EXECUTIVE chairman Shane Mattiske says the new entity in control of the Newcastle Jets will do everything it can to support local people and businesses left out of pocket after the previous company owned by Martin Lee was liquidated.
According to documents listed with ASIC, the Jets were wound up in January with debts totalling $12.927 million.
In a company creditors list prepared by liquidators Shaw Gidley and obtained by the Newcastle Herald, Lee is the major creditor, with $8.598m outstanding, while the Australian Tax Office is owed $2m.
Rather than contribute capital, the Chinese businessman appears to have funded the club through a series of loans from his other companies.
Football Australia rescinded Lee's A-League and W-League licence in January and handed control to a new company, bankrolled by the owners of four rival clubs.
Former coach Carl Robinson, his assistant Kenny Miller, current Newcastle Jets staff and a raft of Hunter businesses are among 70 creditors.
Although the new consortium has no contractual liability to service the former company's debts, Mattiske said they would support those affected.
"The liquidator is working through what has been left behind by Martin," Mattiske said. "We recognise that there are some people in our community who have been affected by the liquidation and we are very keen to engage with them and support them moving forward."
Venues NSW ($242,938.22) which operates McDonald Jones Stadium, The Forum ($34,366) which controls the Jets' training grounds and Transgrid ($20,756), where the club's administration is based, are other major creditors.
Mattiske has met with those operators and arranged for the Jets to continue to utilise those facilities.
"We have been engaging openly with all these partners and fortunately they are supporting the new club," he said. " We are trying to find ways to support them and build into our arrangement things that can bring more value to them."
The Newcastle Herald understands that employees' salaries and superannuation were up to date when the company was liquidated.
However, some staff are due leave entitlements, which they are able to access through a Federal government scheme.
Robinson and Miller quit the Jets in October, with three years remaining on their contracts, to join A-League rivals Western Sydney.
The money they are owed - Robinson ($17,809) and Miller ($24,866) - is believed to be related to relocation costs from Canada and Scotland respectively and other expenses.
The new owners have agreed to honour sponsorship agreements and membership entitlements that were in place before the takeover.
"We are bearing all the costs but the majority of that money is gone," Mattiske said. "Any money paid before January 6 has gone into the old entity and is now in the hands of the liquidator."
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