How many of these critics would be saying "the RFL should have accepted the offer straight away" if they'd taken it away for waiting too long.

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.

battle of the mustache in full flight.

Not sure i agree with IL on this because super league needs consistency and a safety but i can also see his point. What is the increase for each club and from when? also the 300k lump sum to all the clubs is a bit wrong, some clubs seriously need that money and will agree to anything for it.

Exactly. In 3 yrs if BT sport has folded and Sky offered us £100 million, there'd be chaos from the chairmen.

A bird in the hand and all that. Our sport is secure for at least 8 yrs and the biggest TV company is backing us and will love Union and BT to fail so will be doing everything they can to make that happen!

Hindsight might be something Mr Lenegan gets to use in a few years.

We know what we're going to get with Sky and they've offered more this year than ever before so i can see why Barwick jumped early.
BT did right by jumping into bed with Virgin and that could see them stick around for a while but only to those on the biggest package. I'd be interested in how many subscribers BT has when it turns a year old and also the viewing figures RU has compared to the figures they had under Sky.

I thought it'd be Hetherington that spat the biggest dummy out, turns out it's Pollards turn.

Seriously, he votes for a deal and then criticizes it.

He's starting to show some form here.

didn't he vote for the Stobart deal and then call it a terrible decision and lay all the blame at the RFL's door.

Maybe he should take care over the way he votes. He could have voted no.
I imagine the deal offered was time limited as SKY wanted to know where they stood with their whole portfolio.

Afterwards yes we could have got more, but how is to say BT would not have offered less.

Wigan once again wanting it always. As usual.

So just to be clear - he voted in favour of the deal? But he's now saying it's a dreadful decision?

Good one Eric.

Does this guy actually have any credibility amongst his peers?

Sounds like he's caught the Wigan bug, you know taking cheap shot

He has done wonders for Wigan as a club but I think some of his views on the game as a whole are wide of the mark. Voting for something and then criticising it? Even as a Wigan fan he comes across as a bit of an idiot sometimes.

BT Sport isn't a separate business so can't be liquidated on its own, ITV Digital was. In this instance it's more of a risk going with Sky in term of turnover/size of business etc.

The ITV Digital thing is a case study in how not to do things. Getting parent company guarantees is standard contracting practice and the Football League still don't know why they never did. I doubt even the RFL would be stupid enough to make the same mistake - actually let me think about that one.

In terms of most RL owners I doubt it. After all he's a successful self-made multi-millionaire who has completely transformed Wigan from top to bottom into a profitable multi-trophy winning club.

Marwan Koukash is apparently a big fan also i believe his good friends with Mcmanus

40 million a year is ridicuosly cheap over 8 years. Other sports will be so much more, trying to bridge the gap with other business sport will probably mean we go backwards in terms of stature.
The RFL should have tested the water by tendering out, instead of becoming the "poundstretchers" of british sport............they reap what they sow.

BT are 3 times bigger than BSkyB, If anyone goes bust or scales down it will be BSkyB.

Having said that IL signed the new deal off, so he is as culpable as Barwick.

I still say it is a good deal.
It offers the game an 8 year pathway where EVERYONE knows what they are getting and when. It enables chairmen who bankroll clubs in the middle 8 section to make calculated gambles on spending to break into the top 8, it ensures that the tail of the top 8 are fully aware of what happens if they drop down and delivers an increase in revenues across the entire game.
The only downside I can see is that it will increase the dependency on TV money for the majority of clubs. Let's hope now that the RFL don't have to waste time micro-managing their tenants, they can instead assist clubs in their business and strategic plans and in attracting "other" revenue streams (fans, commercials, sponsors etc..)