IL does not want to pay more but he expects the fans to cough up for want will be an inferior product as the best players go to Australia

Well this sucks. How can this sport possibly grow then?

Collate as many DVD's of the days when world class talent like the Andy Farrell's, Steve Renouf's, Trent Barrett's, Adrian Lam's, Sam Tomkins', Keiron Cunningham's, Sean Long's, Paul Sculthorpe's, Jamie Lyon's, Lesley Vainikolo's of this world played RL in Super League because in two, possibly three years time it will all have gone to other competitions.

Of course he doesn't want the salary cap raising. The longer the cap stays low, the more teams will have to rely on their academies consistently producing a conveyor belt of talent to replace the best players who keep leaving for the NRL/Union. Who is best placed to benefit from that? Us. However, I'm a rugby league fan first and a Wigan fan second. Keeping the cap this low is bad for our competition and it needs to change. I want super players in the super league like there always has been. No way will we produce and retain the next Radlinski, Fielden or Peacock or attract guys like Vainikolo, Renouf, or Barrett. They'll all be plying their trade in the NRL and we'll be left with guys like Paul Wellens, Ade Gardner, Lance Hohaia and John Wilkin. No one wants that every week.

Nothing I haven't suspected (and posted) before.

Where are the happy clappers and IL defenders now?

Why should HE (IL) pay any more. His job is to try and make the club self sufficient.

Is it really?

I said it before, chairmen in RL are a likely to vote for an increase in the CC as turkeys would for Xmas.

They like to play the game on the cheap.

Ultimately they will have to increase it, and significantly or see their game dwindle into nothing.

People have been predicting RL's demise in this country for nearly 120 years. I'm sure it'll survive a good while longer despite a handful of players leaving to play in another comp.

So if we go on to do great things this year, will someone preserve this post for posterity and resurrect it afterwards, the way they did with your posts when you forecast disaster because we'd just appointed Michael Maguire?

Once the rest of SL gets on our level then we/they can moan about our chairman not wanting to increase the cap.

Why should he? There's perhaps 4 or 5 teams in the league that can spend up to the current limit as it is.

That's the problem. Only 4 or 5 clubs can spend what is, in real terms, less than 2/3 of the cap level when it was introduced. This suggests that a full time game is not sustainable in the medium/long term.

Like other posters, I think IL has done a great job in very many areas, but on the SC I fundamentally disagree with him.

Yet those great names didn't result in rises in attendances. And they aren't big names outside of RL circles (other than Farrell's coaching in another sport). For which the administrators should hang their heads in shame.

Owning a club be it football, league or union is an honour. It is an act of philanthropy. Owners should permanently sacrifice a similar % of their wealth as we fans do.

A man (Arthur Thomas) recently died, who gave a large % of his wealth to Leigh and other clubs including ours. Who contributed more to RL, men like IL or men like AT. Yet on here we have some fans (mugs?) who want IL canonised.

BTW Ted, in his statement IL is already making an incorrect statement. I too remember that meeting, it was about what Trent was paid at the time. Never again he said. Yet, we now pay Sam exactly the same. Go figure Ted. Personally, I think both are/were worth it.