Long memory: Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis. Credit:James Alcock "Where are we going to go, because there are three clubs – Sydney FC, the Waratahs and us – so how would we fit in at ANZ Stadium when they have already got South Sydney, Canterbury, Wests Tigers and other clubs there?" Politis said. "Do they want us to be like gypsies and live out of caravans while we play a couple of games at the central coast, maybe the SCG and six or seven games at ANZ Stadium? You really destroy your support because you are all over the place." Former North Sydney chief executive Bob Saunders said the Bears saw the move to Gosford as a great opportunity to secure their future, but wet weather and construction delays left them without a regular home ground and led to the club's demise after they failed to meet the NRL criteria when the competition was cut to 14 teams, because of their debts of $4 million. Splitting their home games between four venues, the Bears attracted crowds as low as 3382 at Suncorp Stadium, 4705 at Parramatta Stadium, 5043 at North Sydney Oval and 8032 at the then 110,000-capacity Olympic Stadium, now known as ANZ Stadium.

"It was difficult to get our fans to appreciate all of the different venues that we had to use," Saunders said. "The then North Sydney sponsors stayed on board but getting new sponsors was very difficult when you were in that nomadic situation where you are going from one ground to another ground. "That didn't help getting new sponsors and getting new season ticket holders, which is probably more important in today's climate than they were then. Memberships 20 years ago was something that everyone dreamed of, but these days that is very important to clubs." Roosters chief executive John Lee estimated that membership sales provided one-third of the revenue of NRL clubs. "It is a major pillar to fund all of your operations, so to be put out of your home is one thing but to lose members and to lose revenue has a major impact on how you do business and how you run your club," Lee said. However, former North Sydney president David Hill, who left the board before the club decided to move to Gosford, said the Bears were victims of poor management and politics arising from the Super League war with News Corporation.

"There wasn't any need for North Sydney to go into administration, they were not insolvent," said Hill, who later headed the Save The Bears movement, which attempted to stop the ill-fated merger with Manly to form the Northern Eagles. "The reason they were not insolvent is because at the time the North Sydney Football Club, which declared itself insolvent, had six of the nine board members of the leagues club, which was awash with money." Hill said he supported the decision by NSW premier Mike Baird to refuse to build a new stadium opposite Allianz Stadium. "For the past 20 years, the SCG Trust has increasingly taken public park land that is part of Moore Park and Centennial Park," Hill said. "This is just another ploy for the SCG Trust to take over more of Moore Park because what they are saying is we need to allow the current users of the stadium to continue using the stadium so we will have to build the new stadium somewhere else."