Quote TrentBarrett="TrentBarrett"Do you think if I email r.j.wilson@shu.ac.uk "financial expert" he will provide me with the data he used to form his sensationalist headline?'" We'll see - I've just e-mailed him. Will update people on here if he gets back to me...

Quote TrentBarrett="TrentBarrett"Do you think if I email r.j.wilson@shu.ac.uk "financial expert" he will provide me with the data he used to form his sensationalist headline?'" We'll see - I've just e-mailed him. Will update people on here if he gets back to me...

Its just cheapskate journalism knowing they can get away with it without any repercussions. If they tried that with a much larger influential governing sport body they would have been taken to task.
However there is concern that only 3 clubs have decent asset and book values in Leeds, Warrington and St Helens.

MjM, you're right, but obviously have some financial nouse to be able to work this out; the layman isn't. And the BBC have taken the BS approach (that's Balance Sheet, or Bull Sh*t, take your pick), which is as you say dangerous. £68m of debt - so what if you have £100m of assets?!

I'm seething over this...

I think this blog post sums it up perfectly. thersw.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/ ... y-in-hell/

I think this blog post sums it up perfectly. thersw.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/ ... y-in-hell/

Probably as embarrassed as KPMG were on their assessments at the last round of licensing.

I wouldn't worry. If there are many more like me they won't understand a word of what they have just read and so won't be able to draw any conclusions at all - other than they are totally ignorant when it comes to corporate finances!

Oh yeah I'm not saying this pillock they wheeled out from Sheffield Uni or wherever wasn't talking out of their backside. He could have validly made an argument that RL is persistently living beyond its means because most clubs rely on the benevolence of rich directors to prop them up. I would make a whole bunch of equally valid arguments as to why that's not generally a problem and why it's the nature of sport and RL historically.

But this piece just didn't make that case. It went all big on "debt" with absolutely no context or, seemingly, understanding of how sports finance actually works.

I have a lot of time for George Riley but this was shoddy and superficial beyond belief.

Now can anyone help me: on 2nd March 2000 BBC Radio Five Live ran a piece in their "On the Line" series which coincided with the start of the Super League season. It was based, would you believe it, on a Sheffield University student's thesis or dissertation or something and noted that RL had less viewers on Sky than it had had on BBC before Super League. And therefore Rugby League was doomed. I seem to recall it was under the flawed misapprehension that the Stones Bitter Championship was televised on the BBC. There are some amazing similarities between that and this - but does anyone by any chance have a copy of that programme which was a hatchet job of a much more impressive scale than today's? I had a tape recording (

)of it somewhere but all I can find now is an empty cassette case with the date & details.

Andy Wilson ‏@andywiz must be something about the bbc and sheffield hallam. i remember them doing something apocalyptic on this 13 years ago. books.google.co.uk/books?id=lGri ... CDwQ6AEwAg … not sure if that helps.

Andy Wilson ‏@andywiz must be something about the bbc and sheffield hallam. i remember them doing something apocalyptic on this 13 years ago. books.google.co.uk/books?id=lGri ... CDwQ6AEwAg … not sure if that helps.

Quote MjM="MjM" Now can anyone help me: on 2nd March 2000 BBC Radio Five Live ran a piece in their "On the Line" series which coincided with the start of the Super League season. It was based, would you believe it, on a Sheffield University student's thesis or dissertation or something and noted that RL had less viewers on Sky than it had had on BBC before Super League. And therefore Rugby League was doomed. I seem to recall it was under the flawed misapprehension that the Stones Bitter Championship was televised on the BBC. There are some amazing similarities between that and this - but does anyone by any chance have a copy of that programme which was a hatchet job of a much more impressive scale than today's? I had a tape recording ( )of it somewhere but all I can find now is an empty cassette case with the date & details.'" Another gem from 'Rugby Special' boss in 2002- news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_ ... 849704.stm Quote MjMAs the show is called Rugby Special how much of the show will cover rugby league issues? Not very much, because it's a rugby union show. Rugby league has sold its soul to Sky, and it has to live with that. For rugby league fans we've got a very good online presence, we are carrying the Challenge Cup and we have highlights of the England internationals in the autumn. But the sport has done its deal with Mr Murdoch, and that's something rugby league fans have to deal with. If you live in the north of England there is the Super League Show, which is a regional transmission, and if you really want to see rugby league outside of the north, you should write to your local BBC and see if they'll carry it as a local transmission.'"

Quote MjM="MjM" Now can anyone help me: on 2nd March 2000 BBC Radio Five Live ran a piece in their "On the Line" series which coincided with the start of the Super League season. It was based, would you believe it, on a Sheffield University student's thesis or dissertation or something and noted that RL had less viewers on Sky than it had had on BBC before Super League. And therefore Rugby League was doomed. I seem to recall it was under the flawed misapprehension that the Stones Bitter Championship was televised on the BBC. There are some amazing similarities between that and this - but does anyone by any chance have a copy of that programme which was a hatchet job of a much more impressive scale than today's? I had a tape recording ( )of it somewhere but all I can find now is an empty cassette case with the date & details.'" Another gem from 'Rugby Special' boss in 2002- news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_ ... 849704.stm Quote MjMAs the show is called Rugby Special how much of the show will cover rugby league issues? Not very much, because it's a rugby union show. Rugby league has sold its soul to Sky, and it has to live with that. For rugby league fans we've got a very good online presence, we are carrying the Challenge Cup and we have highlights of the England internationals in the autumn. But the sport has done its deal with Mr Murdoch, and that's something rugby league fans have to deal with. If you live in the north of England there is the Super League Show, which is a regional transmission, and if you really want to see rugby league outside of the north, you should write to your local BBC and see if they'll carry it as a local transmission.'"

Quote Ganson's Optician="Ganson's Optician"Another gem from 'Rugby Special' boss in 2002- news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_ ... 849704.stm '" Ah yes, other sports agree television contracts. Rugby League "sells its soul". Classic Pat Younge. What a prick he was.

Quote Ganson's Optician="Ganson's Optician"Another gem from 'Rugby Special' boss in 2002- news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_ ... 849704.stm '" Ah yes, other sports agree television contracts. Rugby League "sells its soul". Classic Pat Younge. What a prick he was.

Quote J O N N Y="J O N N Y"Andy Wilson ‏@andywiz must be something about the bbc and sheffield hallam. i remember them doing something apocalyptic on this 13 years ago. books.google.co.uk/books?id=lGri ... CDwQ6AEwAg … not sure if that helps.'" That's the one - the BBC based a whole half hour of national radio programming to a load of absolute .

Quote J O N N Y="J O N N Y"Andy Wilson ‏@andywiz must be something about the bbc and sheffield hallam. i remember them doing something apocalyptic on this 13 years ago. books.google.co.uk/books?id=lGri ... CDwQ6AEwAg … not sure if that helps.'" That's the one - the BBC based a whole half hour of national radio programming to a load of absolute .

Haha I used to go to Sheffield Hallam.