Sorry, I forgot ... you're the guy who doesn't like him personally, even though you don't know him.

Yeah, your opinions on IL are definitely worth listening to.

Give over, Dave. Talk about me 'methinks you protest too much'.

You and your usual partner-in-crime on this matter have regularly been as skeptical about IL as it's possible to be, and yet the club is in a better place than it's been since the early days of Mo (and probably at half the cost).

I don't like the salary cap either, as I've said many times, but having a tantrum because the Wigan chairman thinks it can be made to work is a bit rich even for you and BK.

does anyone think that IL may be playing a huge game of poker here, raking in the money for the players on the basis that at some stage the NRL / RU Club bubble will burst ?

Hard to imagine this would happen but things like this do go on in the general business world.

Just a thought

I agree. I have repeatedly pointed out whenever this debate surfaces that the sport needs to increase its revenue as to rely on philanthropic owners is not a long term solution. Salford may benefit from it in the short term (if the cap were raised) but I am pretty sure even Koukash won't chuck money at the club for decades if overall he is funding a loss making club. Getting the clubs on a sound financial footing is one thing but having done that as recent events at Wigan show that doesn't mean you are immune from losing players. What is needed is a bigger injection of cash into the game from outside and as I have also said numerous times before the obvious place to look is TV. This is where both RU and the NRL are getting most of their income. Not off gate receipts and shirt sales etc. Whether we have the right people on board at the RFL to do this I don't know but I don't think comments from IL about not wanting to raise the salary cap set out the right kind of ambition whether we do or not.

RL has a choice and it is does it want to be a financially viable career for most players as well as competing for the best players or does it just accept it won't attract young men of potential and mitigate losing its best players as best it can? At the moment IL seems to be operating in "mitigate mode" and some people seem to think this is OK because we are top of the league and because he announces we will see Mossop again in two or three years time IF he doesn't stay in Oz.

This is more utter b@llocks from you regarding my position on IL and what he does. I have been on record about how good the Orrell facilities are, how well IL has done with repairing the image of the club and numerous other points. As I said I agreed with EW only the other day on the things they pointed out as positive aspects of his tenure here. I have certainly not been "predicting disater" as you put it in the post I replied to. (Your backtracking and current accusation of merely being a skeptic are duly noted).



I know you don't like the salary cap but in your rush to have a go at me and BK you are now having to defend IL's current approach which is really quite funny.

The only tantrum I can see is from you flinging false accusations around. I am merely voicing an opinion as to why I disagree with his comments in the article linked to at the start of this thread. Perhaps if you kept on-topic you wouldn't feel the need to preface your posts with the personal comments?

If you read the article its clear his way of getting the salary cap to work is to put in place a proper wage structure. I have no doubt that is a good thing in itself and that it works in that sense but I have no idea why that is a reason not to raise the cap, why that will help retain players or attract them in the first place. There is nothing in that article from IL that tells me why whether Wigan have a proper wage structure or not that the salary cap "works" as you put it in that regard.

Salary cap and a proper wage structure are perfect in regards to Super League as all the teams have to work within the same monetary restrictions. But we are now having to compete with the NRL and Union to keep our best players. We might be able to pay a star player £400k but that leaves less for the rest of the team and could weaken us compared to other SL clubs and it is still a lot less than a world class player can earn in the NRL and Union.

Unless we can offer what the other 2 organisation can then we will see less world class stars playing in our competition and this can only be achieved by greater funding from outside the game in the way of TV revenue and sponsorship....

I agree with you on the "how" we need to fund an increase in the cap so we can compete. I am not daft enough to think IL can fund an increase from his back pocket but I really would like to think he was working to increasing the funding rather than saying he doesn't want the cap increased. A statement saying he doesn't agree with increasing the cap unless the game can secure more revenue (and it is working to do so) would be fine as it acknowledges the problem.

Here is another player off to the NRLhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/22350817rl

and Wire have a similar clause to us with Mossop so I am sure that makes it all OK!

"But Wigan chairman Ian Lenagan believes it will eventually benefit the domestic game, and Cooper shares that view, adding that the fact Australian clubs are looking to England to sign players must mean that Super League is in good shape."

GOOD SHAPE..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

no.....it means they can find equal quality players to the NRL and pay slightly less for them and the Player still gets more than playing in Super League.......

Its a tough one most of the comp cant afford the current cap. So increasing it for 3/4 teams defies the point of it.

Plus would paying for example Chris Tuscon more money make him a better player? I dont like the cap myself but untill we can make the rest spend the current max is there any real point.

Perhaps the rfl need to look at central contracts or the like but without a strong international game that probably wouldnt work.

First the RFL needs to get it's house in order - free sponsorship of SL -that was blinder! Until the RFL - the top tier of the game and the people "running" the game start to be a darn sight more professional the game will continue to suffer and the endless discussion about the salary cap are just a smokescreen. Central contracts will never work unless they can be funded properly - something I seriously doubt the RFL can do or even consider (unlike the RFU who can and do - or cricket who do this very well).

The game needs to start getting more money in at the top before anything else.

Clubs should also look at maximising their non-game revenue - most clubs own their ground yet these are sitting idle for the vast majority of the time - surely someone should look at investing in putting other non-RL facilities in the areas (betting shops.casinos/shops anything which can bring in revenue at other times - surely this would help clubs grow).

Then when clubs are financially viable can the salary cap be looked at as has already been pointed out only a handful of clubs can even consider spending more -which would make the club scene even more a haves and have nots - we would end up with something like the Scottish premier league.

I dont for a min think central contracts ala RU would work and even if they did your right the rfl would probably cock thqt up to. Dont get me started on the sponsorship i almost had an embolism on the subject last week.

Didnt years ago the rfl give rads and KFC some appearance mony for Gb or something so thy wouldnt sign for RU only for KFC to still not show up for GB?

I dont know what the answer is but they need to get the bread and buttrr vames back to meaning sokething and stop the cheap season tickets as that just devalues the sport.

SC should be 50% of turnover, end of

Those who make more get to spend more. Those who dont, well its their problem

What if SJM Concerts legitimately sponsored Warrington Wolves for £6 million a year? I believe that system has strong merits but it is inherently flawed.

A very good point. Obviously, very tight controls would need to be put in place for things like that

Irrespective of that what is your point?