Bostwick wrote: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.
atomic wrote: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?
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.....
JESUS WEPT HOW MANY TIMES????? £20 a ticket and £15 on beer and merchandise.....so an away fan is worth £35. At best, 1,000 is the average away support split across 11 rounds and I am being really generous here, so Toronto, replacing say Wakefield will cost a SL club £35,000. The minimum turnover of a SL club is £4,000,000 so Toronto instead of Widnes is worth less than 1% of a SL clubs turnover.
There are many valid reasons for and against expansion into America, but "AWAY FANS" isn't one of them.
northernbloke wrote: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.
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?
Call Me God wrote: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.....
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.
JESUS WEPT HOW MANY TIMES????? £20 a ticket and £15 on beer and merchandise.....so an away fan is worth £35. At best, 1,000 is the average away support split across 11 rounds and I am being really generous here, so Toronto, replacing say Wakefield will cost a SL club £35,000. The minimum turnover of a SL club is £4,000,000 so Toronto instead of Widnes is worth less than 1% of a SL clubs turnover.
There are many valid reasons for and against expansion into America, but "AWAY FANS" isn't one of them.
Joined: Jun 06 2011 Posts: 262 Location: Lancashire
northernbloke wrote: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.
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.
Joined: Mar 04 2005 Posts: 5880 Location: Bradford
northernbloke wrote: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 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.
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