Exactly what crashmon said. Nothing against Leigh, just looking at the later rounds

We ran Leigh close in the Middle 8s 1n 2016. If you remember.

Running them close is not good enough though, am of the same mind, Leigh are likely to be more of a challenge in the 8s than Fev or fax so I know who I would rather see broncos face in the 8s

Whether we are a better team than we were then, is a matter of opinion. Leigh I am convinced are not as good.

See Leigh are looking to offload a few players, realising they are not going to be in the running for SL so tightening the belt a bit. Some big wages mentioned though.

Surely the parachute payment that Leigh received, was to cover players wages post relegation. Where has that gone then?

No,the parachute payment had to be spent on players, of which it has been. What did London do with their parachute payment after a decade of stability?

Atomic, 2 months into the season and the money has been spent already? That has to lead to folk asking questions? The suggestion was that Leigh were looking to offload players to reduce the wage bill as the club were already resigned to the fact bouncing straight back to SL had gone. So if that happens and the wage bill is cut can we assume any of that money not spent will be handed back. Not forgetting this was a payment from all the other SL clubs not through central funding.

I must have been asleep for that decade, because the club hasn't been stable AFAIK the club has never been stable, either fiscally or in terms of having a base to call home......the Broncos have 100% relied on benefactors footing the bill for as long as I can recall and the period 2007-2014 was 8 years of alarming declines in performance on and off the pitch resulting in being relegated with no fan income, no sponsorship income and 1 win all year.....

Again.. The parachute payment regardless of who was relegated,had to be used to buy players. Leigh brought in19 new players and currently have a wage bill of £1.67m. If theres a reason at present to offload players its not financial. Its more to do with wearing the shirt.
Back to my original question? What did you do with your parachute payment?

I can share empathy with what your saying, but I can't sympathize. The door was closed to get there from my prospective. Possibly they envisaged the doors never being opened again. You do seem to have a more stable squad this season though. Things look to be looking up.

Surely the intention of the parachute payment is the exact opposite of what you say Atomic.
Parachute payments are intended to smooth the transition to the lower league following relegation. Allowing the club breathing space to renegotiate contracts. Sell players or release them by mutual consent. In football the payments last three years so all contracts not dealt with can be allowed to expire and therefore not cause financial chaos to the club.
As far as I am aware neither London nor Bradford received parachute payments on relegation. Some financial assistance was given by the RFL to sweeten the deal at Barnet, but a small amount in truth.
The club as CMG says relies on its benefactor, Mr Hughes. Who for his many many many faults, does put his hand in his considerably deep pockets to fund the club. He runs it abysmally as his hobby. This is our problem.

The issue about Parachute payments is surely about what each recipient needs. London went from 1,300 gates at Barnet to 750 gates at Ealing, so £169,000 down on gate receipts, but almost certainly savings were made on Rent of the ground(s) and facilities, so in regards to setting stuff up for a lower division, then not too fiscally challenging.
Leigh would have had players on contracts with clauses letting them be offloaded should they have gone down and as such the management team took on 19 new names for this season, who undoubtedly have bonus or increased wage clauses should Leigh go up. Like ourselves, Leigh pay rent and receive nothing from the bar/food sales, but they do have far more supporters than we do, so as has been mentioned, some players are being let go at Leigh but I don't see this as purely financial housekeeping. Leigh would have expected to be on 14 points by now, but they are 10 shy and facing a struggle and as such, some players are being let go to make room for those that will step up........IMHO that is.

Having listened to Beaumont on Backchat, it doesn’t look bright for Leigh for next season, he won’t (can’t) bridge the funding shortfall.

I don't even think it's about getting straight back into SL.
Leigh will have budgeted for making the top 4 this season at the very least. They have then offered contracts to players - many of them being two year or more contracts - using the assumption that next year's income will be at worst what the 4th placed team will receive.
So if they don't make it back to SL and don't even make the top 4 then the loss in income (both immediate and for 2019) will leave a shortfall that Derek has already stated he can't cover.

If the additional £500k was meant to cover shortfalls of dropping down a division, I'm pretty sure Leigh didn't go down that route.

If they finish 5th or worse and can't get some of these contracted players off their wage bill, they could be in big trouble.

I hate the way the lower divisions are structured financially. Provide the carrot of promotion but with a results based income structure and something like this was always going to happen - and pretty much did with my club.

Game on Sunday 22nd 15:00 according to Leigh website.

so 100% not on TV which was to be expected...

Bosty,there was no smooth transition. All contracts were null and void. The parachute payment London along with Bradford received was a one off payment of £500k each from central funding. You were both free to spend that as you like. The £500k to what ended up being Leigh wasn't from central funding and carried stipulations.

So if Catalan continue there current form and we stick with same format for another season, do we reckon the SL clubs will stump up Again?
The previous relegation parachute payment was different, 2 clubs had to go because of structure change.
The question has to be asked, what was the parachute payment the year before last? I actually genuinely don’t know the answer to that.
The reality is Leigh dropping down into championship they recieved the highest central fund payment available to champ team this year, as said all contracts were null and void, so begs the question what was the extra 500k for if not to try to retain the same squad with the assumption Leigh would bounce straight back to SL.

Next year Leigh will miss out on the £500k + top 4 money potentially which will hurt them with a 1.62 million annual salary bill for this year and next. Chairman says he cant foot it.

What funding did London receive on relagation? You seem stuck in what others have got,but forget what you were given.

Have not forgotten what was given at all, there was a difference though. It came from central funding for one thing and it was seen more as a compensation payment for loss of income forced by the drop from 14 to 12 teams. For Leigh it had stipulations attached on how the remaining central funding had to be spent.
The important thing will be will the same offer to be made end of this season should a SL team find itself in the same position!.

This is another problem! Everything is kept so secretive, SL chairman meetings in safe houses under lock and key. Nothing to be spoken outside of the four walls.

Then they wonder why the game is shy of investment. Who knows what plans they have, I really don't think they know themselves.

Atomic you have a point.
Am not against what happened it’s a discussion point, and nothing against the decision by the clubs to do it.
But did it not give who ever got that payout an advantage in the competition the following year (in theory yes, the reality sadly for Leigh at the moment is no) Will the same money be on offer end of this season.
The discussions on the future of the game should be open and fair! Sadly the SL team chairmen have the power.
But hey, maybe we should win the game in the 5th round as it’s us that need the money for progressing more than Leigh as Leigh already have an extra half mil to spend than we do

As you rightly say, the £500k has now become a burden rather than a luxary. One that could very well cost the Club very harshly. The only solution is whats done on the park,not over yet NB..



Did the parachute payment to London benefit them? In reality no, in the same way it hasn't for Leigh.