We are still talking to players. For example, we turned down the opportunity of signing a former Australian test front rower this week. The price was too much and it would have put us over the salary cap. Unfortunately, it is not simply a question of signing a player if he is available, we have to be able to afford him. We have to be able to accommodate him. We also need to look at the bigger picture. We have a good number of players off contract at the end of this year and strategically, we need to look at the evolvement of the club over a 2 or 3 year cycle. We have released 4 players and signed 3 players. Some of that money freed up has been used for those 3 players. We have also given contract upgrades. Further bonuses have been paid to our international players. All those figures go onto the cap. We are negotiating, at the moment, both with ins and outs on the playing roster and I am quite comfortable with where we are at the current moment. The season is over 2 months away. Trophies are not won in February. The structure and emphasis on the competition is for gradual progression through the season and as I say, I am pleased with the current squad. If you look at our development of the club, we were signing players 2 years ago for longer deals and for more money than perhaps we would do now. We had to do that as a newly established Super League club. We can be a bit more choosy now that we have the nucleus of a squad together.
Probably answered with above .No don't think side is weaker - young lads coming through will have benefited from a season last year e.g. Kris W and Scott Wheeldon. Liam Watts going on loan will also mean that they should be able to challenge for 1st team place
We need to carry on making progress. We have come a long way in a short period of time. We need to maintain that momentum but in the context of that, we also need to look at the medium/long term picture. We have been a club that has been patient over the years and have got to where we are with a good deal of sustained deliverable planning. That progress will continue as will our continual search for the right players at the right time for the club.
Primarily there are 2 reasons for the accounts being filed late. Firstly, there are some tax write offs to be approved by the Revenue. That cannot be done retrospectively. Secondly, there is a game wide revenue review into image rights payments, primarily to overseas players. Entries have to be made to reflect that and rather than make provisions we wanted to be as clear as possible. In isolation, there is nothing sinister in the accounts being filed late. To put this into context, several other clubs’ accounts are also late.
If you ask this question in another 2 weeks time I may have a different answer. This question is all about managing expectations. I previously said that I would hope to have the east stand extension done in this closed season. I would not yet write that off. However, what we are not going to do is spend the money without having the funding in place. Another 1200 on the east stand extension will enable us to accommodate a greater walk up on the day and I am very keen to have that done. At the moment, I perceive that some people, when the east stand sold out signs go up, don’t bother coming to the game because they don’t like the view at the north and south terrace (understandable).
We have some grant funding applications due for determination shortly. We have 3 potential partners who wish to take spaces in a north stand development. They have all committed that interest to writing. Pulling all this together is obviously very time consuming. I would guess between us that we spend 40 hours a week on this project. Again, when we have something to say in concrete terms, we shall say it. Perception may be that things are not happening when no announcements are being made. That is not the case. There is a lot of work going into this project. I expect us to deliver, it is really a question of when. I have already answered a question about the financial viability and as I say, for the club to carry on competing at the top end of the game, this is a must for me.
We have a new major sponsor and that deal with be launched in the next two weeks. We have 5 new sponsors on the home and away shirts and I reckon a combined total record sale for the shirt itself. We also have a charity angle that we will be pushing relating to the away shirt. Generally, the feeling I get is that commercial sponsorship as a whole is very much on the up this year and hopefully, we will see some record figures.
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