from "Super League : the first 10 years" by phil caplan and jonathan doidge.

the following quote is attributable to gary hetherington on pg 70 :

"when you consider that wigans wage bill at their peak was 3.1 million pounds how on earth could you have a competitive competition? it has taken some time but it is only now that clubs are recognizing the cap imposes a real management skill ... it has added a competitive edge to the league and closed the gap between clubs, it has been vital to building a sustainable competition and viable clubs"

when all the heartland clubs can spend the full cap, imagine how much SL will grow

You will still have dissenters from the richer clubs who feel that their clubs been held back by the smaller clubs and that standards are levelling down.

which is daft as it is arguably the 2 richest clubs (wigan and Leeds) who nearly went to the wall in the 90's chasing success

Communist Cap blah blah blah.

probably true about levelling down in the short term

in the long term it will create more "big" clubs and also a better competition

also it means clubs are more financially viable.

Large debt = financially viable?

Mind you those assets that have "value"

will more than cover it won't they

Competitive League?
How many clubs have won the GF since it was started?
No wonder GH thinks it's competitive, Leeds have won the last three.
So that's his idea of competitiveness is it?
It's closed the gap? What's he banging on about?
Leeds turnover was over £10m and they made a loss bar selling land.
So what's Quins turnover or Salford's?
Bringning clubs closer my Ar.. Ricky Tomlinson!

clubs are still not all spending full cap. Of those that are many are running deficits. The cap is too high imo. It is the same as the NRL's yet most clubs are operating on 1/3rd the incomes of NRL clubs.

A lot more than won the title in the 10 years before SL.

How many clubs have won it without breaking the cap

spot on there.

when all clubs spend the full cap well see the full benefit

still the cap has helped keep clubs from overspending on players and the comp. is much more even than when wigan won all

STOP PRESS:

BUSINESSMAN LIKES TO KEEP HIS EMPLOYEES WAGES DOWN SHOCK!!!

Bradford Saints and Wigan won the titles in the 10 years before the GF started (co-incidently the same year the salary cap started)

Leeds Saints and Bradford in the ten years since

except for the clubs who have gone bust.

There is also no correllation between the amount a club can afford to spend and how much it can spend under the SC

so setting a limit on how much a club can spend doesnt stop them from overspending.

interesting

sure some clubs cant afford to spend the full SC

but as the comp. grows they all will be able to

correct.

setting a limit on how much a club can spend doesnt stop them from overspending if the limit is above the amount they can afford

well done

So it needs to be reduced , as in the short term it is highly unlikely that clubs are going to increase revenue to make up the shortfall

or it needs to be changed so its not the only thing working for us

I'll let you elaborate on that one

As ive said before, re-structure the cap so that it encourages clubs to do what we need them to do and discourage them from doing what we dont want them to do,

That would be, structure the cap to enhance further the dominance of Leeds/Saints I take it.

will still not help them have money to spend , in fact they will have less

I see where he's coming from, I don't necessarily agree on all of his policies.
IIRC he'd make it so that English players realistically could only ever play at the club they were brought through. If overseas players full stop (without 3 years under 21) counted an extra 25% on the cap you'd solve most of the problems imo

wigan won the first GF in 1998, as much as that info annoys me to point out!

Surely that depends what you think we need them to do?
If you think we need them to compete on equal terms with the rest of the league, then it's fine.