Jimmy,

I do not usually post on here and will not go into detail but I can assure you that we have a very prudently constructed budget which takes into account known revenues and costs (including salaries) and realistic estimates of variable revenues and costs (including win bonuses).

We have budgeted for under 2,000 attendances at league games and on this basis we are forecasting a small profit for the year.

Obviously things do not turn out as forecast so we have constructed an interactive, 12 month rolling forecast where we can enter actual performance and it will automatically update the model so that we can, hopefully, spot any "pinch points" well before they become an issue.

In addition (and not part of revenues) the BOM has significant equity commitments which are to be held in reserve against any unexpected occurrences.

Obviously we are mostly new to pro RL (I certainly am) but we are treating it as we would any other business which we were involved with and implementing basic KPI reporting, weekly performance reviews, 8 week daily cashflow forecasting etc - people say RL is not like any other business but that is down to the emotional side and is not an excuse for bad practices (some would also say I don't have any emotions...).

I do not claim we have all the answers (as I don't even know some of the questions yet!) but we are trying extremely hard to get this right.

Yours in sport,

Michael Norris

Slightly off topic but not that much....

I took some friends to the LSV for the World Cup game. None of them had ever been to the LSV or indeed ever watched a live rugby league game before but really enjoyed it and the father and son of the group are now coming to watch the Wigan friendly. I told him about the season ticket deal and he said that if the lad enjoys it he will buy a season ticket (the lad wasn't at the WC game because it was too late for him).

I'm sure we will be getting quite a few who will try it again after watching the WC.

I went to most of the WC games and the LSV was by far the best of the smaller grounds from the parking to the two for one pub within spitting distance of the ground for a pre match meal and beer, to the quality of the stadium with great sight lines and a close to the action intimacy missing from the larger venues.

The quality of the match was superb and if I were lapsed Leigh supporter or someone new to the game from the Leigh area, it would have encouraged me to come back and give Leigh my patronage.

I hope this happens in large numbers and, if it does, this will be just the kind of boost to RL that was hoped for from the WC.

This post, the obvious passion and straight talking common sense in the postings of Andy and others involved, and the squad that has now been put in place, have me more excited about the coming season than I ever have been since I was a kid behind the sticks at Hilton Park.
I thank every body that has ever put there time and/or money into our club before. And now urge every one of us to get behind what I believe is the best BOD and team combination we have had for many a year.

Totally agree, VL...as a Chartered Accountant myself I probably appreciated Toadstool's post more than most! All the right noises being made as well as concrete actions...looking forward to the new season immensely...