FFA stop Penrith bid for Wanderers

Shinji Ono and the Wanderers are an attractive side. Picture: Philip Hillyard Source: Philip Hillyard / DailyTelegraph

PHIL Gould and his Penrith Panthers have failed in a secret bid to buy A-League super club, the Western Sydney Wanderers.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Panthers recently lodged an expression of interest with UBS, the global financial services firm in charge of selling the club for up to $15 million.

A-League boss David Gallop immediately rejected the Panthers' interest, shutting down the potential for more conflict with his old rugby league arch-rival.

"Why would we contemplate selling the Wanderers to a club from another code?" Gallop said Wednesday night.

"And while we are posing these questions, why would a club from another code want to invest their money and build up a rival?"

Being the face of rugby league in Sydney's West, Gould and his venture into enemy ranks will stun NRL bosses and diehard footy fans in the code's heartland.

League, soccer and AFL are involved in a fierce rivalry in the western Suburbs in junior development.

"Personally I can't believe soccer was silly enough to say no to us," said Panthers supremo Warren Wilson, who confirmed the club's interest.

"They should have at least let us in the door and put a price on the table. We might have been the biggest bidder yet they've shut it down."

But Gallop is firm in his view that the Panthers have no right to be involved with Australia's hottest sporting franchise, currently owned by FFA.

The company UBS was appointed to appraise the market and potential buyers in Australia, Asia and Europe for last year's grand finalists.

A 50-page information document, titled Project Ono, was developed to provide prospective buyers with full insight of WSW financials, business plans, membership, sponsorship, playing roster and community engagement plans.

For prospective buyers to receive the document, FFA needed to approve its release and have interested parties sign a confidentiality deed.

Gallop refused to pass it on to the Panthers.

"The Wanderers sales process needs to not only achieve the right price, but the right owners," Gallop said.

"The community engagement remains a fundamental element of the club and we have given assurances to the fans that the name, colours and culture of the Wanderers will be protected in this process.

"We have to make decisions in the best interests of Australian football, the A-League competition and the Wanderers.

"We won't contemplate a sale to anyone who we believe can't align the community interests with the business interests."

Not that the Panthers would have been the first NRL club to dabble into the round ball game.

The Newcastle Knights and the Jets are a joint venture under the ownership of Nathan Tinkler. The Eels also once owned Parramatta Power in the National Soccer League.

Wilson says the Panthers were disappointed to be rejected without getting to a bidding stage.

"The simple scenario is that the Panthers Group is running a business and we look at all opportunities," he said.

"We're the tenant of a football field that gets used 12 times a year. If I could get it used 24 times a year, it's a more logical proposition to us."

Wilson insists the Panthers could have successfully run rugby league and A-League teams without clashing.

"It's no different to us owning Panthers Leagues Club and Glenbrook Bowling Club five minutes up the road," he said.

"I just thought, there's a business, does it make sense, can I make money out of it and would it add value to all our other assets?

"This wouldn't have affected our rugby league commitment at all. If I could find a baseball team that made a good profit I'd buy them.

"If I could find an ice-cream shop, and it made sense, I'd buy it.

"Would it have made money going forward? Who knows? Unfortunately I wasn't afforded the opportunity to look at their financial records." 

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