Former Cronulla football manager Theo Burgess says the embattled NRL club knocked back a $10 million offer to relocate to Gosford in 2005.

Burgess says he and then-general manager Steve Rogers were offered the sum up-front by the NRL but were knocked back by the club's board.

"The writing was on the wall back then and Steve and I both knew it," Burgess told Rugby League Week.

"We looked at our options and re-locating to Gosford seemed the best of them.

"The NRL offered us $10 million off the bat and we believe we could have got that offer up to $12 million with some negotiation back in 2005.

"But we took it to the Sharks board, who were all very conservative, and they knocked it on the head - and that was the end of it - they were in denial.

"The sad thing is that it was for five years so had the club gone when we planned in 2006, that would have ended after 2010 and been an end to the Sharks massive debt."

Last year, the Sharks lost $1.4 million, turned $6 million in the bank into a $2 million overdraft and have more than $12 million of short-term debt that has still to be refinanced.

Last week the NRL knocked back a request from the Sharks for funding for the club to play five home games on the Central Coast from 2010.

The financially stricken club is likely to go ahead with their plan with Bluetongue Stadium reportedly guaranteeing revenue of $100,000 per game to clubs playing at the venue.

Sharks chief executive Tony Zappia said last week the club are now "for sale" and he will be seeking cashed-up equity partners.

Zappia said in order to generate more immediate cash flow he may look to play more games in Adelaide - where the South Australian government has been offering financial incentives - and removing the Sharks' home-ground advantage when they are due to play the Brisbane Broncos in late June, relocating the match from Toyota Stadium to Suncorp Stadium.

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