By STEVE MASCORD
LONDON Broncos’ former media manager says he is owed £10,000 by the club and his attempts to recoup the money have been stonewalled.
As the owners of the Championship leaders wait for news of whether they will be promoted to Super League, Jake Watson has come forward with details of what he says are unpaid wages for the months of July and August last season, saying Gary Hetherington and Grant Wechsel passed responsibility for settling the debt between each other.
Co-owner Hetherington responded by saying he was “unfamiliar” with the dispute and that Watson should be dealing with the club’s chief executive, Jason Loubser.
Watson told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads: “Yeah, it’s two months of outstanding wages from last summer that remain outstanding.
“At the time Gary Hetherington was funding the club .. and essentially he ran out of money. So what happened was that all the players who were contracted because … for insurance policies were paid … but everyone else who was then a contractor, who wasn’t a salaried member of staff, was not paid … and I was one of them.
“And Gary obviously told us we would be paid once money came in. And then once money did essentially come in with Grant, Grant then turned around and said, ‘well, look, the issue here between me and Gary is that there’s a dispute over who should be paying this’. Grant obviously believed Gary should be paying it …,and Gary wanted Grant to pay it as part of the terms of the takeover he would take on the outstanding debts.
“And then Grant said that once the takeover had happened … that he would pay the outstanding money and obviously I’ve got, you know, emails et cetera, of all of Grant saying exactly this, that that would happen.
“Because if you remember right at the start, Grant was funding the club for a number of months, but hadn’t actually officially completed the takeover, which was part of the delay that we thought was why we hadn’t been paid. But that official takeover now happened a number of months ago.
“I reached out to Grant on a couple of occasions to ask for it to be paid, and I haven’t even had as much of a response. So, as I said, I’m now at the point where I believe just Grant has no intention of paying me.”
Rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads reached out to Hetherington and Wechsel and also sent Watson’s quotes to his successor as the club’s media manager, Christie Vasiliou. Wechsel did not respond, while Hetherington said: “I am unfamiliar with this and so I should be as this is matter for the club’s executive, who handle the day-to-day running of the club.
“If there is an issue with unpaid wages, it should be taken to the chief executive – not the chairman or the shareholders.”
Watson said “I have sent the invoices multiple times to Jason so he can pay me whether he wants” and added he had approached Hetherington several times over the two months’ pay as well.
Of Wechsel, Watson said: “I’m very confused as into why he’s not just replying. I’m not sure if there’s still a dispute between himself and Gary about who’s supposed to be paying this money. I’ve also tried to reach out to Gary on a number of occasions and again, have had absolutely no response whatsoever.
“Rugby league has had a problem over years with people and staff … just not being paid and it’s a really bad look for the sport. You know … and my job is the media. I protected the club for a long, long period of (time)….
“I used to pay people out of my own pocket in terms of commentators, you know, photographers, videographers, Because I knew the club didn’t have the money. So I would pay for that my own pocket and then I’d invoice for that money back.
“Some I received, some I didn’t. But at the end of the day, I wanted to make sure that people outside of the club didn’t realise how big the problems were, but also from my own perspective of putting out good media, I wanted to be as good as possible.
“But we’re now in a situation where the club has more money than potentially, arguably, it’s ever had. You know, it’s certainly, I think, the most expensive squad in Championship history with some players earning huge amounts of money. You know, I’m delighted to see that the club is in a great space and a great place.
“But also the reality that Grant and Gary need to remember is if it wasn’t for people like me and others, the club wouldn’t even exist. You know, I would work seven days a week for months on end with zero payment. I had to take out a loan, I had to take on extra work whilst already working seven days a week just so I could survive.
“I’m a guy who lived on my own in London. And (being) without that money is a huge, huge issue for me. And I’ve explained this to them a number of times, to be now at the point where I’m just not even getting a response.
“Now, the club are talking about the huge amounts of money that they’re prepared to invest into the club. I just find it very insulting that the people who essentially made sure that this club survives, so they had a club to invest in, are being treated so poorly.”
Watson said that to the best of his knowledge he was not the only person in the club who is owed wages.
