The directors have loaned the club just over £150k to date. Whereas we are always on the look out for good players virtually all of them are tied up in contracts at this point in time. We will keep reviewing this and support our Head Coach in whatever way he sees fit within the boundaries of the salary cap the club has imposed on it via the RFL. Making a one off personal financial commitment to sign a calibre of player might seem straight forward but it isn't. The club has to stay within the salary cap imposed upon it. The salary cap is limited to the lower of £300k or 40% of turnover. Currently, our club does not turn over enough to achieve a salary cap at the £300k level. The maximum budget we'd be able to achieve based on turnover is much less than that. If the directors were to make a one off personal financial commitment to sign a high calibre player next year, that player would probably cost, say, £40k contract monies (assume he's a big star who really wants to play for Cougars!). All other things being equal the directors would have to loan the club £100k to sign the player (given the 40% restriction) and then immediately write off the loan to revenue so that the club stays within salary cap.

In reality wanting the club to do well on the back of signing stars is not sustainable. Building from the roots up and signing players with potential from the surrounding area and wider (which is very similar to what Marchy is doing) is the strategy. The situation is all about the strategy around the player pathway whilst growing the club's revenues to over £1m. If we turnover over £1m we can get dispensation from the RFL for a £400k salary cap which will enable to have the best of our local talent playing with the best of international talent on OUR pitch. Growing the club's revenues to over £1m is entirely feasible and it requires the fans to bring another person or two with them (each!) every game, for the club to sign more and more commercial sponsorship revenues (which is happening with 8 new sponsors signed over the past 3 weeks), for the fans and inhabitants of Keighley to book the function suites for their personal and business events whenever they have them and, when the club organises quality regular events like comedy nights, for the fans to come down en mass (for only a tenner each) and support it whilst having a good night (and not making some clever online comment about there only being 8 people there so there's no point in attending!). The dynamics are simple. More people down at the Cougars supporting and using the Cougar facilities = strong club = strong team).

Are we the only Championship team with a part-time coach and if so do you think this decision by the board is having a negative effect on team performance?

We clearly have suffered from some unfortunate injuries to key players. Is there room in the budget for new recruits? Can we get the Cas link nulled given the weeks of no players moving in either direction.

Marchy is almost full time at the club with the hours he puts in. On top of this he is supported by Glenn (Assistant Manager), Paul Royston (Club Conditioner) and Jeremy Crowther (Head of Youth Development). The forward pack has dominated most games, our backs haven't clicked other than versus York City. I think the issue is to encourage the team and look to exploit the strike centres of Haley and Cosgrove and ensure the backs exploit our forward dominance.



Marchy has provided us with a list of players he wants and we are working on it. We have made budget available and Squadbuilder is helping out. The Cas agreement doesn't look sustainable anymore. Injuries have been a significant issue this year and they have affected performance levels. However, we shouldn't use this as an excuse. There are a number of games we should have won this season so far.

Squadbuilder - This was launched under JD's era and I wonder whether it needs a bit of a refresh to gain that interest. No doubt, this is a wonderful concept that provides much needed funds for squad development, however, some of the discounts to attract fans are no longer applicable as the shops have closed. Maybe a re-lauch with new discounts, new shops etc.

Hello .