David Gallop for the transition to new ownership. You are a formal structure that he should respect.
It needs to be understood why the Newcastle flagship team keeps having financial and management problems. If Gallop can't verbalise what the issue is, then history will just repeat, and repeat. We have to get it right this time. And I think Gallop is the type of guy who would be willing to listen and cooperate.
IMO, the financial side is due to:
1. Lack of an innovative approach to ownership. We have tried community ownership and failed because its undercapitalised and unprofessional, we have tried rich tycoon ownership and failed because its too susceptible to whimsical decision making. We need a model that incorporates both. A rich owner or ownership group to ensure decisive action and supporter ownership so that the main owners (and CEO and management) take supporters seriously so they don't get all arrogant and think they can ignore the community. A broad ownership base (as opposed to membership base) encourages good corporate governance.
2. Lack of sponsorship.
There are two facets to this - one is small business sponsorship - corporate boxes, advertising and the like, the other is major sponsorship. It appears that the lack of small business sponsorship comes from a lack of trust in the owner/corporate governance. I regularly heard, "I'm not giving my money to Con/Tinkler because I don't trust him." Good corporate governance will help rectify this.
The lack of major sponsorship, I believe, is due to a structural problem in our community. Our dominant industries are coal, building, health, government, education and none of these have need to advertise. So sponsorship has to either be an act of philanthropy, or we need to make the Newcastle Jets brand something that is so appealing to major consumer markets that big brands see the value of placing their brand on the Jets strip. I think the later approach is likely to be more successful, mainly because it can be sustainable, whereas philanthropy funds can just be cut.
I also believe that from both Con and Tinkler, there was a short term outlook toward major sponsorship. "Our front of shirt is worth this much per year. Take it or leave it." It was never about building branding synergy over many years. And that's the kind of thing sponsors like. Both guys would have rejected under-valued sponsorships but if they selected the right sponsor they could have taken less money now but built the value up over time through good sponsor relations.
The advantage that Newcastle has over any other A-League club is that our supporter base includes mainstream novocastrians from all walks of life. We aren't a migrant curiosity. We have a rich history from Minmi Rangers of 1886 to Reg Date to Craig Johnstone that appeals to the mainstream. And the advantage of this is that we can take ownership of all of it as part of the Novocastrian spirit. This richness is something that no other A-League team has. This all needs to be tied together so that mainstream people from all Australian cities feel something toward the Jets, and like to watch them. Because advertisers love mainstream appeal. They also like to tap into culture and history, so if Carlsberg, for example, likes us because we have our own unique version of football history, linked into Liverpool via Craig Johnstone, then this could really work.
Do you notice how Football pundits and administrators love saying that Newcastle has a strong football history from the Newcastle coalfields. It's a romantic story. I don't hear them say that when talking about any other A-League club and we should take advantage of it.
That is where the Supporters Committee can do some really valuable work. You can help create and promote this attractive myth. Work out ways that this myth is cultivated. But it also has to be kept in mind that it is something that has broad appeal, Like Més que un club has amongst Spaniards and all people generally, because it makes them feel that they can belong to that spirit. It can't be a "We're Novocastrian, you're not" kind of thing.
I know that this is nebulous stuff, but man, if we could nut this out and get in the ear of David Gallop, we could have ourselves a great and sustainable club for the first time in our history.
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