You sure, showing as a program about nuclear power on BBC North west on sky..

Only has a 5 - 10 min slot in said programme. Union clubs are in a far worst state.

cheers

That's something I never knew. I don't pay much attention to the sport at all but still would think I'd hear about it.

FFS, are the Beeb doing this just to wind me up - they're now running a story under the headline "Warrington's Tony Smith says 'reality check' needed" - my heart sank when I read this, wondering what he had said now. Basically, he says not a lot, and certainly nothing as strong as what is implied by the headline (which I took as 'things are in a right state and need sorting out').

Let me get this right, I'm paying the wages of the people writing this stuff?!? How do I demand a refund?

Have you tried watching via tvcatchup.com (a legal website btw)

when You logon you can set your region manually so you would get programmes relevent to that region.

That didn't really tell us anything, did it? It just seemed to be a "little rugby league is struggling" snippet aimed at people who don't know or care about the sport just to keep them updated that the sport is going nowhere fast and not to bother tuning in. They may as well have ended the piece with "we'll be back to inform you when the sport has turned to , don't bother watching in the meantime".

Thanks, I will try the site out now.

That was absolutely awful. 15 minutes of my life that I will never get back. NtW has it spot on.

I haven't watched it yet ,but i've recorded it for later. I see ITV4 give plenty of coverage of RU club matches which are repeated during the week at various times & when Sale were shown on Saturday night the attendance was worse than Salford's.

Right I've had a think ...and I've know decided to simply laugh at the fool Rob Wilson


what is a finance specialist anyway.....?

"there are too many clubs generating insufficient turnovers and generating too much cumulative debt........and that alarms me as someone that LOOKS AT FINANCES and somebody that researches THESE TYPES OF THINGS IN AN ACADEMIC ENVIRONMENT..........


what a whoppa ...........If this was a senior figure at KPMG who had been instructed by the RFL to go through all clubs finances with the finest of fine tooth combs then I'd have to treat it with some seriousness...but he just looked like he knew he was going to say something controversial and was trying to back it up with his academic background.........

I look at girls knockers in all environments but I could'nt talk breast augmentation on a serious level though..........

I thought the 'academic environment' thing was a ridiculous thing to say. What a tool.

There's a link to his profile on Hallam's website on the Beeb's story on this this morning. Interestingly, it's under the 'media contacts' (or something similar) section of their website. Apparently, his area of research is football & rugby finances. I said above, if he said verbatim what the BBC were quoting he's no finance expert...

I can't remember the name of the fella, but there was a guy who used to be at Leeds Uni, but I think moved to Leeds Met who seemed to be the authority on sports finance - would have been interested to here from him. This isn't the kind of thing the Big 4 accounting firms would get into (in terms of playing up to the media), but I agree with you FB, is this had been based on an authoritative report, then it would have carried some weight.

As it is, it just smells of irresponsible journalism from the BBC, and I'm seriously considering a letter, rather than just ranting on here. I'm not suggesting they are 'league bashing' here - just doing a crap job! I would have actually liked to have seen a proper report on this, as I think it could have been interesting. That said, they've done a cack handed job of it - I probably could have given them more insight than the numpty they had on.

exactly... can you imagine something done similar for the premier league...without naming the individual clubs debts and or explaining them...?
"the premier league is 2.4billion pounds in debt, it's staring into an abyss ...thank you and good night...." ...... i dont think so

they'd be straight into Man U's £300 million pound debt right down to Wigan FC's £21 million debt...

not the best thing the BBC have done.....

You could have run the same programme about several premiership footy teams, and virtually any team outside the premiership. Same goes for RU, who are no better off than us in most cases.

What is undeniable is the financial management of some RL clubs is appalling, and has been for some time though we certainly aren't unique in that. When Marwan Koukash came out and described the financial affairs at Salford as appalling when he scrutinised them, it confirmed that too many clubs have been run for too long by very well-meaning people, but people who were woefully under-qualified to run a modern day business.

Whilst I'm not disputing some clubs might be poorly mis-managed I wouldn't rely on Koukash as the authority on that-don't forget he was in negotiations to buy that club at the time, so kinda had an agenda.

Which reminds me, shouldn't that deal be done by now...?!?

If the programme had just reported Wigan had financial problems, would we be as quick to dismiss it as a storm in a teacup, or would we be banking it as the truth and celebrating?

"There is no such thing as [ibad[/i publicity" - Michael O'Leary.

And RL needs all the publicity it can get...

The report made it onto BBC breakfast this morning.

Pity they don't have a great deal of coverage about RL, but when they do it's a negative like this.

Unfortunately that's utter rubbish-I wondered how long it would be before someone trotted that line out.

At a time when the game is seeking sponsorship of major competitions, this kind of story does not help.

And as far as clubs or any other businesses are concerned, perception of creditworthiness is vital. I've seen it before where stories go round that a business is struggling, people cut back credit terms, leading to a shortage of cash, precipitating financial difficulties. It's a self fulfilling proficy. That's why these stories can be so damaging.

Once again the BBC gives RL a brief mention and then quickly moves on despite potentially uncovering one of the most biggest issues in British sport: the financial struggles of Super League.

They can afford to dedicate Panorama programmes to football's financial irregularities or racism on the terraces but will they do a Panorama on this issue in rugby league, I doubt it?

They are covering up RL's financial problems just like they cover up the problems of crowd trouble. We all know that crowd trouble goes on, every time we are at a big game we have stories on here about Wigan or Leeds and their scum fans but will the BBC ever go to properly investigate that like they do football violence?

Just look at the number of football clubs that have entered administration over the years en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administra ... h_football) and then there's the clubs that are accumulating debt on a massive scale.

Just look at the number of football clubs that have entered administration over the years en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administra ... h_football) and then there's the clubs that are accumulating debt on a massive scale.

I haven't heard the programme so don't know if they did address this BUT £68m in debt in itself might not be a problem, depending on how you define "in debt". If this figure is just the amount of the debt in isolation and the game had assets of say £100m its not that bad. If the game had a grand total of £68m of negative assets then its screwed!!!

What did the programme say on these issues?

Nothing. It was only a 10 minute part of a 30 minute programme. The alleged total debt is complete guesswork. The whole thing is a farce.

I have been in discussions with Rob Wilson today about the article/programme. To his credit he has responded (though I'm unimpressed with his responses). I suggest others contact him too if they have any issues with what he said. You can email him at R.J.Wilson@shu.ac.uk

I have been in discussions with Rob Wilson today about the article/programme. To his credit he has responded (though I'm unimpressed with his responses). I suggest others contact him too if they have any issues with what he said. You can email him at R.J.Wilson@shu.ac.uk