South are currently part of NPL VIC and have been pushing to join the A-League as part of the expansion project.

In the past two years, South have tried to ensure they're ready to return to Australian football’s top flight and said they have the facilities, money and history to compete in the A-League.

However not everybody agrees, as a number of former and current players and employees have alleged the club has failed with its duty of care.

FTBL contacted Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) who confirmed they had South players approach them.

The PFA said they provided legal advice and assistance to players who approached the union.

“While the PFA does not comment directly on individual cases, the PFA can confirm it has been approached by players in relation to the enforcement of overdue payments from South Melbourne,” a PFA spokesperson said.

Football Federation Victoria (FFV) told FTBL they were unaware of the allegations and declined to comment.

FTBL contacted South president Leo Athanasakis who denied all allegations that any current or former player or employee is owed money.

However, FTBL spoke to staff, current and ex-players who claimed the opposite.

Among them was one current South player, who did not want to be named, who contacted FTBL and said he was desperate to put pressure on the club to deliver.

The player said the PFA was aware, however had not contacted the FFV, adding it would be a tedious process waiting for their action.

He said players get paid monthly and alleged that some of his teammates were owed wages from August and September.

“I’ve tried to do everything the right way and to speak to them about it and they just don’t want a bar of it, so this was the last resort,” he said.

“It’s not about me, it’s just that I know there are boys that need the money a lot more than I do.

“Some of the guys rely on it and it’s just not fair. I need something to happen.

“The whole back office is a shambles, the club is in a bad way and they will lose a lot of players during the off-season and that’s why they’re holding out the money, so I’m just trying to force their hand.”

Former South utility Liam McCormick is currently with Dandenong City SC with NPL VIC 2 and has alleged he is owed money to this very day after leaving in 2017.

McCormick left Bentleigh Greens to join South last year but only lasted half a season.

“It didn’t quite work out at South and (Director of Football) Nick Maikousis said he was more than happy for me to leave,” McCormick told FTBL.

“When I did the release papers they said I’d be paid in full, I was owed roughly six weeks. They promised it would come in when the boys were up to date as the whole team wasn’t up to date at the time and I waited and waited.

McCormick in his Bentleigh days

“I got in contact with a few of the boys that were still at South who told me they got paid. I then phoned Nick and he just never got back to me.

“It became an inside joke at the time, saying ‘I wonder if I’ll get paid this week?’.

“I have a lawyer in contact with him and he just told him ‘yeah he’ll get paid’ and it just got to the point where the lawyer was going to cost too much. For the sake of getting paid, it just wasn’t worth it.

“I left Bentleigh with a bit of ambition to win things which is why you go to South, then you work out it’s a bit fake. They promise you everything, but they don’t come through with it. You’re disappointed, but you live and you learn.

“When you look at South Melbourne with the facilities and ambition they’ve got, you think they’d try to tick every single box as they’re going, but for some reason they haven’t.”

Former South corporate events manager Despina Donato has alleged the club owes her 18 months of superannuation.             

“I was let go by South Melbourne in August 2017 and they had not paid my super for that whole 18 months,” Donato claims.

“I told them you owe me this much from when I started to when I finished.

“I waited for three months and I went to the ATO with an application saying I hadn’t had my super paid. They’ve acknowledged that and how much I’m supposed to have.

“As of March this year, it’s currently sitting at debt collection stage, but nothing has come through yet.”

Donato claims she is owed super by South. Photo supplied by Donato

Donato said she was in charge of paying staff at the beginning of her time with South Melbourne and claimed that she found herself stalling employee payments.

“I couldn’t make a payment unless it was approved by the president,” she said.

“So I’d be harassing him telling him I have employees emailing me that they haven’t received payment and the president would tell me to ring them up and tell them an excuse.

“I was embarrassed about it, there was so many times I was so embarrassed to tell people we had to hold off paying them or that it would be an extra week or that it was coming.

“People need to get paid for their time, it’s bullshit. There’s so many occasions where people have not been paid for things that have been ordered by South and they come up with bullshit excuses.

“I didn’t want to go down this path of naming and shaming, but I’ve got no choice. I’ve worked hard and my super is my super and I’m owed that, I’ve worked for it and it’s mine.

“It’s really sad that the people that suffer from a story like this are the supporters, the players and the club over the stupidity of the board members.”