Re: Eagles in a mess : Sat Aug 20, 2016 11:56 am  

The format of the Middle 8's is part of the problem, and the same for Bradford. How can you budget for the season ahead when the big drop in income comes before it ends? It's one thing budgeting for the year ahead in the close-season, but it's ludicrous that a team is faced with losing half a million pounds half way through. The only way to sustain it is to budget for the loss, but then how do you recruit the talent?

Re: Eagles in a mess : Sat Aug 20, 2016 1:38 pm  

Slugger McBatt wrote:

The format of the Middle 8's is part of the problem, and the same for Bradford. How can you budget for the season ahead when the big drop in income comes before it ends? It's one thing budgeting for the year ahead in the close-season, but it's ludicrous that a team is faced with losing half a million pounds half way through. The only way to sustain it is to budget for the loss, but then how do you recruit the talent?

Exactly. The best option for the Bulls now, which looks like being enacted, is a focus on a much cheaper much smaller more affordable squad but with a core of quality (Chisholm, obrien, sidlow, Moss, welham, pryce(?)) with some championship quality players (with champ wages) and a heavy reliance on the academy program which is starting to bear fruit again at odsal, so this year's 4 or 5 Academy products (lumb, Ryan, mellow etc) could be added to by another 5 or 6 next season. So rather than this year's bloated 40 odd squad size we'll be running with about 26, at least 10 of which will be recent Academy products. So a much more realistic base to develop from than banking it all on going up.

Re: Eagles in a mess : Sat Aug 20, 2016 7:03 pm  

ColD wrote:

Except they had a rich backer, Leigh and London could find themselves in a similar situation if the backer the pulls out

I would imagine that Leigh and London would soon revert to part time if they didn't have a rich backer.

Re: Eagles in a mess : Sun Aug 21, 2016 7:09 am  

I think we are going to see a lot more of this due to how championship clubs are funded (based on league position). If a club finishes a few places lower than expected (like sheffield and bradford this year) they are going to be missing a big chunk of income and face financial difficulty.

This is not a sustainable funding set up for rugby league IMO, we haven't got a big que of clubs ready to replace them like in football.

Re: Eagles in a mess : Sun Aug 21, 2016 8:02 am  

Huddersfield1895 wrote:

I would imagine that Leigh and London would soon revert to part time if they didn't have a rich backer.

As would the Giants , possibly HKR and a few others

So your point being ?

Re: Eagles in a mess : Sun Aug 21, 2016 11:14 am  

GUBRATS wrote:

As would the Giants , possibly HKR and a few others

So your point being ?

As would a lot of clubs in other sports. I'd guess most of the clubs outside the premier league would struggle without financial support.

Re: Eagles in a mess : Sun Aug 21, 2016 12:37 pm  

Is this a case of a club aiming above its current means? And if so is it fair to say that the system we have in place might have encouraged this issue?

Re: Eagles in a mess : Sun Aug 21, 2016 3:51 pm  

how can you sustain a full time squad on the size of crowds they get. pure madness. i suppose the problem in that league is that if a couple of teams go full time, the others are tempted to play follow the leader. if a club like bradford is stuggling with a full time squad, that should send alarm bells ringing with the smaller teams

Re: Eagles in a mess : Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:19 am  

the artist wrote:

how can you sustain a full time squad on the size of crowds they get. pure madness.

Huddersfield or Salford?

Re: Eagles in a mess : Mon Aug 22, 2016 7:34 am  

the artist wrote:

how can you sustain a full time squad on the size of crowds they get. pure madness. i suppose the problem in that league is that if a couple of teams go full time, the others are tempted to play follow the leader. if a club like bradford is stuggling with a full time squad, that should send alarm bells ringing with the smaller teams

A bit like Wigan and Widnes did in the 80's, which forced Uncle Maurice to throw the game at Sky.
Unfortunately, The Championship clubs dont have that option.

Perhaps the available monies should be shared equally between the Championship clubs, with a some additional prize money for finishing in the top 4.
Not only does the current format encourage clubs to over reach themselves but, it's creating a second tier competition that is unbalanced financially.

Bearing in mind that part of the new format was to allow a pathway into the top flight, surely it would be better just to promote the top club and they would then receive the additional spend (from Sky monies) and to take some pressure off any relegated club, there would need to be some form of parachute payment.

The new format is just a mess and to be fair to Leigh, they should be promoted on merit.
Topping the league 3 years on the bounce should be sufficient, without the need to "prove themselves" any further.