No More Bex Appeal
The ARC are now taking it up the chutney following the debacle with David Beckham and a Galaxy that is now far far away.
The loss is now reported to be close to $2 million which is a great ROI if you happen to be an Auckland ratepayer.
According to the Granny Herald, the ARC shelled out almost $3m to pay for Bex and his merry band of men.
Auckland might claim to be New Zealand’s creative capital but they will need creative accountants to make that one work for ratepayers. More on this later!
The chair of the ARC was said to have been hit by the physical shock. More like the shit that was flying around after the results became known.
As I mentioned above, they will need to be creative to deal with this one and bingo they have done just that according to an anti-rates rort campaigner, David Thornton:
Thornton was dismissive of the notion of ring-fencing the loss: “In other words they are going to put this loss as ‘reserves’ in the accounts, but the figure will be in brackets, meaning it is a minus figure,” Thornton said.
I bet you they learned that one from the smartest boys in the room at Enron – call a loss a negative asset and bingo no problemos!
So what went wrong (apart from everything) that lead to the $1.79 million debacle:
- NZers were over Beckham – he’d just been in the country 12 months earlier and many soccer fans had already spent their money on Bex
- the Oceania No Stars concept – no one cared less for the team opposing the Galaxy, compared to the fans actively supporting the Nix
- Auckland – Auckland and soccer goes together like Aussie cricket umpires and fair play
- the economy was starting to tank and the ARC already had their ARS on the line
- venue – the only Auckland venue that gets soccer crowds in on the North Shore – at least 1/2 an hour and many cultures away
- local bodies trying to be commercial – there’s a reason these guys don’t work in the real world!
Frankly, this is no more than the ritual dick comparison game that goes on between those lack in self confidence.
Auckland had to have what Wellington had.
Let’s hope Wellington doesn’t want to outdo Auckland and go for a $2m loss next time.