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Swans' recurring nightmare
By Tim Morrissey
June 20, 2003
WHEN the Terry Wallace affair resurfaced 13 days ago like a floating corpse, the timing could not have been worse for cash-strapped Sydney.
Days earlier the Swans had come clean about their "genuinely life-threatening" financial crisis which required a one-off $2million handout from the AFL.
If the club wasn't thrown a financial lifeline, Sydney chairman Richard Colless confirmed the Swans would be insolvent by November.
After posting a $1.709million loss for 2002, the Swans were forced to slash $2million from their football department and $2million from their operating costs in a desperate attempt to stay afloat this year.
The Swans are no longer the biggest-spending club in the AFL, dropping down the list to somewhere between 13th and 16th.
In the past eight months Colless has been cleaning up the front office after claims of financial mismanagement and generous gifts.
There have also been the worries over the start-up costs to play at Telstra Stadium and the impact the Rugby World Cup would have.
On top of this, the Swans had experienced an overall drop in club revenue of close to $6million since 1998, which threatened to drown them in a sea of controversy.
The club looked to have weathered the latest storm when the body they hoped everyone had forgotten about floated to the surface.
On June 8 a Sunday Telegraph story reopened the Wallace affair, which had festered since people power ensured the Swans' senior coaching job went to Paul Roos over Wallace, the highly respected former mentor of the Western Bulldogs.
The article claimed the Swans, or a supporter of the club, were paying Wallace $1.8million over three years in a deal they were forced to honour. The money would stop only if Wallace found another senior AFL coaching job in that time.
Despite their denials, The Daily Telegraph discovered a Sydney identity had reached a settlement with Wallace.
"The AFL will never find evidence of the Swans paying Terry Wallace," the source said. "There is nothing official.
"But the figure of $600,000 a year is a little inflated. The actual figure is close to $500,000."
Melbourne's influential 3AW talkback radio host Neil Mitchell recently called for the beleaguered Swans to be left to sink or swim without financial assistance from the AFL.
Whatever role the Wallace affair has played in the club's financial woes, it is only the tip of the iceberg.
Colless discovered in July last year that the club was nose-diving into debt and alerted AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson in August.
The Swans' CEO at the time, Kelvin Templeton, no longer had a say in the day-to-day running of the club but still received his pay cheque for the rest of 2002.
Templeton's replacement, Colin Seery, was also recently moved to "special projects" until he leaves the club at the end of the year.
The Swans have also reached a settlement with the club's former football operations manager Steve Laussen, who had two years to run on his contract when effectively replaced by former Brisbane Lions CEO Andrew Ireland.
International corporate head-hunters Korn Ferry have been hired to find a new Swans CEO to get the club out of its current mess.
The only upside for the Swans is their stunning performances this season under Roos.
By Tim Morrissey
June 20, 2003
WHEN the Terry Wallace affair resurfaced 13 days ago like a floating corpse, the timing could not have been worse for cash-strapped Sydney.
Days earlier the Swans had come clean about their "genuinely life-threatening" financial crisis which required a one-off $2million handout from the AFL.
If the club wasn't thrown a financial lifeline, Sydney chairman Richard Colless confirmed the Swans would be insolvent by November.
After posting a $1.709million loss for 2002, the Swans were forced to slash $2million from their football department and $2million from their operating costs in a desperate attempt to stay afloat this year.
The Swans are no longer the biggest-spending club in the AFL, dropping down the list to somewhere between 13th and 16th.
In the past eight months Colless has been cleaning up the front office after claims of financial mismanagement and generous gifts.
There have also been the worries over the start-up costs to play at Telstra Stadium and the impact the Rugby World Cup would have.
On top of this, the Swans had experienced an overall drop in club revenue of close to $6million since 1998, which threatened to drown them in a sea of controversy.
The club looked to have weathered the latest storm when the body they hoped everyone had forgotten about floated to the surface.
On June 8 a Sunday Telegraph story reopened the Wallace affair, which had festered since people power ensured the Swans' senior coaching job went to Paul Roos over Wallace, the highly respected former mentor of the Western Bulldogs.
The article claimed the Swans, or a supporter of the club, were paying Wallace $1.8million over three years in a deal they were forced to honour. The money would stop only if Wallace found another senior AFL coaching job in that time.
Despite their denials, The Daily Telegraph discovered a Sydney identity had reached a settlement with Wallace.
"The AFL will never find evidence of the Swans paying Terry Wallace," the source said. "There is nothing official.
"But the figure of $600,000 a year is a little inflated. The actual figure is close to $500,000."
Melbourne's influential 3AW talkback radio host Neil Mitchell recently called for the beleaguered Swans to be left to sink or swim without financial assistance from the AFL.
Whatever role the Wallace affair has played in the club's financial woes, it is only the tip of the iceberg.
Colless discovered in July last year that the club was nose-diving into debt and alerted AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson in August.
The Swans' CEO at the time, Kelvin Templeton, no longer had a say in the day-to-day running of the club but still received his pay cheque for the rest of 2002.
Templeton's replacement, Colin Seery, was also recently moved to "special projects" until he leaves the club at the end of the year.
The Swans have also reached a settlement with the club's former football operations manager Steve Laussen, who had two years to run on his contract when effectively replaced by former Brisbane Lions CEO Andrew Ireland.
International corporate head-hunters Korn Ferry have been hired to find a new Swans CEO to get the club out of its current mess.
The only upside for the Swans is their stunning performances this season under Roos.
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