Ça va mal à VB: plus de proprio
Publié : 22 mars 2007 23:06
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.c ... 7&ran=5218
Mariners' main investor out; soccer team's future up in the air
By TRIS WYKES, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 21, 2007 | Last updated 11:12 PM Mar. 21
VIRGINIA BEACH - The Virginia Beach Mariners' latest owner has walked away from the soccer franchise, leaving its players and staff unpaid and its future uncertain, the team's coach said Wednesday.
Colin Clarke, a former Major League Soccer coach hired less than four months ago by Florida businessman Mike Sidebottom, said Sidebottom announced in a Tuesday e-mail to the Mariners' staff that he is no longer involved with the team.
The Mariners are members of the First Division, the top level of competition in the United Soccer Leagues. Tim Holt, the USL's executive vice president, said in a Wednesday e-mail that because of "an internal dispute," no person or group is "taking responsibility for financing the continued operation of the franchise."
"Although the league is working diligently to bring resolution to the situation, we are unable to rule out any scenario at this time," the statement concluded.
Sidebottom's withdrawal follows Mariners players and staff not receiving scheduled paychecks on March 15. It's the latest in a string of financial miscues to plague Mariners teams since pro soccer came the Virginia Beach Sportsplex in 1998.
Sidebottom, who purchased controlling interest in the Mariners in mid-November, did not respond to phone messages and e-mails Tuesday or Wednesday.
The 53-year-old finance and real estate businessman was optimistic when he bought the team.
"I have a long list of things I want to do with the team," Sidebottom said in December. "Six months from now, you can tell me if I've done what I talked about."
Rick Rowe, parks coordinator for the city of Virginia Beach, oversees the Sportsplex. Rowe said in an e-mail Wednesday that "my understanding is that there is still some unfinished business related to the sale... of Virginia Beach Soccer LLC from the previous owner, Jerry McDonnell, to the current majority owner, Mike Sidebottom."
McDonnell, a Norfolk businessman, said Wednesday night that he sold the team to Sidebottom on Nov. 15. "He's got a signed document to that effect," McDonnell said.
McDonnell said that he is unwilling to reacquire the team, and that Sidebottom never paid him for the Mariners.
McDonnell said he sold to Sidebottom because he "came on the strongest" out of several suitors.
"He came across straight to everyone," McDonnell said. "He's done a total breach of everything he said he would do, and it's a real sad thing."
The Mariners are scheduled to open the season April 13 and play their home opener April 21. Clarke was signed by Sidebottom to a five-year contract but said Wednesday that he now considers that pact, along with the 17 signed by his players, to be void.
"I don't have a contract right now, like everybody else out here," the coach said while the Mariners trudged off the field after Wednesday's practice. "We're trying to get new ownership people involved."
Local businessmen Mark Garcea and Page Johnson, owners of the first Mariners franchise, helped persuade Virginia Beach officials to build the soccer-specific Sportsplex, which opened in July 1998. They later negotiated an exit from a 20-year Sportsplex lease and took the franchise dormant in 2001.
A group headed by New York businessman Scott Goodman brought a relocated franchise to the Sportsplex in 2002 but ran out of cash during the campaign. Mike Field, a First Colonial High graduate and Washington-area car dealer, then bought the team, but he also suffered financial problems and sold it to investors led by McDonnell in mid-2005.
Matt Nelson, a goalkeeper who joined the team under Field's ownership, spoke glowingly of Sidebottom during a Jan. 11 news conference to introduce the new owner and various corporate sponsors.
"In the past, we haven't had the best ownership, but I've never been as excited about an owner as I have with him," Nelson said at the time.
Wednesday, a chagrined Nelson didn't want to comment on Sidebottom's exit. However, he said Sidebottom had recently been working at the Sportsplex several days a week and had assured employees that the missed paychecks were the product of an administrative glitch.
Not getting paid "was alarming," veteran midfielder Jeff Bilyk said. "But I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and I assumed it was a mistake and that they'd have the paychecks this week."
That hasn't happened and players, although some have received daily per diems, haven't been paid for three weeks of preseason training.
In addition, the Virginia Beach Submariners, an amateur team founded and operated by the Mariners last season, is slated to compete again this summer, coach Jon Hall said.
For now, it's Clarke and his troops who are closest to the chaos. Prospects have been brought in from across North America in hopes of improving on last season's 8-12-8 record.
"We've put together a young, hungry team that's shown a lot of good qualities in preseason," Clarke said. "We'll be disappointed if it has to move or gets folded, but if these guys aren't playing here, they'll be playing somewhere else."
• Reach Tris Wykes at (757) 446-2367 or at tris.wykes@pilotonline.com
Mariners' main investor out; soccer team's future up in the air
By TRIS WYKES, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 21, 2007 | Last updated 11:12 PM Mar. 21
VIRGINIA BEACH - The Virginia Beach Mariners' latest owner has walked away from the soccer franchise, leaving its players and staff unpaid and its future uncertain, the team's coach said Wednesday.
Colin Clarke, a former Major League Soccer coach hired less than four months ago by Florida businessman Mike Sidebottom, said Sidebottom announced in a Tuesday e-mail to the Mariners' staff that he is no longer involved with the team.
The Mariners are members of the First Division, the top level of competition in the United Soccer Leagues. Tim Holt, the USL's executive vice president, said in a Wednesday e-mail that because of "an internal dispute," no person or group is "taking responsibility for financing the continued operation of the franchise."
"Although the league is working diligently to bring resolution to the situation, we are unable to rule out any scenario at this time," the statement concluded.
Sidebottom's withdrawal follows Mariners players and staff not receiving scheduled paychecks on March 15. It's the latest in a string of financial miscues to plague Mariners teams since pro soccer came the Virginia Beach Sportsplex in 1998.
Sidebottom, who purchased controlling interest in the Mariners in mid-November, did not respond to phone messages and e-mails Tuesday or Wednesday.
The 53-year-old finance and real estate businessman was optimistic when he bought the team.
"I have a long list of things I want to do with the team," Sidebottom said in December. "Six months from now, you can tell me if I've done what I talked about."
Rick Rowe, parks coordinator for the city of Virginia Beach, oversees the Sportsplex. Rowe said in an e-mail Wednesday that "my understanding is that there is still some unfinished business related to the sale... of Virginia Beach Soccer LLC from the previous owner, Jerry McDonnell, to the current majority owner, Mike Sidebottom."
McDonnell, a Norfolk businessman, said Wednesday night that he sold the team to Sidebottom on Nov. 15. "He's got a signed document to that effect," McDonnell said.
McDonnell said that he is unwilling to reacquire the team, and that Sidebottom never paid him for the Mariners.
McDonnell said he sold to Sidebottom because he "came on the strongest" out of several suitors.
"He came across straight to everyone," McDonnell said. "He's done a total breach of everything he said he would do, and it's a real sad thing."
The Mariners are scheduled to open the season April 13 and play their home opener April 21. Clarke was signed by Sidebottom to a five-year contract but said Wednesday that he now considers that pact, along with the 17 signed by his players, to be void.
"I don't have a contract right now, like everybody else out here," the coach said while the Mariners trudged off the field after Wednesday's practice. "We're trying to get new ownership people involved."
Local businessmen Mark Garcea and Page Johnson, owners of the first Mariners franchise, helped persuade Virginia Beach officials to build the soccer-specific Sportsplex, which opened in July 1998. They later negotiated an exit from a 20-year Sportsplex lease and took the franchise dormant in 2001.
A group headed by New York businessman Scott Goodman brought a relocated franchise to the Sportsplex in 2002 but ran out of cash during the campaign. Mike Field, a First Colonial High graduate and Washington-area car dealer, then bought the team, but he also suffered financial problems and sold it to investors led by McDonnell in mid-2005.
Matt Nelson, a goalkeeper who joined the team under Field's ownership, spoke glowingly of Sidebottom during a Jan. 11 news conference to introduce the new owner and various corporate sponsors.
"In the past, we haven't had the best ownership, but I've never been as excited about an owner as I have with him," Nelson said at the time.
Wednesday, a chagrined Nelson didn't want to comment on Sidebottom's exit. However, he said Sidebottom had recently been working at the Sportsplex several days a week and had assured employees that the missed paychecks were the product of an administrative glitch.
Not getting paid "was alarming," veteran midfielder Jeff Bilyk said. "But I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and I assumed it was a mistake and that they'd have the paychecks this week."
That hasn't happened and players, although some have received daily per diems, haven't been paid for three weeks of preseason training.
In addition, the Virginia Beach Submariners, an amateur team founded and operated by the Mariners last season, is slated to compete again this summer, coach Jon Hall said.
For now, it's Clarke and his troops who are closest to the chaos. Prospects have been brought in from across North America in hopes of improving on last season's 8-12-8 record.
"We've put together a young, hungry team that's shown a lot of good qualities in preseason," Clarke said. "We'll be disappointed if it has to move or gets folded, but if these guys aren't playing here, they'll be playing somewhere else."
• Reach Tris Wykes at (757) 446-2367 or at tris.wykes@pilotonline.com
) qu'il faut ficher le camp dans la MLS OPC.
