again???
[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/23508826[/url

What is wrong with the game in the UK?

Sssshhhhh. Everything all right. An admin error. They'll be paid on Wednesday 8th August according to Omar.

That date doesn't exist in this years calendar by the way.

Bet Carvell, George et al are wondering what they've let themselves into now.

Kahn's come in to rescue them last year and, i assume, thrown a bit of cash at it to do so. I can't imagine him letting them fold.

He may well be running things on a shoestring, mind, given that Bradford are receiving less Sky money than other clubs (is that the case?) and rent their ground from the RFL (is that also still the case?)

What's the problem with the game in the UK?

A lack of money. You can't invent it from no where each club has to maximise it's income from fans. When people talk corporate and sponsorship and TV, in the end this money still comes from fans.

The Bulls do have extenuating circumstances in that they are without half the sky money. But top to bottom, clubs struggle to break even as they can't get enough fans, or enough fans to pay enough money.

Yet we talk about removing the cap to compete with RU and the NRL. Simply a few years without the cap would just leave more clubs with wages they can't pay and debts that will never be recouped by unrealistic fan projections.

There is no silver bullet, it's going to take clubs increasing their fan base, to match there current expenditure, never mind a no cap future.

14 clubs in the top flight when we only have the resources - players, investors, supporters, corporate backing, broadcast revenue, media interest - for 12 or possibly even 10.

And a governing body so ridiculously lacking in intelligence that it thinks the best way forward is to spread those resources over 24 teams. Oh, and to replace the Academy set ups with "centre's of excellence run by colleges".

That's what is wrong with the game in the UK.

nothing to worry about (according to those bastians of truth and business acumen the RFL) www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... nk/?ref=mr They are getting a £200k bank loan to pay the players I really cant foresee any problems with that strategy.

nothing to worry about (according to those bastians of truth and business acumen the RFL) www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... nk/?ref=mr They are getting a £200k bank loan to pay the players I really cant foresee any problems with that strategy.

Hope you're right, but Im not convinced he has the funds ongoing, I suspect he'll bridge this gap with a loan from a third party (maybe from our shirt sponsors at mates rates

.) But that begs the question of whats going to improve things next month, or over the close season. Worrying.



Not sure we can afford a shoestring, maybe we could borrow one from Warrington?

We are on half sky money this year and next, with our withheld money being giving to the other 13 SL clubs as a nice little bonus. And we do still rent from the RFL. Apparently we asked for a reconsideration of the sky money deal at a meeting last month, and the rest of the clubs said no. (cant blame em really, that was the deal and everyone looks after number 1 first.)

Quote ="EHW"nothing to worry about (according to those bastians of truth and business acumen the RFL) www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... nk/?ref=mr They are getting a £200k bank loan to pay the players I really cant foresee any problems with that strategy.'" Yep, what could possibly go wrong??!!

Quote ="EHW"nothing to worry about (according to those bastians of truth and business acumen the RFL) www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... nk/?ref=mr They are getting a £200k bank loan to pay the players I really cant foresee any problems with that strategy.'" Yep, what could possibly go wrong??!!

Didn't they get a £200k loan off the council not so long ago?
Massive debts being built up all over again.

Money is one important part of it. Another is that some clubs have much more than others - either through having a big supporter base or generous benefactors. Short of mergers and central control, or a six team top-flight, that can't be helped, unless money from the centre increased dramatically.
To compete on the pitch (and 'living within your means' and not competing isn't sustainable, so clubs have to), a fair few live hand to mouth and stuff like this is inevitable.

Do the RFL have the Midas touch in reverse?Didn,t they recently rubber stamp the third year of Bradford,s licence for 20 14?Everything they touch turns to .

Quote ="EHW"nothing to worry about (according to those bastians of truth and business acumen the RFL) www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... nk/?ref=mr They are getting a £200k bank loan to pay the players I really cant foresee any problems with that strategy.'" If the bank will lend them 200k in the current climate, the club MUST have shown evidence of stability.

Quote ="EHW"nothing to worry about (according to those bastians of truth and business acumen the RFL) www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... nk/?ref=mr They are getting a £200k bank loan to pay the players I really cant foresee any problems with that strategy.'" If the bank will lend them 200k in the current climate, the club MUST have shown evidence of stability.

Could Wonga be the third party?

Not necessarily, they may have been able to put up some significant collateral which may or may not belong to the club.

Time to reduce the cap then and get clubs operating at a financial level they can afford?

Personally I'd rather have a sport that lives to it's means and gives younger players a chance than one that is artificially boosted in quality by splashing money it doesn't have on antipodean imports. All under the pretence that it helps the national team that really no one gives a sh*t about.

I don't think we should stifle the better run clubs with a lower salary cap just because Bradford choose to pay Jamie Langley over £100k a year*. If a club chooses to live above it's means then this kind of thing will happen. Look at London - utilizing the full cap doesn't guarantee success either.

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How long until the players are reduced to washing cars etc to raise funds again ?

They can't complain, if they'd have bothered to make the CC final they would have secured lots of revenue for the club.

Sad times on the back of sad times for the fans.

Good luck Bradford.

Couldn't they get a loan off their sponsors ??

maybe there's no money as its all gone on Robbie's supply of fake tan since he's gone back to Odsal






that was a joke btw .....

Yeah absolutely...why should leeds for eg. be dragged down to bradford's level because of the latter's own failings? But something has to be done because a number of club owners clearly can't be trusted with a cheque book.

Perhaps the cap should be fitted (see what I did there

) to each club based on their overall income/turnover etc like the new FFP rules coming into football. Yes it might make SL too one-sided but I'd hardly say the salary cap as it stands is providing a thoroughly competitive SL anyway.

Is this one of the reasons why elliot whitehead was sold?

Circular though, isn't it? There's a few clubs, maybe as many as 8 or 9, who if they decided [uunilaterally[/u to start living within their means, would see those means decrease in a downward spiral.

Spending the full cap might not guarantee success, but spending significantly under it, pretty much ensures failure.

If it was 3 or 4 clubs struggling financially and the rest thriving, they could be cut adrift and the rest could happily sail away. Unfortunately, it is the other way around - 3 or 4 doing well, the rest struggling. And 3 or 4 isn't enough to run a league. The top clubs need to be 'stifled' because there are so few of them and they need somebody to play, who can 'challenge' them. They'll carry on winning every year, but once they start winning every week interest will wane quickly.

The weakness of other clubs holding Leeds or Wigan back might well frustrate, but to a large extent it (the other's weakness) is what their success is built on. If by some miracle there were suddenly a dozen other big clubs competing with you with similar resource, you'd need a good deal less brasso. If the weak got even weaker, then where's the challenge? The big clubs have got the rest exactly where they'd want them, I imagine.