Threat by ACC to wind up Phoenix

you ever met the moderators granville!?! 

That Campbell piece was cringeworthy. What the f**k had the accountant done to be told to front up - or is Mitchell & co terribly naive?

What's worse: Nix management, ACC sharks or the Dominon Sun?

ACC featuring Doc McLea

ACC: Sorry Mr Garcia snr. We're just waiting on a big cheque from a client - about $260k - once that's in we'll pay you.

If they are not careful they could make this a lot bigger than it really is.

This is the crux of the issue for me too.

Are Kitchin and Co. crossing the legal threshold in their enthusiasm to sustain this ongoing anti-Terry crusade?
Any laws broken here by ACC and Dom Post?
If it wasn't filed in court, was it a matter of public record or still a private matter.. subject to privacy laws?

Anyone know what the situation is with the Warriors playing in the NRL?

Do they have a similar "double-up" of payments for this stuff?

I haven't seen them in the papers, but I would be very interested to know, since the situation (NZ team/players in Aussie comp) has parallels

I would like to add some commentary to this situation.

1. If a Phoenix player injured himself (in a major way) in a game in Perth , would this ACC thing cover him there, for transport, accomodation and hospital costs and so on? I'd say that's why Phoenix pay Australian Insurance as well as the ACC Policy. 

2. Also, if a Sydney FC or Melbourne Victory player injured himself in a game in Wellington and it was (at worst) from a karate kick from a Wellington player, what insurance cover is there if the Australian-based player decided to sue the Wellington player, or the club?

3. If there was legal action taken out by one player at a club against (say) a Phoenix player, then having the Australin policy as well as the ACC Policy.....hang on, I think I need an international law expert to work it all out!

Point being that as Wellington Phoenix plays half its game in either Wellington or Australia, then it makes sense that they pay for some form of Australian Insurance cover, much like if a NZ construction company went to do work in Australia ,they'd have to (and I am guessing here) take out some form of Australian Public Liability Insurance...

I think a lawyer needs to be engaged here.

Oceanic Expert2010-09-28 22:08:22

Vince Grella doesn't play for Wellington.

Biggest 2 problems tonight were

Terry not showing for interview

and accountant announcing they didn't make a payment because at one stage there were no funds.

No one to detail the Aussie insurance situation, so Terry was made to look bad.
John Mitchell doesn't handle it well, the accountant should never have been made to face

Its all slightly worrying to be fair, and from skimming this thread, I see there are still a few people content to bury their head in the sand and believe that this is some sort of slanderous campaign against Terry Seripisos.

Right guys. If you actually wanna know a bit around the issues then have a listen to the full audio of the press conference: Colvinator2010-09-29 00:47:53

Some parts I found interesting:

If Terry has been late in paying all those creditors, LHCC and WCC, does his company or any of his company or teh company that owns Wellington Phoenix owe any money to the tax dept? What about GST or PAYE taxes? Hope he hasn't got those owing. Geez, YF may have to bail him out.

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/illustrateur-uk-8449eae0b1ef04bdb5dbb966af415f36.html

WTF????lol

Another Day, another allegation in the Dompost about Terry.

This country is very strange sometimes.

Snap post re Dom post.

Surprise, surprise.

Stuff headline: "Serepisos now owes council $1.4m"
+ a full video replay of accountant press conference.

This thing is not going to go away.

Apart from allegedly not paying creditors etc. I wonder what Terry has done to the Dom Post?

Suppose it is easier to attack high profile targets than to go out and do some actual investigative reporting - e.g. checking with the court to see if the ACC did action a claim to liquidate a company rather than just taking their word for it.

Maybe this thread should be renamed "Terry Starring Roles in the DomPost" or something...

Anyway, time for work. I gotta go pay some of my bills.

Hard to subscribe to the conspiracy theories on here. This is a legitimate story that has some legs and the Dom is simply running it for all it is worth. For those old enough to have been around in the Wellington scene in the early 90s; TS had a certain reputation not dissimilar to his incarcerated brother, the Dom writers would be well aware of this. TS is a larger than life character and people are interested in him and what he is or is not doing. Being the front man for The Apprentice also makes him a good media target as they have been able to milk the hypocritic cow on that one. TS is a celebrity and people want to read about celebrities. At the end of the day it is the Dom's job to sell newspapers and they should be able to do that as long as they are not making up stories. We might not like what they write, and we might not like the particular spin on what they write but......

genius my man

theprof2010-09-29 08:07:15

I would like to see the so called investigative journaliism by the Dom Post(they probably dont know what that means)  ply some of their efforts into seeing how many other people do the same thing with bill paying, lots of them dont pay until the very last minute...I wonder also how many people owe Terry money?   must be hard to pay out if your not getting your own money in

Two days left in the week, to be fair what about the Dom Post listing all the businesses that are in debt to ACC for more than $260,000 and all businesses that owe WCC $1.4 Mil. Surely, we the public are entitled to know this now that the precedent has been set. Might hurt quite a few of the Dom Post advertisers.

And then on Friday, they could list all the businesses that owe Terry money. More Dom Post Advertisers I would think

1. Yes ACC has recripriacal payments to cover work injuries overseas. Their rehab must take place in NZ tho. The climber on Mt Everest - All paid by ACC. Both times.
2. Aussies are covered here for initial treatment, although they will have to wait in our Welly ED along with everyone else. Cant sue in NZ. Not even visitng Americans can sue in NZ.
3. Other insurance cover like players being critically injured and not been able to play football. Not covered by ACC. Rugby has seperate insurance. Companys have to really have that public liability protection. And the firm that runs the NIX should have paid. They have too. Argue about the rates and cover and get it sorted and get a rebate. Got to pay taxes. There is no way around it.

On another note ACC have a media policy which I believe they have broken ESP if in fact they have spoken to the Dom Post before the matter was filed with courts. Once in the court system it can become a public document but if it is not they may have just breached their own media policy and the Privacy Act.  The official information act does not apply in this instance as the privacy act outweighs it unless it was already in the public domain.

Is this just a ploy to give old Terry cheap advertising on the front page of the Dom Post?

I mean, all this talk about the Phoeninx on the front page of the Dom Post, I bet the WRFU would be hoping they can find someone they owe $1.4M so they can get a story to cover the Lions season so far.

Ok, bit of sarcasm, but if Terry is cash poor, and sponsorship rich, maybe this is just a sponsorship tactic :)

if I was a sponsor of any team, I can't say I'd want this kind of "marketing" for said team.....

Depends on the sponsorship. Not all sponsorships are cash-rich ones, eg they exchange 'services', in this case Terry agrees to get himself and the team in the news on the front page, and the Dom Post gets to sell more copies of the newspaper around the country.

Also does good business for the online Stuff.co.nz site with increased views on the ads etc.

I hope Terry is getting some back-handers cash in an envelope style from the owners of the Dom Post for the sales he's generating for them :P

Tell you what, though - ACC might not have wound up the Nix, but they sure wound up the YF forums.

In their  eagerness to publicly "convict" Terry in this "trial by media" have Kitchin and the Dom Post stepped outside the law themselves?..and ACC too?
 All under the guise of.."the public has a right to know"  the barrage continues.

Smacks of a vendetta or witchhunt.."he's guilty...lets bring him down..by any means"

I personally don't have my head in the sand. Every one of us has done stuff in the past we are not proud of.
I personally don't care about Terry's alleged past activities and what he may or may not have done. What he is doing now with Wellington Phoenix is fine by me.

I personally DO care about the Wellington Phoenix and its financial state,vitality and long term viablity.
I VALUE what the Phoenix have brought to NZ football and this city, this region, our country.
The enjoyment and entertainment..
Being here and a part of it from the very beginning...
The elation of reaching finals football for the first time, and the possibilities for the future...
November 14th 2009...
The home games at the RoF record....
The huge committment and investment each of us makes, in respect to families, work, circumstances, fair weather or foul, to be at the RoF on matchday...

The  Phoenix is a precious jewel in Wellington's crown. I am not happy seeing its gleam being tarnished by those with little regard for our committment  and investment.

If there are so many people on this forum supporting Terry's modus operandi in delaying paying invoices, does that mean that these same people also practise the same in life? Do these people also not pay their subs to their clubs?? If so, how serious is the problem and what do clubs do about this?

The old marketing adage...any publicity is good publicity!
Jim Anderton knows all about that.Apparently he'd have been a shoe-in for Chch mayor, pre-earthquake.
Now its "Jim who?", as Bob Parker has had daily press and TV coverage as he and the Council,flanked by John Key,Brownlie and Co. have dealt with the post quake issues.
RedGed2010-09-29 15:40:22

1.4 million in rates story now being run. The thing is im not really worried because i feel Terry has the money hes just playing hardball/ being a prick.

If the dom dicks arnt gunning for Terry they are giving a bloody good impression. So where are all their other stories about those who owe money to ACC and still owe money on their rates.We have all heard stories about Terry but so bloody what.Given the number of properties he owns (bank) its not surprising he still owes them money.
This campaign by the Dom has been going for to long for it to be considered anything other than a vendetta.

As far as im concerned they can stick their paper up their arse.Not a big deal but i know others who have had a guts full and they dont intend to spend  their advertising dollars with them any longer.

ballane2010-09-29 14:38:28

the only way the Dom comes out of this with any credability is to expose other non paying companies - which they won't do cos neither ACC or the council will tell them the info....

Sounds like a mountain made out of a mole hill. No biggie.

Ever run a business, Angus Beef?
 Or more specifically, ever run a number of businesses of the size and scale that Terry does?
Ever run a business like the Wellington Phoenix where you've had to deal with the vagaries of cashflow sourced from that most fickle of payers...the sports fan.

Its fine for Terry and Century City Football coffers if ....
the team are winning,...the team are all fit to play and none are claiming ACC or insurance,...The FFA haven't scheduled too many of your home matches at non "family-friendly" times to suit an aussie TV network that frankly is paying sfa for the privilege,and who in turn pass the rights back to an NZ  payTV company who don't seem to give a toss about Football,...
if all the fans have the money to buy season tickets pre season,....  if the council don't charge even more for your venues/rates from Oct 1,.... if the trains are running matchday,and if the wind, the rain and the Phoenix swineflu haven't scared all but the hardiest away,....the roads are all open, the planes haven't been cancelled, Wellington doesn't have an earthquake etc,etc,... you might just get a good turnout and you could have a few readies to pay some bills.And NZ Football might have paid their agreed fees for your players and staff's services too...and FIFA's money might be due soon too.

Of course,Terry has chosen to get behind NZ Football and The Wellington Phoenix at a time when previously friendly lending institutions and banks, formerly happy to accomodate his business cashflow needs have either i) gone out of business or
 ii)considerably tightened up on lending,
due to the global
recession, all after he started the Phoenix.
The recession has had a huge impact on his other businesses with real estate and construction and development in the doldrums right now.Very little cashflow to be had, other than through (fire) sale of assets.Not a happy place to be.

In an ideal world all the Phoenix problems would disappear. Ideally there would be money to pay all the bills on time, every time.
The real world is where most of us are, where every day is not a rosy one, where things don't always turn out as we expected, and where sometimes bills can't be paid in full on time, every time.
Its easy to snipe and say this and that should be so.

Given the situation, its surprising he's still in business with the Phoenix.Had he fully known the risks, he might never have started it and we would all have been poorer for it.
 Will Terry survive this and anything else thrown at him?
Who knows. I hope so.
 At least he had the guts to give it a go.

Product2010-09-29 15:49:15