Petty New Owner
Monday, 1st Oct 2001 00:00

EXCLUSIVE: Swans New Owner A Petty Man

OK, first off we admit on this that we were not 100% accurate although an Australian is involved. Sadly, we were given the wrong Australian team. The guy who has bought the club was involved with the Brisbane Strikers. Was being the operative word. He isn't any more but more on that later.

Our story certainly provoked interest with several newspapers moving the story forward and one Sunday newspaper passing it off as their own information. Well, we are man enough to admit we made a mistake, question is will this newspaper do the same? But that's enough on that front.

Mr Lewis we are told is not happy about the fact that the news was released, whether he will be pleased that we are on the real trail now is a different matter. The deal is all but done and dusted - just the minor formalities to sort out but the name of the Australian is Tony Petty.

As we covered earlier on, Mr Petty was chairman of the Brisbane Strikers but left in April 2000 after a very public battle with the club when he accepted an out-of-court settlement to leave. Mr Petty had at one stage threatened to take the club from Brisbane to the Gold Coast which bought a big backlash from the fans of the Strikers.

We also believe that he has previously tried to have some involvement in Premiership side West Ham but this did not go any further than trying. Robbie Slater who used to play in West Ham seems to have money invested in the Strikers and this seems to be where the link up with Petty and West Ham came about.

He emigrated to Australia in 1999 after previously owning shares in another Premiership club, Charlton Athletic. Soon after his move down under he bought the Strikers and despite the opposition announced the proposed move to the Gold Coast. When the proverbial about the move began to hit the fan, he confronted the fans in a pub before the game and said that the move was off

After leaving the strikers, Petty also looked at the possibility in investing in another NSL club - Northern Spirit. This deal again did not materialise.

Mike Lewis is probably correct when he says that the club has not been sold yet. The deal is of course yet to be finalised BUT we have to remember that the three months that Lewis was given are up on Thursday and something has to give then. Alan Wix's visit last week was not just to discuss this deal with Lewis, Burgess and Petty but also to remind the directors of Swansea City of their responsibilities as far as Swansea City goes. The press have been told that there will be no press conference this week but that doesn't necessarily mean no announcement.

It seems as Mr Petty is a football fan - his reported interests in so many clubs seems to back that up. But he has been described to us as a 'rough diamond' which naturally gives us a cause for concern. It appears that there is money behind this man - how much we can't say as investigations on this front are proving fruitless.

But this is the guy that is in talks with Lewis and Wix and is the potential new owner of Swansea City. Only time will tell. It's a tough call on whether he will be good for the Swans or not. His interests in so many clubs may suggest not so but we don't know and it's hard to judge when you haven't experienced him first time. Let's see what else we can dig up!

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