How the TAB Got It Wrong - Lincoln Farms

[Happy Sunrise]

How bad is it? Real bad.

I imagine you will enjoy this Chief.

The numbers don’t lie - accountant ‘follows the money’ to find where the TAB went wrong

By Barry Lichter • 6 June 2020

An accountant who worked at the TAB for 16 years has crunched the numbers, pinpointed where it all went wrong, and concluded only further Government support can keep the racing industry alive.

Peter Johnstone, who was manager of strategic planning for the TAB, did a lot of data analysis and acted as secretary of John Falloon’s Ministerial Committee in 1991, says if you “follow the money” you can better understand the sad decline of an organisation he once proudly worked for.

“The best way to do this in my experience is to look at an organisation’s cash flow statements which I view as superior to all other financial statements for a firm.

“The single factor that really struck me is that over the last 10 years, cash flow from operations increased by only $6 million (just under 4%), despite turnover increasing by $1.183 billion (up 33.7%).

“This is the key to understanding how it has all gone so wrong.

“Many commentators say that costs are out of control, pointing to the increase in payroll costs, yet compared with turnover, they are lower as a percentage than they were 10 years ago, and are actually an identical percentage to 2001 (2.2%).”

Lincoln Farms’ May 9 feature moved Johnstone to delve a little deeper into the published financial information of the New Zealand Racing Board and Racing Industry Transition Agency.Johnstone says while Lincoln Farms’ feature story ‘An A to Z of what brought racing to its knees’ explains a great deal about what went wrong in the current century - particularly the high turnover of chief executives and some of the disastrous decisions they made - cash flow from operations shows the real health of an organisation.

“Strong operational cash flows allow a firm to fund capital projects and distribute funds to stakeholders such as shareholders (or in the case of the TAB, to the racing industry and latterly sports bodies). They also minimise the need for any borrowing and consequent interest costs.”

In 2010, cash flow from operations was $155.8 million, or 9.8% of turnover (and even better in 2011 at 10%). By 2019, this was down to 5.8% which equated to $161.8 million.

41% decline

“This is a decline in the rate of return of almost 41% in a decade. Put another way, had the TAB been able to maintain the 9.8% proportion, operational cash flow last year on the same turnover would have been $271.1 million, roughly $110 million more than it actually was.

“And in that case, very few of the current problems would be apparent. Racing industry returns could have been hugely improved, and capital expenditure may have been funded without the borrowing and asset sales the TAB has had to fall back on.”

Johnstone says Lincoln Farms’ recent interview with Ken Rutherford helped explain the drastic decline.

“Rutherford said he could never understand why a succession of TAB chiefs placed such an emphasis on promoting fixed odds betting when the product at best realised half of the 16.5% of tote betting income.”

In 10 years the TAB’s cash flow from operations increased by only $6 million (just under 4%), despite turnover increasing by $1.183 billion (up 33.7%).In his analysis of the cash flows for the last 10 years (see chart above) Johnstone discovered clearly the biggest change has been in dividends from betting and gaming.

The dividends the TAB paid out in 2010 were 82.4% of turnover and last year that had grown to 86.6%.

“The change doesn’t look that bad on the face of it, but when you consider that is a deterioration of 4.2 cents from every dollar the TAB has handled, it is hugely significant.

Bonus bets have contributed to a reduction of the TAB’s profit margin.“While it’s a little hard to isolate all the causes, we can surmise they include:

* Driving fixed odds betting at the expense of tote betting

* The fickleness of sports betting, the profitability of which can often depend on results going the TAB’s way.

* The impact of bonus bets - “which I never understood the rationale for, given the TAB was always a low margin business.”

* The loss in turnover of easybets - “a subject dear to my heart as along with Alan Mayo I developed the original spec for easybets, which attracted the most favourable rates of commission.”

Johnstone says the small gains from a much higher revenue is like the TAB baked a 40% bigger pie, but put only another 6% of steak in it.

“I find it absolutely incredible that the TAB increased turnover by so much for so little gain.

“What I believe they should have done was to focus on maintaining a healthy margin on every dollar bet, rather than growing turnover at minimum benefit to cash flow or the bottom line.

“You could conclude that had turnover not been increased so greatly there may have been less profit, but even on a $2 billion turnover, the old margins would still have increased operational cash flow by some $34 million, and presumably also produced lower costs.

“Of course, you can’t discount the issue of costs entirely - with increased automation and superior software tools, you’d expect improved productivity and lowered costs.

“However, in general the ratios suggest that the TAB have been effective in controlling costs - in the last 10 years staff and supplier payments fell from 7% of turnover to 6.5%, after reaching highs of 7.5%.”

The Jackson Street building was purpose built for the New Zealand Racing Board in 1989 but in August, 2014 it was syndicated by the Oyster Group and the TAB now leases its space.

Property sales

Johnson is critical of the TAB’s handling of its properties in the last 10 years - notes to the financial statements showing buildings in Petone, Christchurch and Auckland all being sold.

“Though I can’t identify all the assets that have been sold the cash flows indicate that $21.3 million was received from the sale of property, plant and equipment and the TAB no longer owns any buildings.

“Presumably, these facilities (or their replacements) are why the TAB’s lease/premises costs have gone from 2010’s $4.7 million to 2019’s $14.3 million.

“While there are costs associated with owning properties, in most commercial leases many of these costs are assumed by the tenant. The decision to divest these properties makes no sense, since it has exposed the TAB to incurring rentals in perpetuity, which must cost more than retaining them.”

The TAB spent $42 million building its new betting platform, to attract sports punters, and it has an annual ongoing cost of $17 million.

Capital spending

Johnstone says a further area of concern highlighted by the TAB’s cash flow statements is the level of capital spending.

Over 10 years this has amounted to almost $207 million, with almost $72 million in the 2018 and 2019 financial years.

“This has to be funded by cash flow from operations unless money is borrowed, which has been a necessity in the last two years.”

Johnstone says while he’d need access to much more information than is available publicly, you’d have to question the new $42 million betting platform, of which both Lincoln Farms and Rutherford have been outspoken critics.

“I was especially troubled by Lincoln Farms’ revelation that the TAB has locked itself into an annual licence fee of more than $17 million, in addition to the substantial capital cost.”

Johnstone says what is especially depressing about this is the TAB’s development team in the 1970s, 80s and 90s had exceptional skills.

“They developed a world class betting system largely in-house, with the assistance of a few key contractors. Under manager Mike Thornbury the team delivered great solutions and seemed capable of solving every issue they were confronted with. And the computing environment and tools they had to work with were primitive compared with today.

“I can’t help but wonder what happened to that level of expertise and skill, that an organisation that could build Jetbet now relies on external software providers at the cost of an arm and a leg.”

Like Ken Rutherford, pictured, Johnstone experienced an erosion of the TAB culture.

Erosion of culture

Johnstone said just as Rutherford described an erosion of the culture he experienced at the TAB when head of sports betting (in his interview with Lincoln Farms), he too experienced the change and was happy to move on during the first wave of redundancies in 1993.

“Rutherford talked of the external executives that have regularly come and gone, and their failure to truly understand the drivers of wagering.

“I can only conclude that the “old” TAB culture I revered was in many ways superior. People were well paid, yes, but not compared with the exorbitant packages of today.

“More importantly, I think, there was much less external recruiting - the majority of appointments were internal, and thus people in most roles were thoroughly conversant with the culture, they certainly understood wagering, and they knew the strengths and weaknesses of their colleagues.

“Maybe there was an element of “time serving” in some cases, but most of the people I worked with cared deeply about the industry and the role they played within it. I’m certainly not convinced that the change has been beneficial, and the financial evidence would seem to bear that out.”

Most of the TAB’s half yearly reports in the last two decades have been delivered in March, and the latest was on May 1, in 2017. A $3.2 million blunder with bonus bets delayed this year’s report and it has still not been published. “It must be truly dreadful to remain hidden from public view,” says Johnstone.

COVID accelerator

Johnstone says rather than COVID-19 being responsible for the TAB’s current troubles, it has merely accelerated the day of reckoning.

“It had to be coming anyway. The 2019 annual report already showed an organisation that was technically insolvent, with $35 million of borrowings (after never being in a position where it showed end of year borrowings before 2018).

“For the third year in a row, total cash flow for the organisation was negative, and total equity had fallen to less than $25 million, whereas in the late 2000s it had exceeded $100 million.

“In this light it is notable that RITA’s website still has no six monthly report for the current year. It is now weeks overdue and my guess is that it must be truly dreadful to remain hidden from public view.

“The government recently “saved” the TAB and hence the racing industry with a multi-million dollar bailout.

“But in view of what I can see from the publicly available figures, I question whether this will be enough. With many of the TAB’s recently announced cost cutting measures potentially threatening to further erode the turnover base (especially in the biggest revenue generator of racing) the industry will remain in a parlous situation for the foreseeable future and it would seem that only continued government support will keep it alive.”

It’s a far cry from the days when Johnstone was responsible for investing the TAB’s profits in the money markets.

“There used to be a torrent of cash in those days and it was when we earned interest rates of 20% plus.”

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Happy Sunrise said:

Johnstone says rather than COVID-19 being responsible for the TAB’s current troubles, it has merely accelerated the day of reckoning.

“It had to be coming anyway. The 2019 annual report already showed an organisation that was technically insolvent, with $35 million of borrowings (after never being in a position where it showed end of year borrowings before 2018).

“For the third year in a row, total cash flow for the organisation was negative, and total equity had fallen to less than $25 million, whereas in the late 2000s it had exceeded $100 million.

“In this light it is notable that RITA’s website still has no six monthly report for the current year. It is now weeks overdue and my guess is that it must be truly dreadful to remain hidden from public view.

“The government recently “saved” the TAB and hence the racing industry with a multi-million dollar bailout.

“But in view of what I can see from the publicly available figures, I question whether this will be enough. With many of the TAB’s recently announced cost cutting measures potentially threatening to further erode the turnover base (especially in the biggest revenue generator of racing) the industry will remain in a parlous situation for the foreseeable future and it would seem that only continued government support will keep it alive.”

 

What I've been posting for weeks.  Come in JJ Flash.

[Brodie]

2 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

What I've been posting for weeks.  Come in JJ Flash.

Exactly, Chief!

Winston donated them in excess of $70m and of that there was not going to be very much left after paying back the loan to the Bank, redundancies and cost cutting measures and the allweather  tracks That need to be canned in the meantime!

What I can not understand how there are still all these high paid suits still working there that have no business acumen, and have been responsible for so many stupid decisions!

They need a total clean out of the deadwood there otherwise yes Racing is dead in NZ!

The Paddy Power betting system is effed, no one wants or needs to be betting on Korean Bloody Baseball on a Saturday night!

 

[Chief Stipe]

2 minutes ago, Brodie said:

What I can not understand how there are still all these high paid suits still working there that have no business acumen, and have been responsible for so many stupid decisions!

 

In another opinion piece De Lore states that his sources tell him that McKenzie is on $630,000.  As CEO he takes 10 months to do anything and even then the action is driven by Covid-19.  Same old same old.

However the looming issue is the new Racing Industry Bill - this will change the racing landscape forever and not for the good I'm afraid.  In a nutshell what it does is:

1. Devolves the NZRB functions to the three codes OTHER THAN the function of wagering;
2. Gives power to each of the codes to Register and DEREGISTER Clubs i.e. determine who races and who doesn't and who have other functions within the industry e.g. trials and workouts;
3. Of those clubs each code deregisters they will be given the power to acquire and distribute their assets as they determine (not the clubs).  Further if unable to get agreement or when they face legal difficulties in doing so they will be able to appeal to the Minister for An Order in Council to effectively confiscate those assets and distribute as the code administration recommends;
4. Creates a new entity called TAB NZ which will be responsible for managing wagering and generating revenue for the three codes - each of the codes will be share holders in that new entity;
5. Create a new entity called the Racing Integrity Board (RIB) to take over the functions of the RIU and JCA.

Boy is there some snakes in that lot!!!

[the galah]

.A true insight into the understanding of how those that have been driving the changes at the tab over the last 10 years simply were incompetent. He pretty much also endorses everything Rutherford said. 

It truly is farcical to think any business would focus on the side of their business that generated the least return, while undermining the side of their business that generated the most return. Basically,those running it at the top have been morons,and they have recruited and surrounded themselves with more like minded morons. Which if you think about it is predictable,because if the likes of john allen thought he had the skills and knowledge to lead the organisation,then obviously he would surround himself with similar like minded people.  

Time to sell it to tabcorp.

And one last point ,who was the governent that appointed Glenda Hughes,who drove the recruitment of the likes of Allen who reportedly got paid close to a million dollars a year top stuff racing. It was  the National government with Nathan Guy as minister of racing. Of course he knew his stuff,wasn't he the one that thought riccarton was addington. Bloody tories!

[Chief Stipe]

1 minute ago, the galah said:

Allen who reportedly got paid close to a million dollars a year top stuff racing.

Not correct.  I believe McKenzie is close to being paid more than Allen at $630k a year.  

[Chief Stipe]

2 minutes ago, the galah said:

And one last point ,who was the governent that appointed Glenda Hughes,who drove the recruitment of the likes of Allen who reportedly got paid close to a million dollars a year top stuff racing. It was  the National government with Nathan Guy as minister of racing. Of course he knew his stuff,wasn't he the one that thought riccarton was addington. Bloody tories!

Galah you don't do your argument any good by making it political.  Peters is no different to the rest of them over the years and if you think that this current Board doesn't have its nose in the trough then you are either partisan to the point of being irrational or just plain naive.

Unfortunately you are blinding yourself with historical actions and politics instead of looking at what is happening NOW!  If you value harness then wake up to the fact that things are being controlled NOT by your code.

[the galah]

13 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Not correct.  I believe McKenzie is close to being paid more than Allen at $630k a year.  

When Allen was first appointed it was reported in a couple of media articles that Allen was expected to receive in excess of $900,00 per year.   

 

7 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Galah you don't do your argument any good by making it political.  Peters is no different to the rest of them over the years and if you think that this current Board doesn't have its nose in the trough then you are either partisan to the point of being irrational or just plain naive.

Unfortunately you are blinding yourself with historical actions and politics instead of looking at what is happening NOW!  If you value harness then wake up to the fact that things are being controlled NOT by your code.

Yeah,yeah,yeah  .... You hate Peters and you love National and you do think you have an opinion of more value than mine. Good for you.  

Edited June 6, 2020 by the galah

[Brodie]

We have someone who is on mega dollars who is named Glen Saville who has title of General Manager Betting for the NZ TAB!!!!!
Has anyone ever really heard from this fellah from Australia and why he allowed John Allen to eff racing in NZ?

Why on earth has this Glen Saville been allowed to still be pillaging the punters in NZ of in excess of $500k each and every year when he clearly is hopeless?

Is there anyone that thinks the TAB can afford to have these non performing suits still in charge of the sinking ship?

There are surely many others that have been collecting their large salaries and not performing and how they can get away with it for so long without auditors or other people not speaking out is unacceptable!!!

[Chief Stipe]

2 minutes ago, the galah said:

When Allen was first appointed it was reported in a couple of media articles that Allen was expected to receive in excess of $900,00 per year.   

 

No on page 12 of RITA's annual report for 2019 you will see a list of the number of people on $100,000 or more.  There is only 1 in the $690k to $700k range.  One would assume this wasn't the sausage roll stuffer but the CEO.

4 minutes ago, the galah said:

Yeah,yeah,yeah  .... You hate Peters and you love National and you do think you have an opinion of more value than mine. Good for you.  

Galah that is where you do sound like a galah.  

If you have followed my posts over the years you will find that my criticism has been consistent regardless of who the Minister was or is.  The difference between you and I is I put my political affiliations aside (this year was the first year in 36 years that I have been motivated to contribute to a political party) and focus on the data, the issues, the proposed changes and their potential outcomes and unintended consequences.  I'm not blinded by my political or economic philosophy.  

The only reason I devalue your opinion, just as I do JJ Flash's, is that there is no substance - no data, no facts just a continual diatribe of either trust me or revisionist history!

[Chief Stipe]

9 minutes ago, Brodie said:

We have someone who is on mega dollars who is named Glen Saville who has title of General Manager Betting for the NZ TAB!!!!!
Has anyone ever really heard from this fellah from Australia and why he allowed John Allen to eff racing in NZ?

Why on earth has this Glen Saville been allowed to still be pillaging the punters in NZ of in excess of $500k each and every year when he clearly is hopeless?

 

He must have a doozy of a contract or has pictures of key individuals riding goats!

My oil tells me that there are some serious issues that have been covered up in the bookie department and some quiet departures.  If Peter's wasn't whiskey brain dead he'd be calling for a forensic inquiry.  

[the galah]

1 minute ago, Chief Stipe said:

  

I  

The only reason I devalue your opinion, just as I do JJ Flash's, is that there is no substance - no data, no facts just a continual diatribe of either trust me or revisionist history!

I like the galah,    Here i was thinking you devalue my opinion because we continually see things differently,and its just what you do to get your point across.. JJ flash i do agree with on a lot of subjects. 

[Chief Stipe]

42 minutes ago, the galah said:

Here i was thinking you devalue my opinion because we continually see things differently,and its just what you do to get your point across.

NO.  I love debate.  But I'm driven by logic and facts.  I work hard to eliminate emotion from my arguments.  You could be black, brown, yellow, white or indifferent.  Male, female, binary or undecided.  Poor, rich, mega-rich or have an account in the Cayman's.  I don't care.  It is what you say and whether or not it has sound logic and/or facts to support it.

I remember a debate I was in at High School.  Westland High vs Marlborough Girls High - 1978.  We had the debate at Murchison High (Buller) because that was a compromise in terms of distance.  The moot was something along the lines of "the World is running out of oil.....something else" - I can't remember exactly.  We were the negative team i.e. we were debating that "the World is not running out of oil...".

I was third speaker for the Negative so I had the most rebuttal.  I went in guns blazing BUT....backed up with a whole lot of research.  Note we didn't have the internet in those days.  Essentially my argument was based on the premise - "based on the data how do you know that we are running out of oil?"

I had the girls from Marlborough Girls High crying - literally tears flowing!  I'd ripped everything they said to shreds.  

Anyway - in 1978 we were going to run out of oil within 5 years.  We now have 42 years later more oil than we can sell.

Westland High lost that debate.  Why?  Because the adjudicator (from Murchison High) didn't have a clue about adjucicating a debate.  Which was evident in the statement when he rubbished my speech by saying that "everyone knows we are running out of oil."

PS:  It didn't help that I gave Bill Rowling a serve in my speech and didn't know that it was on national radio that his son had committed suicide.  FFS Politics.

 

[the galah]

43 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

NO.  I love debate.  But I'm driven by logic and facts.  I work hard to eliminate emotion from my arguments.  You could be black, brown, yellow, white or indifferent.  Male, female, binary or undecided.  Poor, rich, mega-rich or have an account in the Cayman's.  I don't care.  It is what you say and whether or not it has sound logic and/or facts to support it.

I remember a debate I was in at High School.  Westland High vs Marlborough Girls High - 1978.  We had the debate at Murchison High (Buller) because that was a compromise in terms of distance.  The moot was something along the lines of "the World is running out of oil.....something else" - I can't remember exactly.  We were the negative team i.e. we were debating that "the World is not running out of oil...".

I was third speaker for the Negative so I had the most rebuttal.  I went in guns blazing BUT....backed up with a whole lot of research.  Note we didn't have the internet in those days.  Essentially my argument was based on the premise - "based on the data how do you know that we are running out of oil?"

I had the girls from Marlborough Girls High crying - literally tears flowing!  I'd ripped everything they said to shreds.  

Anyway - in 1978 we were going to run out of oil within 5 years.  We now have 42 years later more oil than we can sell.

Westland High lost that debate.  Why?  Because the adjudicator (from Murchison High) didn't have a clue about adjucicating a debate.  Which was evident in the statement when he rubbished my speech by saying that "everyone knows we are running out of oil."

PS:  It didn't help that I gave Bill Rowling a serve in my speech and didn't know that it was on national radio that his son had committed suicide.  FFS Politics.

 

Driven by facts and logic. Nothing wrong with that. I don't mind being fact checked if i have got something wrong.

As to John Allens salary, i was quoting from a story titled "million dollar salary" about what they said he would get paid when he went to the tab 5 years ago.  If you say he only got paid $700,000 then i will believe you, then again he is also quoted as saying in an interview he only got paid $560,000 a couple of years ago. I would have thought his type of job would have included bonuses for turnover met,allowances ,etc which i would have thought could have substantially increased his income but i don't know the detail of  the contract he had and how everything he got paid was detailed in accounting.

I still think you go out of your way to undermine opinions different from yours,irrespective of the odd fact check,but that's just part of any forum like this so don't mind that as you post a lot of interesting stuff. 

[Chief Stipe]

Galah be warned.  Focus on what is going to happen in the next two weeks.  I know Peters - he is totally a self interested charlatan.  The problem now is he is being manipulated by others.  Which given his age and the chemical abuse he has subjected his brain to isn't surprising.  His comrade Jones isn't any better.

Harness racing (which I assume is your code) is going to get raped.

Dogs - well have to register every dog as a working dog will kill them.  BTW that's in the new Racing Industry Bill.

[JJ Flash]

3 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

Not correct.  I believe McKenzie is close to being paid more than Allen at $630k a year.  

How much can i get on  that your figure is incorrect re DM's CEO salary. It will come out in annual accounts which you like so we both  have to wait for payout/settlement date.

If you and others follow BDL rubbish you join a list of 100's not 1000's .Says it all

Edited June 7, 2020 by JJ Flash

[Chief Stipe]

4 minutes ago, JJ Flash said:

How much can i get on  that your figure is incorrect re DM's CEO salary. It will come out in annual accounts which you like so we both might have to wait for payout

If you and others follow BDL rubbish you join a list of 100's not 1000's .Says it all

Well you obviously have a better source than the rest of us.  So what is he being paid?

Or are you going to stick to posting "I know better" posts without any numbers?

As for Annual Accounts there is no statutory requirement for those.  Especially if they are bad news.  Doubly so given we will have to wait until January even though July 31 is end of the financial year.  

What odds are you giving we will see those figures before the September election?

[JJ Flash]

Just now, Chief Stipe said:

Well you obviously have a better source than the rest of us.  So what is he being paid?

Or are you going to stick to posting "I know better" posts without any numbers?

Nope, your the big noter on here saying that you only do facts. Time to put your money where your mouth is and take me on re DM's CEO salary. You said

 

3 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

I believe McKenzie is close to being paid more than Allen at $630k a year.  

Im saying that the records will show he isnt. How much do you want to bet??

[Chief Stipe]

Just now, JJ Flash said:

Im saying that the records will show he isnt. How much do you want to bet??

FFS you haven't put a figure up but if it's $629k or $631k you win?

So whats your figure?

[JJ Flash]

2 hours ago, the galah said:

Here i was thinking you devalue my opinion because we continually see things differently,and its just what you do to get your point across.. JJ flash i do agree with on a lot of subjects. 

Im kinda in agreement with you and thanks for the endorsement. Great minds think alike.Haha

[JJ Flash]

1 minute ago, Chief Stipe said:

FFS you haven't put a figure up but if it's $629k or $631k you win?

So whats your figure?

I thought so , your all talk and no action. Im not the one saying

 

5 minutes ago, JJ Flash said:

I believe McKenzie is close to being paid more than Allen at $630k a year.  

You said the above ,I have never made any comment re his salary .

if you haven't got the balls to bet on your so called facts it says it all about you . Best back down ive seen in ages though. Case closed as your clearly all hat and no cattle so to speak

 

Greg

[Chief Stipe]

4 minutes ago, JJ Flash said:

I thought so , your all talk and no action. Im not the one saying

 

You said the above ,I have never made any comment re his salary .

if you haven't got the balls to bet on your so called facts it says it all about you . Best back down ive seen in ages though. Case closed as your clearly all hat and no cattle so to speak

 

Greg

FFS put a figure up?  You profess YOU are in the know but won't say.  

Can you give us at least an idea of what "nowhere near that" means?

[Brodie]

I have been informed by someone that is in the know that Dean McKenzie is on something not much less than what the person that has effed racing in Nz was on!!!

If John Allen was on $750k then I would presume that Dean McKenzie would be on in excess of $600k!!!!!!!

So There is no point coming on and betting people that Mr McKenzie is not on big money when we are aware it is BIG MONEY, and what have we seen from this BIG MONEY?????

Greg, no point having a go at Chief as he is posting some very good points and how you can possibly be in support of what is going on currently is hard to understand!.

You clearly are a supporter of Dean McKenzie and I haven’t got anything against him personally either!

however, the state that racing is in now, is due to people wearing suits and on huge salaries, that have been plainly useless and have now put racing in NZ into a perilous position!

Whether you or I think Dean is the man to pull racing out of the doldrums is irrelevant, we are just waiting to see what he is going to do, to justify a salary nearly as high as The previous useless John Allen!!

Edited June 7, 2020 by Brodie

[Happy Sunrise]

38 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

FFS put a figure up?  You profess YOU are in the know but won't say.  

Can you give us at least an idea of what "nowhere near that" means?

He must be on minimum wage!

Just let it go Chief. Waste of time trying to an answer. 

[Happy Sunrise]

58 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Or are you going to stick to posting "I know better" posts without any numbers?

He 'hears' things. All top secret of course.