Newcastle Greyhounds club accepts GRNSW takeover at The Gardens

However, it remains unclear exact what role the club will now serve under Greyhound Racing NSW.

NGRC held an extraordinary general meeting at the Birmingham Gardens track on Wednesday night in response to GRNSW plans to keep in place an administrator fulltime.

GRNSW's Mike Brady has been the administrator at the track since March last year. He was appointed after an external company ran and reviewed the club's operation for about four months, following the loss of key staff and directors.

The NGRC board, which has just two directors, was informed recently that GRNSW intended to keep Brady in place and effectively take control of racing operations.

GRNSW has owned The Gardens facility since the 2013 demise of the National Coursing Association but day-to-day operations have been the club's responsibility until late 2021.

NGRC director Garry Kedwell said the meeting, which went for about two hours, was well attended and members voiced their concerns and questions to GRNSW representatives, including deputy CEO Wayne Billett, before the vote.

"The motion was put forward that we accept the proposal to let them takeover, just a show of hands, and it was an overwhelming majority," Kedwell said.

"There were a few discussions about them taking over, shutting the place and selling it, all that stuff, but it was taken pretty well. I cannot see them closing it."

He said Billett was positive about the future of racing at The Gardens, which needed infrastructure improvements to its grandstand and race-day kennels.

"They are looking to really go ahead with the complex," he said. "It looks like Newcastle is going to have a good facility. The actual track itself, it's good for racing. It's just the infrastructure work that has to be done."

Kedwell said the financially strong NGRC would become a social club under the GRNSW administration but it was not yet known exactly what that would entail.

"We are basically just going to form a social club under Greyhound Racing NSW, and they are going to takeover the complex at the end of this month," he said. "We've just got to go through the financials. They are going to pay the asset values.

"It was a good meeting, nothing got out of hand. There were a lot of questions asked. It was a good attendance, between 30 and 40 people.

"We are going to let GRNSW settle in, and in about two or three months, we'll call another meeting of the members and see what direction we're going to head in with the social side of it.

"We'll get more information out of GRNSW then about what they would like us to do, what aspects of the day-to-day racing we would be looking after.

"It comes down to the money side of it, what the members want to do with their money. Either just give it all to them, or we carry on underneath them and we support racing with sponsoring races, members benefits."

He said the social club would have access to facilities at the track and the chance to have sponsor signage in place.

"We can sponsor the Gardens' greyhound of the year, things like that that won't be up to GRNSW," he said.

He said the club's immediate aim was to ensure staff had their entitlements paid out or transferred to their new employer, GRNSW.

The Gardens has an 11-race program from 3.22pm on Friday.