I don't believe that Leeds couldn't compete on salaries with any other club in ordinary circumstances. The Leeds business has grown substantially since the introduction of the cap. I don't believe that the club couldn't afford an inflation-linked increase in the salary cap.

It is in Hetherington's interests to supress the cap from a competitive perspective and I suspect that is where is position is based. Leeds has historically retained its talent better than other clubs and Hetherington has used the salary cap to press home that fact. That's not an approach I agree with, even if I can understand it.

And we're not talking about completely freeing clubs from the shackles of any sort of financial levelling. I'd fully support an FFP-style system, as I mentioned earlier. What I don't support is a "race to the bottom" which damages the core product the sport has to sell, perpetuating this cycle of the sport being starved of cash.

As a Leeds fan I think it's embarrassing yes, but the penny pinching at the club has been gong on for years.....

No. Leeds, who have just spent £25m on the stadium following £15m on the stadium over the previous 20 years followed by spending huge amounts, for the first time, on marquee players and significantly expanding the back room staff and employing Sinfield on no doubt £100k a year, have been anything but penny pinching over the past couple of years.

Hetherington has always been prudent, and has always driven a very, very hard deal. In the context of how the club has been run through Caddick-Hetherington era the fiscal extravagance of the past two seasons has been eye-opening.

yes its been going on for years , that is the obvious reason we won so many Grand Finals

And if we were penny pinching why pay a fortune for Merrin and Hurrel .

Oh dear...

Nonsense

How much have we spent on the new stands?

We have also had over the last 20 years the most successful period in the clubs history and had some pretty big signings along the way.