Quote Cokey="Cokey"Spot on pal.
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I see that the HUGE thread has been locked, so I'll post my response to Steph Cury here instead.
Nobody is doubting the razz-a-matazz (sic) surrounding the Wolfpack, but scratch away the glossy surface and what's left is very little of any substance. Put into perspective, when Bradford were failing, the fans of Rugby League collectively rallied and raised funds to try and support the club. If Argyle was hit by a bus tomorrow, I doubt the odd bucket collection would replace him and the club would vanish quicker than it appeared.
Fantastic Media/PR work and clever photography are used regularly by the wolfpack to give the impression that they are bigger than they are. This isn't a critique by the way, because you need to polish a turn if you're going to sell it, but after the carpet was vacuumed at Arsenals press conference room and SBW was in the paper, what next? BBC are happy to use him as a filler, especially when he ticks a few PC boxes for them, but again, what impact is the long term does his interview now have?
Then there's the comparison with what we have in the ESL/RFL comps already. The use of the RFL press conference to demean the sport smacks of nothing other than outright trolling, but it is to be expected from the grub that posted it. If you wanted to compare like for like, why not these 2 pictures?
One is a state of the art multi-sport facitity run by the rugby and cricket bodies, the other is a municipal stadium rented from the council and in dire need of some TLC........but nobody is calling the wolfpack tin-pot.
Then there's the issue of what they bring to the game. New Players? Nope. Stand alone youth development? Nope. A North American TV deal? Nope? A few extra column inches 70 odd days before the first game of the season and nearly 6 months before SBW will pay a game in Canada? Yep....but that's it.
I've already show that Argyle's intentions are clear. He will buy the SL title at any cost. He is facing an £870,000 loss Based o a 100% paying capacity at Lamport) based solely on SBW's wages. He hasn't paid for travel, accommodation, training facilities, stadium rental, stewarding, club shop stock, back room staff, admin staff and the other 29 players he'll need for a SL season and he's already in an £870,000 hole.......he is gambling on winning SL, but although he has the most successful SL coach at the helm, said coach was found wanting once some of his inherited stars left and whilst they were promoted, they made it look very hard work v Fev.....part-time Fev that should be.
So, will he recruit? Definitely. Will he be able to stay beneath the cap? Who knows, but the current squad they have, 70 days out, isn't going to win anything and if you're oe of those who believe that SBW will do it all single handed, then you're the ignorant troll that we all already know you are.
It's his dime as they say in NA and good luck to him, but there's little chance of the SL chairmen collectively agreeing to a major increase in the cap and that's where Argyle will trip up.....but he'll be able to blame someone else because he wasn't allowed "buy the title"