Hunter Sports Group expected to hand over Newcastle Knights

The Chairman of the Knights Members Club says he is fairly confident Nathan Tinkler's Hunter Sports Group (HSG) will honour its obligations and transfer the assets of the Newcastle Knights to the Club sometime this week.

On Friday (16th May) it was revealed that 20 of the NRL club's players and staff had not been paid this month, a situation which the NRL describing the situation as unacceptable.

HSG responded, saying it would pay the outstanding wages this week, but demanded an immediate resolution to its long-running ownership dispute with the Knights members club.

Members' Club Chairman Nick Dan says he is hopeful it will all be resolved by the week's end.

Dan told the ABC "they're seeking that the Hunter Sports Group honours its obligations and transfers the assets including the bank guarantee to the members club now.

"I'm fairly confident that they'll honour their obligations."

Dan added that the decision by HSG not to pay the wages of some staff and players is another reason to transfer the club's ownership and is fairly confident the issue will be resolved this week.

He concluded "the Hunter Sports Group is still running the club at the moment and that's what they wanted to do and if they are unable to do that properly it's just another reason they should continue with their obligations to transfer the assets."

Uncertainty over the future of Tinkler's ownership of the Knights had grown over recent months, with a deadline to secure a multi-million dollar bank guarantee having been missed in late Marhc.

If HSG relinquishes control of the Knights, the future of A-League franchise the Newcastle Jets may also be in doubt while Tinkler's dream for HSG to be a multi-sport club promoting sport in the Hunter and Northern NSW regions would also appear to be at an end.