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Reported today that the club has written to the playing staff asking for a 10% pay cut for next season with a veiled threat that if this is not accepted the club could go into Administration.

 

Problems include Mr. Abbot not being at the club anymore, and maybe falling crowds........Yet to see this seasons averages? Anyone got them? 

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During the last couple of years the Championship has had more funding than at any point in its history. It is not distributed evenly that is one problem. Another has been Sheffield, Featherstone, Bradford and now Halifax having some serious woes and flirting with administration.

 

It does beggar the question, why are we trying to make the Championship into something that it isn't? The reality is that it is a lower level competition not snapping at the heels of SL in terms of finances and standards.

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During the last couple of years the Championship has had more funding than at any point in its history. It is not distributed evenly that is one problem. Another has been Sheffield, Featherstone, Bradford and now Halifax having some serious woes and flirting with administration.

It does beggar the question, why are we trying to make the Championship into something that it isn't? The reality is that it is a lower level competition not snapping at the heels of SL in terms of finances and standards.

There's a definite case for redistributing the funding but I don't see how taking funding away will ever cure financial problems.

I would also so that the gap has closed significantly from championship to Superleague as demonstrated by the 9 occasions a championship team has beaten superleague in the past 2 years, including victories for 5 different teams.

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There's a definite case for redistributing the funding but I don't see how taking funding away will ever cure financial problems.

I would also so that the gap has closed significantly from championship to Superleague as demonstrated by the 9 occasions a championship team has beaten superleague in the past 2 years, including victories for 5 different teams.

 

It is the chase of trying to close this gap that is causing many of the financial woes.

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It is the chase of trying to close this gap that is causing many of the financial woes.

As is poor management, shareholders dropping out, council disputes over grounds. But I'm not gonna say any more as I've already contributed to the massive derailment of one thread this week on the topic and the argument just goes round in circles.

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Back on the subject of fax from an outsiders point of view I've always found it crazy that the rugby and football club always seem to be at odds rather than pulling in the same direction, both at administration and fan level. Maybe it's because we don't have a football club in Leigh anymore but always been confused how 2 teams playing 2 completely different sports representing the same town can't find common ground. I know it's the case for other clubs too.

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It is not distributed evenly that is one problem.

The current funding regime does not allow for any confirmed financial planning to take place in advanced; our sport is not football and many clubs can't simply absorb the loss of £200-400k at the Championship level.

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The current funding regime does not allow for any confirmed financial planning to take place in advanced; our sport is not football and many clubs can't simply absorb the loss of £200-400k at the Championship level.

 

A lot of RL fans seem to have a serious problem accepting this whether the argument is salary caps, P&R or whatever. The Football League system is very unstable and difficult for clubs to manage financially but football has the money and the number of clubs that these problems don't jeopardize the sport as a whole. We have neither the money nor the clubs but we introduced an even more unstable system!

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During the last couple of years the Championship has had more funding than at any point in its history. It is not distributed evenly that is one problem. Another has been Sheffield, Featherstone, Bradford and now Halifax having some serious woes and flirting with administration.

 

It does beggar the question, why are we trying to make the Championship into something that it isn't? The reality is that it is a lower level competition not snapping at the heels of SL in terms of finances and standards.

The clear problem is that the bottom of SL is no better than the top of Championship in reality, and that has always been the flaw with the licensing approach for our game.

 

Give the top championship clubs £1.8m and they can soon overtake them. That really shouldn't be the case. So in reality it isn't just a lower level comp with lesser clubs, it has decent clubs and SL has some lesser clubs.

 

When we get 12 SL clubs averaging 10k and developing their own players and investments, then we can cut off the 2nd tier.

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Reported today that the club has written to the playing staff asking for a 10% pay cut for next season with a veiled threat that if this is not accepted the club could go into Administration.

 

Problems include Mr. Abbot not being at the club anymore, and maybe falling crowds........Yet to see this seasons averages? Anyone got them?

We have got the link involving Marshals coaching staff. Where is the reported information regarding playing staff, the percentage and administration threats?

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All that info is In the Rugby Press today.  Lets not forget either that Fax took 3/4 million in funding this season, didn't go full time on the pretense of funding the reserves and building a solid off field structure. They will receive in the region of 500k less in 2017.

Here we go again .....

 

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The clear problem is that the bottom of SL is no better than the top of Championship in reality, and that has always been the flaw with the licensing approach for our game.

 

Give the top championship clubs £1.8m and they can soon overtake them. That really shouldn't be the case. So in reality it isn't just a lower level comp with lesser clubs, it has decent clubs and SL has some lesser clubs.

 

When we get 12 SL clubs averaging 10k and developing their own players and investments, then we can cut off the 2nd tier.

 

I'm not talking about cutting off the 2nd tier, I'm talking about this half-baked fusion which is stretching the likes of Featherstone, Sheffield, Bradford and Halifax to the brink. 

 

Second tiers can be powerful and vibrant if done properly and the cream always rises to the top. As you infer, at the moment very few people know where the top is and it creates a messy mix of staggered funding and short term thinking.

 

Halifax over-achieved in 2015 and got a bigger pay-out in 2016. They cut their cloth to a bigger hand out last year, had a rotten season and now have a massive cut in funding. Sheffield likewise. 

 

I'm not against funding and supporting the Championship but this money really would be better spent on trying to build something tangible over a long period such as the top 20 clubs all having academies and women's teams etc.

 

Halifax and Bradford are two clubs trying to deal with the yo yo funding system.

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During the last couple of years the Championship has had more funding than at any point in its history. It is not distributed evenly that is one problem. Another has been Sheffield, Featherstone, Bradford and now Halifax having some serious woes and flirting with administration.

 

It does beggar the question, why are we trying to make the Championship into something that it isn't? The reality is that it is a lower level competition not snapping at the heels of SL in terms of finances and standards.

 

We aren't.

 

The RFL tried to make JUST the top four Championship clubs competitive enough to make P & R work which in turn helps destroy other championship clubs as competitive entities if they don't make the top four prize money. This and the loss of Mr. Abbot was cited as reasons for the money problems.

 

Going back to semi-pro will give more CC clubs solvency and a chance for SL and thankfully it looks like that is where we are heading thanks to Mr. Lenegan's efforts.

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The RFL tried to make JUST the top four Championship clubs competitive enough to make P & R work which in turn helps destroy other championship clubs as competitive entities if they don't make the top four prize money. This and the loss of Mr. Abbot was cited as reasons for the money problems.

 

 

The flaw with that 'plan' (if, indeed, it actually was the RFL's plan) is that Batley and Featherstone had the temerity to ruin it by making the Top 4 this season last season - thus 'screwing over' Sheffield, Halifax and my own club, the Bulls. 

 

This shows the fatal (IMO) flaw in trying the have a 'league within a league' at Championship level. 

 

I just hope that, for their own sakes, Featherstone and Batley don't get giddy with their extra funding and Middle 8 income, and plan extremely carefully and sensibly for next year. The chairman at Batley seems a pretty level headed guy, not sure about the management at Fev...

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I just hope that, for their own sakes, Featherstone and Batley don't get giddy with their extra funding and Middle 8 income, and plan extremely carefully and sensibly for next year. The chairman at Batley seems a pretty level headed guy, not sure about the management at Fev...

 

We'll be ok thanks. You'd've thought that Bulls fans have enough financial woes of their own to worry about anyone else's.

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When will clubs learn that the first rule of business is that you can't have more going out than coming.

 

 

It's not quite so simple as that

 

Halifax were encouraged to believe that, due to their Top 4 finish last season, they were progressing as club and were, perhaps, on the cusp of becoming a full-time outfit with genuine SL ambitions. To their credit they actually didn't do the same sort of daft thing that has crippled Sheffield, remained part-time and invested in a reserve team and trying to build the right foundations. I expect they would have had every expectation of finishing in the Top 4 again this season and thus having the cash available to take further steps forward in 2017 and beyond. 

 

In fact, in many ways, they were an exemplar (as clearly distinct in every way from Sheffield) about taking sensible and costed steps forward.

 

They weren't to know that some of their internal funding would go, and then there is some sort of issue (not exactly sure what) with the ground and the football club who share it. And, as I say, they quite reasonably expected to finish Top 4 again.

 

What is a club meant to do? There is a lot of talk about how clubs in the Championship have a pathway to SL, and need to be aiming for it. If people are going to suggest that clubs like Halifax simply settle for being in the Championship and never dare to aim higher, then what's the point of the Middle 8 concept? Might as well go back to the closed shop for SL, and those of us 'down among the deadman' can just play amongst ourselves forever.

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