New owners for Phoenix

The only Kiwi club in the A-League has new owners in the form of a business consortium headed by Gareth Morgan and made up of six others.   The consortium had to prove to Football Federation Australia that it had the finances to keep the club afloat.   It is understood that included being able to afford a worst case scenario loss of up to $A500,000 a year.

The only Kiwi club in the A-League has new owners in the form of a business consortium headed by Gareth Morgan and made up of six others.   The consortium had to prove to Football Federation Australia that it had the finances to keep the club afloat.   It is understood that included being able to afford a worst case scenario loss of up to $A500,000 a year.


Tony Serepisos, who founded the club in 2007, had to admit defeat in his struggle with mounting personal debts.   Serepisos said that he had poured $8m to $10m into the club, but he wasn’t worried about that.   He felt that the City Council could have helped him more and he had not always had the best media treatment.   He did not believe that he would be made bankrupt, despite the bevy of creditors calling in debts.   He has faced debts of $200m and had put together a proposal to sell his assets.