Whitehaven in financial trouble

[Wakefield Ram]

I've just had an idea. Maybe the RFL could deem the Recreation Ground an iconic RL venue, buy it at an exorbitant price, pay to maintain it for years and then sell it back to Whitehaven's new owners who can pay for it in instalments when they have some money.....

Worked for Bradford. 

Edited August 21 by Wakefield Ram

[Bring back GB]

1 hour ago, Griff said:

The plan is to go to thirteen clubs next season.

And then 12 the season after

[Death to the Rah Rah's]

1 minute ago, Wakefield Ram said:

I've just had an idea. Maybe the RFL could deem the Recreation Ground an iconic RL venue, buy it at an exorbitant price, pay to maintain it for years and then sell it back to Whitehaven's new owners who can pay for it in instalments when they have some money.....

Worked for Bradford. 

I believe the RFL already hold the lease to their ground and have done since they last went pop around 2011 (ish)

[Derwent]

8 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

I've just had an idea. Maybe the RFL could deem the Recreation Ground an iconic RL venue, buy it at an exorbitant price, pay to maintain it for years and then sell it back to Whitehaven's new owners who can pay for it in instalments when they have some money.....

Worked for Bradford. 

The RFL are already the lease holders for the Recre, purchased it last time Haven went pop. The land is owned by a charity so can’t be sold.

[Derwent Parker]

58 minutes ago, Griff said:

The plan is to go to thirteen clubs next season.

 

3 hours ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

Having nothing better to do (although I haven't gone as deep as points difference), if the results are expunged

1 Wakefield 36pts

2 Toulouse 23

3 Sheffield 22

4/5/6 Bradford/Widnes/ York 20

7/8/9 Fev/Batley/Doncaster 18

10 Barrow 15

11/12 'fax/Swinton   [as it stands fax better points diff]

13 Dewsbury 2

So gains for York (into top 6) and Barrow (leapfrog 'fax)

Hopefully Haven will come thru this - but if they did withdraw etc 

Then from the table above Oldham will go up from L1 and replace Dewsbury and Swinton and the L1 playoff winner will play Fax to see who plays in Championship next season - That will leave 12 teams in Championship.

L1 have 9 teams now and will gain 1 from Champ eg  Swinton which makes 10 and an expected new team Anglia/Bedford or Goole then if Haven do a Newcastle and restart in L1 this will be 12.

So - All 3 leagues will have 12 teams which is the RFL plan - but a year earlier.

[Wakefield Ram]

13 minutes ago, Derwent said:

The RFL are already the lease holders for the Recre, purchased it last time Haven went pop. The land is owned by a charity so can’t be sold.

Didn't know that at least I'm trying...

[OriginalMrC]

26 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

I've just had an idea. Maybe the RFL could deem the Recreation Ground an iconic RL venue, buy it at an exorbitant price, pay to maintain it for years and then sell it back to Whitehaven's new owners who can pay for it in instalments when they have some money.....

Worked for Bradford. 

Wembley of the north of the north 

[Gooleboy]

1 hour ago, Bring back GB said:

And then 12 the season after

And so on.

[Worzel]

1 hour ago, Wakefield Ram said:

I've just had an idea. Maybe the RFL could deem the Recreation Ground an iconic RL venue, buy it at an exorbitant price, pay to maintain it for years and then sell it back to Whitehaven's new owners who can pay for it in instalments when they have some money.....

Worked for Bradford. 

Is Ralph Rimmer about to buy Whitehaven? 

[paul hicks]

another example of ambition over accountability 

Edited August 21 by paul hicks

[JonM]

9 minutes ago, paul hicks said:

another example of ambition over accountability 

Not sure it is. The root cause here seems to be more infighting among a whole load of people associated with the club, more than the actual money.

[paul hicks]

17 minutes ago, JonM said:

Not sure it is. The root cause here seems to be more infighting among a whole load of people associated with the club, more than the actual money.

fair enough but its the over ambition without the financial ability to pay for it that caused the financial problems whoever was in charge. 

live within your means has always been my mantra .

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

Being reported on Facebook that the directors have resigned. That may persuade the backroom staff and players to return but not sure where it leaves the running of the club.  

[RigbyLuger]

5 minutes ago, Cumbrian Fanatic said:

Being reported on Facebook that the directors have resigned. That may persuade the backroom staff and players to return but not sure where it leaves the running of the club.  

No-one running it might not be worse than it is.

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

1 minute ago, RigbyLuger said:

No-one running it might not be worse than it is.

Fair point

[Wakefield Ram]

46 minutes ago, paul hicks said:

fair enough but its the over ambition without the financial ability to pay for it that caused the financial problems whoever was in charge. 

live within your means has always been my mantra .

Lots of clubs don't live within their means. Just they have directors with enough money to bail them out. Halifax owed £54,000 in rent for their ground. 

[paul hicks]

29 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Lots of clubs don't live within their means. Just they have directors with enough money to bail them out. Halifax owed £54,000 in rent for their ground. 

if you can find a reliable source/person to back your extravagance then it is indeed living within your means as of course you have a guarantor for your debts.  just make sure you keep a defibrillator handy.

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

51 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Lots of clubs don't live within their means. Just they have directors with enough money to bail them out. Halifax owed £54,000 in rent for their ground. 

Was it ever thus!? Businessmen have  'invested' in clubs since at least 1895. The Hutchins stand at Watersheddings for example ( you know the 2 tier stand behind the sticks) paid for by a benefactor. Local butchers, bakers and cotton mill owners 'invested' and got seats on the board. Always was, always will be. We've just got an extra layer from Sky. 

[Colin James]

4 hours ago, Derwent Parker said:

 

Hopefully Haven will come thru this - but if they did withdraw etc 

Then from the table above Oldham will go up from L1 and replace Dewsbury and Swinton and the L1 playoff winner will play Fax to see who plays in Championship next season - That will leave 12 teams in Championship.

L1 have 9 teams now and will gain 1 from Champ eg  Swinton which makes 10 and an expected new team Anglia/Bedford or Goole then if Haven do a Newcastle and restart in L1 this will be 12.

So - All 3 leagues will have 12 teams which is the RFL plan - but a year earlier.

Surely if Haven 'do a Newcastle' things proceed as planned? Haven and Dewsbury down with third bottom in the play off. You'd expect a club finishing third bottom to kick up a fuss if they are relegated without a play-off.

[LeeF]

2 hours ago, Cumbrian Fanatic said:

Being reported on Facebook that the directors have resigned. That may persuade the backroom staff and players to return but not sure where it leaves the running of the club.  

Rumours now that the players have returned. 

[LeeF]

According to Companies House all the returning Directors have now resigned although the resignation date is stated as the 19th. That just leaves the 2 Directors who were in situ before this week’s fiasco

[RSN]

12 hours ago, JonM said:

Not sure it is. The root cause here seems to be more infighting among a whole load of people associated with the club, more than the actual money.

I'd guess the money situation has led to the infighting rather than the other way round. 

Haven were not paying players at times last year which was well documented. 

They then assembled a pretty strong squad (arguably stronger than last seasons) and ended up in the same predicament. I'm pretty sure Haven players have not been paid for 5 weeks. 

If they didn't have a financial backer to cover the wage bill then they shouldn't have brought the players in and accepted going to league 1 and rebuilding the club to return to the championship. 

Both Barrow and Workington have done rebuilds in league 1 operating with a vast majority Cumbrian side signing good quality amateur players. There is good players to pick from at Wath Brow, Kells, Barrow Island, Millom etc which will compete in league 1 so it can be done. 

 

 

 

 

[The Blues Ox]

12 hours ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Lots of clubs don't live within their means. Just they have directors with enough money to bail them out. Halifax owed £54,000 in rent for their ground. 

Exactly this and using Fax as an example, we had a new board took over the club as a shiny new play thing and all promising to put X amount of cash in each month. One by one they have fallen out and left which meant that only a couple remain now(Could be less its been hard to keep track) and no way the club can be covering the bills with players already contracted for the year. To be fair to Fax though we did start off loading players to try and get wage bills down but I always find it ironic that the first act of the new board seems like it were to stop paying the rent. 

[Wakefield Ram]

11 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Exactly this and using Fax as an example, we had a new board took over the club as a shiny new play thing and all promising to put X amount of cash in each month. One by one they have fallen out and left which meant that only a couple remain now(Could be less its been hard to keep track) and no way the club can be covering the bills with players already contracted for the year. To be fair to Fax though we did start off loading players to try and get wage bills down but I always find it ironic that the first act of the new board seems like it were to stop paying the rent. 

Btw not particularly having a go at Halifax, it's just an example. There's lots of others out there, just thought Whitehaven were getting a lot of over the top criticism for things that other clubs have done and are still doing. 

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

16 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Exactly this and using Fax as an example, we had a new board took over the club as a shiny new play thing and all promising to put X amount of cash in each month. One by one they have fallen out and left which meant that only a couple remain now(Could be less its been hard to keep track) and no way the club can be covering the bills with players already contracted for the year. To be fair to Fax though we did start off loading players to try and get wage bills down but I always find it ironic that the first act of the new board seems like it were to stop paying the rent. 

I suspect that's partly because the Council are less likely to 'call in' the rent debt than other creditors.