Newcastle Jets players not paid wages on time for third time in four months
By
Andrew Higgins / In
Australia News / May 15, 2015
Professional Footballers Australia have condemned Newcastle Jets management after the club’s players and staff were not paid on Friday – the third time in the past four months that wages have not been deposited on the due date.
In a further sign of the club’s precarious financial predicament, Fairfax Mediacan reveal the Jets have effectively been locked out of their training base at Newcastle University over unpaid hiring fees.
Jets employees are supposed to be paid on the 15th of every month, but after inquiries from on Friday, the club issued a statement saying salaries would be “processed” on Monday, three days overdue.
“The club is working to address its cash-flow challenges, and the owner [Nathan Tinkler] has given a commitment that salaries will be processed to players and staff on Monday,” CEO Mitchell Murphy was quoted as saying.
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“The club has proactively advised the FFA, the PFA, and its staff in regards to the delay.”
But the PFA’s head of player relations, Simon Colosimo, denied there had been any such communication from Jets management, saying: “The club has not been forthcoming and we have left numerous messages with the club and they’re not responding to any calls or messages.”
Colosimo said it was “ridiculous” that professional footballers had been left vainly checking their bank accounts for wages that remained unpaid.
“The players have done everything that has been asked of them, and for the club to continually delay a fundamental right, which is to be paid for the work you have done, is a joke,” Colosimo said.
After revelations that the Australian Tax Office has taken out a garnishee order against Tinkler, enabling it to seize the $250,000 monthly grant the Jets are supposed to receive from FFA, players and staff were paid 48 hours late in February and March.
Last month Murphy insisted the wages had been “processed” on the 15th but could not guarantee that meant every employee would receive them on the same day.
Asked for comment on Friday night on an increasingly farcical situation, a Football Federation Australian spokesperson replied with a one-sentence statement: “FFA has been advised by the Newcastle Jets that the monthly payroll will be processed on Monday.”
Meanwhile, Fairfax Media has been told that Jets players are keeping fit in a new gym after the club’s access to The Forum and Ray Watt Oval, both run by Newcastle University Sport, was declined.
It is understood the Jets owe NUSport $40,000 in hiring fees, dating back three months. Sources have told Fairfax Media that NUSport is tired of regularly chasing the Jets for hiring arrears and is considering the possibility of terminating its relationship with the A-League club altogether.
Other amateur-level sporting clubs would then be invited to hire Ray Watt Oval. NUSport chief executive Chris Hicks declined to comment when contacted by the Herald.
The Jets have until late June to resolve the impasse, when they are expected to kick off pre-season training, or find an alternative training base in the meantime. They have used Ray Watt Oval since the A-League’s inception a decade ago.
In a statement, Murphy said: “Our lease agreement with NUsport expires this month. “Over the past few weeks we have been in regular dialogue with them about renewing our long-standing partnership.
“Our current financial liability to NUsport will be settled in the coming weeks. In the interim the club has secured alternate training venues.”
http://www.biotechwired.com/newcast...on-time-for-third-time-in-four-months/110870/
And him travel to Newcastle? Nah.
