Owner to fan: Serepisos’ rocky road
Original owner of Phoenix returns to lend support as side in semi showdown
The Wellington Phoenix’s original owner Terry Serepisos will return to Sky Stadium for the first time in a decade this weekend, rallying behind the men’s side as they brace for their most monumental match.
The controversial businessman has been invited by Phoenix general manager David Dome to attend tomorrow’s A-League semifinal showdown against the Melbourne Victory.
“Ricki Herbert [and] some of the old players are invited — [the club] want to acknowledge my input [for] what I’ve done in New Zealand football, the Phoenix and my involvement and my part in it,” Serepisos said..
“It does make me proud, it brings back very good memories for me.”
After rapidly assembling a Wellington property empire two decades ago, gaining a national profile from owning the Phoenix and a foray into television as host of New Zealand’s version of The Apprentice, Serepisos was bankrupted in 2011, owing $203 million.
Last month, Business Desk reported he borrowed a sum of $152,500 from an Auckland company in 2018 that has now ballooned to around $2.5m in nearly six years, and the lender wants it repaid.
Speaking publicly for the first time in years, Serepisos told the Herald of his amazement at witnessing the club advance to an A-League men’s semifinal, with the stadium set to sell out.
“I couldn’t be more proud of it,” he said. “I think they’ve done an amazing job and [have] an amazing team, an amazing coach.
“No matter what comes out of this, where they’ve got to as in right here, right now, is a huge achievement that nobody obviously expected. They were supposed to be wooden spooners, but look at them, they’re on top of the table.
“How can you not be proud of it? You gave something, you’ve done something and look where it has gone. I’m just supportive of the team. The club was owned by me and is owned by [new] guys, but it belongs to the country and it belongs to the city. It belongs to the Yellow Fever, it belongs belongs to everybody.”
Acknowledging the financial toll the Phoenix had on him, Serepisos conceded running the club came with a hefty price tag.
“It took a lot out of the cashflow. I was losing about $2m a year and the current owners know it takes a lot, too. A lot of people don’t realise that when you’re putting $2m of cashflow out a year and then a global crisis comes along — it is not easy for anybody.
“I kind of underestimated the global crisis.”
Since going bankrupt, Serepisos revealed he’s spent most of his time in Greece for a more relaxed lifestyle, though he goes back and forth.
“I‘ve been living in Greece for quite a while [I go] and back and forth. I do watch a lot of the [Phoenix] games on TV. I am a follower, I am a supporter of it.”
He said it was hard losing the club now owned by Welnix, a consortium of seven Wellington businessmen, because it meant so much to him. “It was my baby. I created it, I built it. I put a lot of effort and a lot of time into it. The players all became like family. It was built on a family environment, the culture and to this day, I’m still very close with a lot of those players from back then.
“It was hard to lose it but it was also time to pass the torch on and I feel very happy that the new owners have carried that flame on.”
He said the money wasn’t everything and the highs would always outweigh the lows.
“It started in 2007 and how that all came about was the Auckland Knights, the defunct club was losing the licence. I was in a barber shop getting a haircut and on the radio comes that they’re looking for an investor to take over the licence and they need $1.2m.
“I had lost my brother to leukemia and I thought, ‘well I’ve got all this money, let’s do something that we can give back to the city’. So I went along with it, bought the licence for $1.2m, transferred it from Auckland to Wellington.”
“I lit the flame again for New Zealand football. It all started right there . . . it was all part of resurrecting football because also New Zealand football was also in a big problem. New Zealand football in general was not in a good place.”
Phoenix legend Paul Ifill, who played more than 100 matches for the side, and current goal-scoring star Kosta Barbarouses stick out to Serepisos as some of the club’s most prominent players.
“I rate Paul Ifill as the best player that’s actually been to this club because he was just magical. He was one of those people that you gave him the ball and everybody just knew he was almost going to score a goal, nine out of 10 [times].
Barbarouses was one of Serepisos’ first contracts, getting his break at 17.
Serepisos equally acknowledges the Phoenix’s supporter group, the Yellow Fever.
“[They’ve] been the heart and soul since day one. You can’t ask for a better group of guys. When it comes to supporters, they’ve been absolutely stunning, amazing, wind, rain or shine, they’re there.”
Serepisos was also behind the exhibition football game that brought superstar David Beckham and his LA Galaxy to play the Phoenix in Wellington in 2007.
“I put down $2 million and obviously, we brought David Beckham to New Zealand and packed out the stadium of 34,000.
“The day before that, I worked in with the council, we got 16,500 kids on the pre-match game.
“We had four days hanging out together, we went to Peter Jackson Studios together. We had a massive, huge after-party of all the who’s who in New Zealand and kept in touch a little bit, but I have a lot of respect for that man. I think he’s an amazing person.”
Looking back on those moments of joy, juxtaposed with his past mistakes, Serepisos believes it has all been worth it.
“Certain people that may not like me, the ones that will never show their true faces and it will be a minority of people, but what I have got is every one or every two days I get people come up to me and thank me for what I did with the Phoenix.”
As he looks north at the creation of Auckland FC — founded by American businessman Bill Foley — Serepisos feels it’s a great idea.
“I think that Auckland should have had it a long time ago. I think that the city’s evolved and it can handle it. The Phoenix has put New Zealand football on the map again and it’s allowed all the generations and younger generations to come through and it’s certainly time for them to come in.
“It’s going to be unbelievable for the rivalry that will happen between these two clubs so I’m hats off to all that. I think it’s amazing.”
Moved by the Phoenix’s transformation and the emergence of the Black Knights, Serepisos refused to dismiss the idea entirely of returning to the sporting scene.
“I’m not sure at this stage, I’m enjoying my life and having a more relaxing time.”
Providing his official score prediction for tomorrow, he believes the Phoenix will win
2-1.
“I feel it’s their time and I have a feeling that they’re going to do well.”
People come up to me and thank me for what I did with the Phoenix. Terry Serepisos