Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 6:16 pm  

Well put, Ghost. Reeks of desperation on Lenagan's part and although the additional cash won't remotely address his shortfall it's slightly less ludicrous than his masterstroke of playing home games at Millwall.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 6:34 pm  

Leigh_Manning wrote:

the owners want control away from GH and his chums

As much as it pains me to say it being a Bradford fan, but if RL in this country had been run the way Leeds Rhinos have for the last 20 years, the sport would be in a much stronger position today.

SL chairmen, in the main, can barely run their own clubs. But yet they expect the rest of the sport to cheer as they take over the running of the sport?

Doesn't sound sensible to me. Especially when Lenighan's definition of West Yorkshire seems to include places like Newcastle, York, London and Cumbria

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 6:37 pm  

ghost, what a fantastic post. most of these chairmen can't even run there own clubs properly.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 6:47 pm  

The Ghost of '99 wrote:

This is bullshit with respect and it really would help if you tried to understand the dynamics of the TV deal before you go repeating talking points.

1. Sky came to the RFL/SLE several years before the contract was due to end and years before the negotiations were due to start.
2. They had a hard deadline - an upcoming stock market announcement they wanted to make revealing renegotiated packages across a whole host of sports. This to settle market nerves after the increasing threat of BT.
3. They did give a take it or leave it - the leave being, stick with the existing, lower deal which was an option. Did this place the RFL in a difficult place? Yes - Sky aren't stupid. Did the clubs, including Lenagan who has whinged about it non stop for the last 4 years vote for it? Yes they did because it was a decent deal.

The great irony is that the same people who say the last TV deal was a poor one are complaining that the next one won't match it, even if negotiated by these genius businessmen (not genius at RL but apparently outside it). Which is it to be folks?

The Ghost of '99 wrote:

Having an SL manager or CEO is fine and I think everyone supports it, including Hetherington.

The structure is negotiable although both sides have vested interests and Leeds appear to be the only one, given the present situation, voting against those vested interests.

What is not fine is SL clubs, purely because they can't grow their own businesses, taking the relatively small (to SL clubs) cash amounts from the lower leagues to plug the gaps in their budgets. It's pathetic and the greatest admission of failure on their part and the greatest reason we should be cautious about empowering a group of failed RL administrators to run the game.

Very good posts "The Ghost of '99"

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 6:49 pm  

I would add that Elstone appears to have been backtracking ever since his original, pretty disastrous, introduction. The latest concession was that the lower divisions wouldn't get a smaller amount of cash than they do now if the next TV deal is the same or larger. Now that could be an admission that he thinks he won't get a better deal (but yet his buddy Lenagan says the old deal was crap??) but still, he's quickly realised that he has lost control of the situation and become identified with some/a pretty toxic individual(s), in RL terms and in the view of the wider RL family.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 8:08 pm  

tad rhino wrote:

do they not deserve something?
all clubs were happy with the agreed share when the last deal was agreed. what has changed?

SL have brought in a quality adminstrator who has significantly more commercial nouce than the rest of them put together.

Rob Elstone is a very clever man and an experienced sports adminstrator who has operated on a different level to anyone currently operating in RL.

These pronouncements make very good sense if you actually take the time to listen to him - sadly no one on here can be bothered to listen to his point of view/logic before actually slating his ideas.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 8:27 pm  

The Ghost of '99 wrote:

This is bullshit with respect and it really would help if you tried to understand the dynamics of the TV deal before you go repeating talking points.

1. Sky came to the RFL/SLE several years before the contract was due to end and years before the negotiations were due to start.
2. They had a hard deadline - an upcoming stock market announcement they wanted to make revealing renegotiated packages across a whole host of sports. This to settle market nerves after the increasing threat of BT.
3. They did give a take it or leave it - the leave being, stick with the existing, lower deal which was an option. Did this place the RFL in a difficult place? Yes - Sky aren't stupid. Did the clubs, including Lenagan who has whinged about it non stop for the last 4 years vote for it? Yes they did because it was a decent deal.

The great irony is that the same people who say the last TV deal was a poor one are complaining that the next one won't match it, even if negotiated by these genius businessmen (not genius at RL but apparently outside it). Which is it to be folks?

What choice did the clubs have and how did they end up that situation?


Probably because the leadership coming from the RFL - predominently sponsored by GH were way out of their depth and quite frankly bone-idol - no wonder the clubs don't want this to happen again. Elstone wont be the push over Wood was.

He needs to be allowed to negotiate the next deal free from the likes Ralf Rimmer sticking his nose in. Listen to him and his tactics they are way ahead of anything currently trotting around in RL.

The new is unlikely to be as good because the the RFL and the likes of GH have nutured and progressed the product/game. It is now a worse offering devoid of star players and credible sponsors - but hey Featherstone and Batley get a load of cash so that's OK

When the sport has been dumbed down to the lowest common denominator via a salary cap that hasnt really moved in 20 years and if the likes of GH had his way it would have actually regressed to a level affordable by the worst club. These are facts - something has to change.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 8:36 pm  

The Ghost of '99 wrote:

I would add that Elstone appears to have been backtracking ever since his original, pretty disastrous, introduction. The latest concession was that the lower divisions wouldn't get a smaller amount of cash than they do now if the next TV deal is the same or larger. Now that could be an admission that he thinks he won't get a better deal (but yet his buddy Lenagan says the old deal was crap??) but still, he's quickly realised that he has lost control of the situation and become identified with some/a pretty toxic individual(s), in RL terms and in the view of the wider RL family.

Listen to him and you will see what you have put above is clap trap - all they ever said was that the clubs that generate all the revenues should get a a bigger share - not an unreasonable stance. They have never said the championship clubs should not get any money. Elstone has never changed his point of view on this.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 8:58 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Listen to him and you will see what you have put above is clap trap - all they ever said was that the clubs that generate all the revenues should get a a bigger share - not an unreasonable stance. They have never said the championship clubs should not get any money. Elstone has never changed his point of view on this.

In which case Widnes, Wakefield, Salford etc should get a reduced share ala the Championship clubs.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Sun Jul 08, 2018 9:04 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Listen to him and you will see what you have put above is clap trap - all they ever said was that the clubs that generate all the revenues should get a a bigger share - not an unreasonable stance. They have never said the championship clubs should not get any money. Elstone has never changed his point of view on this.

Not true - in the original press conference and subsequent interviews he said he felt the Championship clubs got too much money. In the most recent interview(s) he has said it will remain the same both for the duration of this deal (which was a given anyway as it couldn't be changed despite Lenagan's demands) AND for future deals at an absolute level, assuming there is a contract increase.
Now we can assume if there is an increase it won't be huge so the %s heading down the game will not reduce much and it is therefore a clear concession and an evolution from the original position.