Brisbane Roar chief executive Kaz Patafta has sent an open letter to his club’s members in response to two media reports about the club this week.
Patafta has addressed two topics – the axing of former General Manager Football Ante Kovacevic, and relocation of the men’s team from Ballymore to the Queensland Sports and Recreation Centre.
This is the statement, in full:
“To our dedicated Brisbane Roar FC members and fans,
What an exciting start to our season! Thank you to each and every person who attended Ballymore Stadium on the weekend and contributed to a club-record crowd of 3,679. It was a thrilling game as we defeated the Premiership-Championship holders and kicked off the season with back-to-back wins for the third time in our history and first time since 2015-16.
Despite this exciting time for the club and some wonderful press stories highlighting these incredible moments, there were a couple of articles you may have read in the past 24 hours that I believe require some further explanation and context. I’ve said from the start of this journey with the club that I am committed to transparency.
One article focused on the departure of the club’s former General Manager Football – Ante Kovacevic – back in July this year. First, I made the decision that it was best for the club to let Ante go, knowing that there was risk of litigation – which is now the case. Second, the decision to let Ante go was not centred on financials, as alluded to in the article by the quote provided to the reporter whereby I allegedly said Ante was “paid too much.” While managing costs are naturally important for any club, the decision regarding Ante’s departure was certainly more complex.
As with any journey to reshape and rebuild a club, there are people who will not be happy with the direction we take and some decisions made. I do expect more articles of this nature in the coming months given our rebuild is ongoing, and will continue to communicate to you directly with the truth.
Another article focused on the relocation of the men’s team from Ballymore to the Queensland Sports and Recreation Centre. I’d like to make it clear that this is a short-term shift in our men’s training venue and a decision that was made in conjunction with the Queensland Rugby Union. The Ballymore field that the men’s squad uses requires some rehabilitation and rest, and we look forward to returning to Ballymore in the coming weeks. The main stadium field at Ballymore that saw a fantastic win by our Roar Liberty A-League women’s team last weekend remains ready for match-use and will see two more exciting games at the venue during November. We thank the QRU for their ongoing support as part of the collaborative partnership between the two organisations.
As with any journey to reshape and rebuild a club, there are people who will not be happy with the direction we take and some decisions made. I do expect more articles of this nature in the coming months given our rebuild is ongoing, and will continue to communicate to you directly with the truth.
For now, let’s continue to get behind our teams and keep the momentum pumping. It’s going to be an epic night back at Suncorp this Friday, as our men’s team take on Sydney FC.
Thank you for your continued and unwavering support of Brisbane Roar FC.”
