AyiosYiorgos
Card Addict
On first meeting Gold Coast Titans boss Michael Searle, you could be excused for believing this bloke could end up running the entire rugby league show. He is charming, convincing and brimming with self-confidence.
I must admit I was among the many who touted him as one of the game's rare commodities - a good businessman with worldly charm and an urbane manner.
It took me a little less time than most to cotton on to the other Michael Searle - one of the biggest self-promoters I have ever encountered and someone who loved spending up really, really big.
While others saw him as a "visionary", I knew what the rest of us are quickly gleaning. Alarm bells rang a little over two years ago when Searle kept throwing cash at his trumped-up centre of excellence at the Gold Coast. I received a phone call from someone working on that project who had not been paid. He wasn't the only one. The debts were mounting, but the construction went ahead.
While that part of the world was in the grip of a recession, Searle ignored the warning signs and invested millions upon millions (borrowed of course) in a project that was doomed from the start.
The debt approaches a staggering $35 million and the auditors the National Rugby League called in are set to find even more money owing to creditors. The figure is phenomenal, making debt woes at other AFL and NRL clubs look minuscule.
Searle and his Titans also owe the league hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he is telling all and sundry that the club is not going down.
In fact, just to thumb his nose at the growing list of people who are owed money, he signed one of the game's most expensive forwards in Dave Taylor this week.
If the rumours are true, he is also on the verge of nabbing prized Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk in one of the richest deals in league history.
The fact that the Titans cannot afford to rub together two bob is immaterial.
This bloke is so delusional that he has continued to tell his coach, John Cartwright, that the money will be paid and that the football club is immune from the property arm of the business.
This is rubbish. Searle is in diabolical straits, as is the club. It is unlikely to survive in its present state and will need a massive boost of cash from the NRL if the players are going to be paid. There is even a chance the place will be closed down, once the auditors see the escalating list of debts.
Searle's woes have become the Titans' and the league's too. Private ownership of football clubs is fraught with risks if the bloke with the cash runs out of it.
Searle's insistence that the company's property arm is isolated from the football club is a nonsense. The auditors are already seeing that everything is enmeshed at the Gold Coast Titans and it will take a miracle to save the club in its present form.
While Russell Crowe at South Sydney and Nathan Tinkler at Newcastle keep their business lives very separate from their football club, Searle has blurred the lines. What has happened is akin to one of Crowe's movies going belly-up at the box office and the movie star refusing to pay the football club its money as a result.
Searle has come cap in hand to the NRL many times in the past year, asking for cash advances and loans. He has been saved again and again from the humiliation of admitting he, and he alone, is responsible for the disaster.
The NRL perhaps could have moved a bit quicker on Searle, but many at league headquarters were charmed by him too.
The former finance director of the NRL moved to the Gold Coast late last year to work for Searle. He must wonder what has hit him, now that he is poring over the books with a bunch of auditors.
Even the NRL's former chief operating officer, Graham Annesley, considered an offer from Searle to become his chief executive. Annesley is now the NSW Sports Minister, relieved that he did not get himself into Searle's mess.
The next few weeks will determine the future of the club that promised so much when it was formed.
While the AFL has built a very successful franchise at the Gold Coast, the Titans have become an embarrassment
for the NRL and the newly formed commission.
They have a beautiful stadium and a solid fan base. But Searle has failed them on so many counts.
The so-called "visionary" is a moment away from his judgment day, and it cannot come a moment too soon.
Follow @Telegraph_Sport on Twitter and like Telegraph Sport on Facebook
I must admit I was among the many who touted him as one of the game's rare commodities - a good businessman with worldly charm and an urbane manner.
It took me a little less time than most to cotton on to the other Michael Searle - one of the biggest self-promoters I have ever encountered and someone who loved spending up really, really big.
While others saw him as a "visionary", I knew what the rest of us are quickly gleaning. Alarm bells rang a little over two years ago when Searle kept throwing cash at his trumped-up centre of excellence at the Gold Coast. I received a phone call from someone working on that project who had not been paid. He wasn't the only one. The debts were mounting, but the construction went ahead.
While that part of the world was in the grip of a recession, Searle ignored the warning signs and invested millions upon millions (borrowed of course) in a project that was doomed from the start.
The debt approaches a staggering $35 million and the auditors the National Rugby League called in are set to find even more money owing to creditors. The figure is phenomenal, making debt woes at other AFL and NRL clubs look minuscule.
Searle and his Titans also owe the league hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he is telling all and sundry that the club is not going down.
In fact, just to thumb his nose at the growing list of people who are owed money, he signed one of the game's most expensive forwards in Dave Taylor this week.
If the rumours are true, he is also on the verge of nabbing prized Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk in one of the richest deals in league history.
The fact that the Titans cannot afford to rub together two bob is immaterial.
This bloke is so delusional that he has continued to tell his coach, John Cartwright, that the money will be paid and that the football club is immune from the property arm of the business.
This is rubbish. Searle is in diabolical straits, as is the club. It is unlikely to survive in its present state and will need a massive boost of cash from the NRL if the players are going to be paid. There is even a chance the place will be closed down, once the auditors see the escalating list of debts.
Searle's woes have become the Titans' and the league's too. Private ownership of football clubs is fraught with risks if the bloke with the cash runs out of it.
Searle's insistence that the company's property arm is isolated from the football club is a nonsense. The auditors are already seeing that everything is enmeshed at the Gold Coast Titans and it will take a miracle to save the club in its present form.
While Russell Crowe at South Sydney and Nathan Tinkler at Newcastle keep their business lives very separate from their football club, Searle has blurred the lines. What has happened is akin to one of Crowe's movies going belly-up at the box office and the movie star refusing to pay the football club its money as a result.
Searle has come cap in hand to the NRL many times in the past year, asking for cash advances and loans. He has been saved again and again from the humiliation of admitting he, and he alone, is responsible for the disaster.
The NRL perhaps could have moved a bit quicker on Searle, but many at league headquarters were charmed by him too.
The former finance director of the NRL moved to the Gold Coast late last year to work for Searle. He must wonder what has hit him, now that he is poring over the books with a bunch of auditors.
Even the NRL's former chief operating officer, Graham Annesley, considered an offer from Searle to become his chief executive. Annesley is now the NSW Sports Minister, relieved that he did not get himself into Searle's mess.
The next few weeks will determine the future of the club that promised so much when it was formed.
While the AFL has built a very successful franchise at the Gold Coast, the Titans have become an embarrassment
for the NRL and the newly formed commission.
They have a beautiful stadium and a solid fan base. But Searle has failed them on so many counts.
The so-called "visionary" is a moment away from his judgment day, and it cannot come a moment too soon.
Follow @Telegraph_Sport on Twitter and like Telegraph Sport on Facebook
