Are Leeds considerably under the salary cap? Are we one of the lowest spenders this year? With Peacock, Sinfield, Aiton and Kylie all leaving last year that must have freed up a lot of cap space. They have not been replaced with players of the same quality, so Leeds must be over paying the new recruits or considerably under the salary cap.

Ferres will have got good money, as will Faloon and Galloway i reckon not to mention Garbutt didn't count last season but does this.

Leeds could well be under the cap but i don't think it is by too much.

Garbutt was at Leeds for around half of last season and some of his Salary would have been on the cap. We also released Yates, Ward, Minchella and Mulhern from the 2015 squad.

im just going off what I've read on here regards Garbutt so you may be right.

the other players you mention will have been on buttons and i forgot to add Mullally also came in not to mention the possibility others had contracts upgraded which won't have made news.

Confirmed by the club previously, we paid nothing for Garbutt last season, but do pay for him this.

Fair enough, even taking Garbutt into account, I still think Leeds must be over paying the new recruits or considerably under the salary cap.

What about the likes of Hardaker, Hall, Watkins, Briscoe, etc on more money this year than last?

The likes of Ward, Singleton, Sutcliffe and Golding too have all signed new deals recently. Not saying all of them will have jumped up to great money but it all adds up when a large chunk of the squad are all signing new deals.

Lilley was on £750 per month at end of last year. Not sure if still the case, but I would hope not, as it might explain part of the problem with the team.

It seems like every SL club have half a team out injured. All down to the salary-capped bare bones. No reserve grades. Squads trimmed to malnutrition levels with only U19's as an option of desperation in some cases.

I'm still gobsmacked over Achurch's alleged wedge and if that's anything to go by then Leeds are probably close to the current cap of sweet FA since 1999 or whenever.

Leeds cannot buy their way out of their current predicament anyhow even if they did have plenty of cap space because there's hardly anyone available worth signing. The time has arrived for Leeds alleged world class academy production line to provide more longer-term solutions. Hmmmm.....

That was similar to what Chris Ashton was on when he was playing regular first team rugby for us. No wonder he went off to play the softer code.

Wasn't Joe Burgess supposed to be on something similar despite playing first team all season?

Perhaps another way of looking at the cap is that maybe the sport simply can't support full time professional squads of a suitable size and strength without financially ruining clubs.

22million is doled out to SL clubs just in the tv deal (which doesnt even include the other tv money which goes to the RFL and is given to the lower league clubs).

Leeds and Les Catalans bring in roughly another 8m each. which means there is £38m

Wire, Saints, Wigan roughly £5m more each, which would mean there is about £58m

Even if we are quite strict and say the other clubs only average a turnover about £2m more a year, that would give us another £14m. So roughly £70-75m a year.

The SC is £21.6m, so just shy of 30% of our turnover. If every club is spending it.

We comfortably have enough money to be paying players more. Possibly we dont have the money to subsidise clubs operating at a higher level than there infrastructure provides for, but the SC doesnt address that and never will.

Lots of clubs acquired a lot of debt during the early years of SL that they are only now beginning to get on top of and manage (Widnes and Castleford I believe have both announced this year that they are now debt free from that time period iirc). Fundamentally as a sport were only now reaching the point of paying for previous generations financial mistakes. Whether we like "SL rabble" or not, having 10+ teams able to compete is a minimum requirement for the competitive sport were going for. While certain clubs may never be able to regain the assets they lost during that time period, it should at least mean more stable footing to spend more in the future.

We should see a cap rise (slowly, but definitively) in the next few years on this basis. If we don't I'll be much more compelled by your artificially constrained by chairmen arguments.

That's playing salaries at 30% of turnover. Plus backroom staff. Plus day-to-day running costs etc.

Leeds total wage bill - for 56 players, 71 admin staff and 110 matchday support staff - in the year to October 2015 was £4.7m, or approximately 34.5% of turnover. Up £650k on the previous year.

Even in a year where every possible amount of revenue was maximised (two final appearances, league leaders prize money) Leeds still only made £1.5m in pre-tax profits. The idea that all clubs can somehow afford to spend a lot more on salaries is a fallacy, unfortunately.

Couple of other interesting points to note from the accounts. Reference is made in the review part at the beginning to the South Stand being demolished at the end of the current season, reducing stadium capacity to approximately 13,000 for at least the early part of the 2017 season. Work to start on the North Stand once the South Stand rebuild has been completed. Obviously this is all contingent on planning permission being obtained by the appropriate time.

Also, the accounts confirm that the ultimate parent company of Leeds CF&AC (the Rhinos trading company) and Leeds Rugby Limited (the holding company) is Caddick Group plc. Caddick Group plc is in turn owned by the Paul Caddick Accumulation and Maintenance Settlement Trust. Do hope, given the current focus on tax avoidance, that isn't based offshore.

Remember backroom and admin staff is not indicative of a general club. We have all the costs of the union going through also don't forget.

For which they paid net about £550k in the year. The idea that Carnegie use the Rhinos resources for nothing isn't borne out by the notes to the accounts.

Leeds made a £1.5M profit, I am sure some legal accounting will have gone on here to keep profit down to minimise the tax paid. So Leeds could say double players wages and still break even.

Hey Mr Player we definitely can't afford to pay you your market value i only made 1.5m profit from your endeavours last year. We are all in this together here so me and all the other guys have decided none of us will be allowed to pay you your market value. Don't worry though I'm going to spend some of that money I save from not paying you your market value and as little of my own considerable personal wealth as I can get away with upgrading my multimillion pound asset so I can make more money

The market value of a player is what someone is prepared to pay for him.

HTH.

Indeed. And a salary cap stops a player seeking that value out. That's why it's called a salary cap. It caps salaries.

HTH.

Yet it won't have stopped the likes of Watkins, Hardaker and Ward getting improved money.

But not their market value and still less than they would be able earn if they were allowed to seek their market value from the guy who made 1.5m and far far more than they will from their endeavours last year.

You think Leeds should make no pre-tax profit but spend it all on players salaries?
I think you made a wrong turn, you should be on a football forum.